In his first season as the head coach of the Hopkinton High School Nordic ski teams, Rob Rothe not only got to watch the rebuilding Hawks fight their way to a third-place finish at the Division IV championships, but he also got to watch his oldest daughter step onto the podium.
It was one of many story lines for local teams at the title races at Great Glen Trails on Monday, where Hopkinton was outdone by Ian Daly and the Inter-Lakes boys’ team, which finished as runners-up for the second straight season.
Moultonborough claimed the championship in both the boys’ and girls’ events with 767 and 760 points, respectively, but the Lakers weren’t that far away from pulling off the upset. Led by victories in both the classic and freestyle races for Daly, the Inter-Lakes boys’ team settled for second with a score of 758.5 and Hopkinton finished a distant third at 709.
The finish was the same for the girls, where Inter-Lakes (745) held off Hopkinton (736) for second place.
For Coach Rothe, the highlight of the day was an easy choice. After his daughter, Emma Rothe, had a less-than-ideal finish in the classic race where she placed seventh, she bounced back strong in the freestyle, topping the field with a time of 11:44.3.
“She did have a rough start with the classic race and was definitely hoping to do a little bit better,” Coach Rothe said. “She got herself together for the afternoon, rallied and came back strong and was able to win the freestyle which is great. … She’s more of a runner than a skier, so I wasn’t really sure how that was going to play out. But I’m very happy and very surprised with how she came up and ended up leading the team for the most part through the season. One of those very rewarding things in life I would say.”
Emma Rothe and the Hawks were helped out in scoring by Lily Sabol, who put forth a consistent effort in both events with a pair of fifth-place finishes. Both Sabol and Rothe were bright spots on a girls team that Coach Rothe wasn’t even sure he would have when the season started.
“The girls team was really up in the air this year,” Coach Rothe said. “I had one returning girl skier from last year show up and I wasn’t even sure if I would be able to put a team together. Luckily, I had a bunch of freshmen step up and come up and put a pretty good team together there that could really challenge some of the other teams.”
For Daly, winning sort of runs in the family. His brother, Cam, won both races last year for the Lakers and Ian repeated that feat on Monday. Daly and teammate Sam Seeley finished 1-2 in the freestyle race with times of 9:48.3 and 10:19, respectively. That pairing enjoyed more success in the classic race as Daly topped the field with a time of 11:36.2 and Seeley placed third in 11:45.7.
The story for the Inter-Lakes girls’ team was the emergence of Maya Weil-Cooley, who placed top four in both races. Weil-Cooley finished third in the classic race with teammates Alison Haight behind her in sixth and Willow Strother in 11th. In the freestyle, Weil-Cooley was forced to settle for fourth, but Haight (seventh) and Strother (11th) again gave the Lakers some balanced scoring.
Up next for local skiers will be the Nordic Meet of Champions, which is scheduled for Mar. 14 at Dublin Cross Country Track.
(Jay McAree can be reached at 369-3371, jmcaree@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @JayMcAree.)