High school skiers with as much talent as Brie Von Beren simply don’t come around that often. When they do, they usually don’t stick around at that level for the long haul.
“You don’t have the elite skiers in high school, generally,” said Kearsarge Alpine coach Bob Underhill, who coaches the team alongside his wife, Jill Firstbrook. “They all move off to academies to ski full time, and in high school, it’s unusual to get somebody like this.”
Von Beren isn’t like the rest.
The Kearsarge senior never went anywhere, and instead led the girls’ Alpine team to an NHIAA Division III championship every single season she’s been in a Cougars uniform – even claiming four individual titles for herself over a storied and prolific high school career.
“Her goals weren’t to ski at a higher level,” Underhill said. “Could she have? I would say yes. But she wanted to stay in high school and play other sports. But when she skis, she works hard at it.”
That was evident by Von Beren’s performances over the years, most recently in February’s D-III state meet at Gunstock Mountain where she helped the Cougars win a fourth straight team championship and blazed through the GS course for a third straight individual title.
“She was really motivated to ski fast and kind of lead the team and she did a great job,” Underhill said. “The good part was she skied fast and made everyone else faster trying to catch her. That was the key with us winning the titles.”
So fast that Von Beren was the only skier to post a run under 34 seconds in the GS. She put together a 34.39-second first run before blowing through the course in 33.36 seconds in her second run for a combined time of a 1:07.75.
The only thing that kept Von Beren from winning a second slalom title during the meet was a missed gate on her first run.
She was forced to hike back up the mountain and finished in 50.75 seconds before regaining her composure to post the fastest slalom run of the afternoon (30.83 seconds) in her second go-around.
“She went back and was determined to head down the hill and give it her all. And she did, she won the run,” Underhill said. “She generally finishes and finishes strong, but she was fine.”
It helped that for as many times as Von Beren has lifted up the team over the years, this time the team was there to lift up Von Beren.
“When she crashed in the slalom at the state championships, all the other girls stepped up. It didn’t bother them,” Underhill said. “They just kind of hung in there and it was kind of neat to watch what was going on.”
While flu-like symptoms kept Von Beren from participating in the Meet of Champions, her last race in a Kearsarge uniform ended like so many others: With a championship in hand.
“She’s always been really positive and ready to go and it’s been great having her,” Underhill said. “We’ll miss her.”
(Jay McAree can be reached at 369-3371, jmcaree@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @JayMcAree.)