The Forest Hills Central ski team participated in a five-school meet this past week. The two-day battle took place at Caberfae Ski Resort and gave the team a sense of normalcy. COVID-19 has dramatically impacted the ski world, and this year is the first time skiers have gotten a somewhat regular season. This Caberfae meet was a milestone for FHC ski because it was the first time the 2022 team could compete with five other teams in one location. The new slopes and rivals have helped push FHC ski to compete higher.

“I’ve seen the team grow and become more encouraging to one another over this past race,” says captain Lucy McLean. “This team is so great because rather than focusing on winning every race, they all just want each other to have fun and do their best. We came into the Caberfae race knowing that we probably wouldn’t win, but everyone was still excited, tried hard, and we ended up doing better than we thought we would!”

The best team focuses on its teammates, and that’s precisely what FHC ski accomplishes. The Caberfae meet, in particular, brought everyone together. The two-day bonding experience allowed the team to get to know each other outside of being skiers. Many friendships bloomed over something as simple as a team dinner.

“Spending time with the team was so much fun and definitely helped our team chemistry. Through team dinners, waxing and edging clinics, and free-skiing at night, I felt like a lot of the upperclassmen got to know the underclassmen better and have formed bonds. That will last not only until the ski season ends but for many years to come,” Lucy said.

The fantastic chemistry of the team not only makes it enjoyable to be a part of but also shows in the player’s times. All throughout the season, the ski team has been climbing the ladder, and Caberfae was an actual demonstration of talent. In the men’s giant slalom, we saw Ben Taylor snag 12th place with a combined run time of 1 minute and 3.34 seconds. Junior Noah Gleason came in 29th with an impressive 1 minute and 10.14 second run time. Women’s giant slalom had Lucy McLean in 28th place with her combined time of 1 minute 2.72 seconds. Sophomore Molly O’Meara was a close runner-up taking 38th with 1 minute and 8.1 seconds. These are some of the team’s top performers, but everyone showed significant improvement.

“We saw improvement in our team by taking them to a more challenging hill than our home hill and watching them take on a steeper and faster course. Everyone got better throughout the days we trained and raced and were really able to adapt to the challenges ahead of them,” junior captain Christian Bethea said. “I saw biggest improvements in Nathan Decker, who was really figuring out how to ski tighter and faster, and Mickey Mehney, who is almost skiing slalom perfectly.”

Looking ahead, FHC is set to compete in a league race at Cannonsburg on Thursday, February 3.