Sebastian Christie, a senior at Concord High School, has been on a mission.
Christie has been the school’s lone ski jumper since his sophomore year, and he was the only athlete to represent the Tide at the sport’s state championship.
Except this year, hoping to leave his mark on the team, he searched far and wide to recruit brave souls who would join him in flight on a pair of skis. He succeeded: Two sophomores, Corbin Dupuis and Roman Kendziora, are finally joining the ranks.
As dozens of the world’s best ski jumpers fly incredible distances in the Winter Olympics, Christie said the sport is drawing renewed attention and excitement at the high school.
Even after he graduates, he hopes to stay involved to keep the team moving forward.
“We had the whole team here tonight to watch and there’s a lot of growing enthusiasm about the sport at Concord High,” Christie said. “People are starting to realize that it’s still a thing.”
On Thursday evening at Proctor’s ski jump, jumpers from nine schools across the state coalesced to measure themselves against the top competition.
Christie’s last ski jump as a high school student was enough to place him fourth overall with 207.5 points.
“I would have loved [to do] a little better tonight, but I can’t really ask for anything more,” he said. “It was a good time.”
His passion for the discipline only grew year over year with the help of his father, Gary Christie Jr., one of the sport’s biggest proponents at the high school level in Concord.
The Hanover team won the overall state championship with 376 points, just 3.5 points above Kennett. Plymouth’s Nenah Billin took home the individual girls’ title with 180.75 points, followed by Kennett’s Myra Johnston and Sunapee’s Celia Osborne.
Hanover’s two best jumpers, Hayden Clapp and Harris Bushell, placed first and second with 213.25 and 212 points, respectively.
Five of Hanover’s skiers are only in their second year as jumpers — for head coach Tom Dodds, the team’s performance was more than exceptional. The depth across the board was key for his team, he said.
“One thing that made this year so fun was the parity across different teams,” Dodds said.
Plymouth’s Sebastian Eisenbarth placed third in the boys’ championship and was recently selected for a USA Ski Jumping juniors camp. Credit: ALEXANDER RAPP / Monitor 
Kennett’s Myra Johnston took flight for her best jump of the day, worth 92.25 points to place second in the girls championship. Credit: ALEXANDER RAPP / Monitor 
Hanover’s Hayden Clapp was the best ski jumper in the state on Thursday, scoring 213.25 points to lead the Bears to a championship. Credit: ALEXANDER RAPP / Monitor 
Hanover’s Harris Bushell was just on his teammates heels for first place with 212 points for second place. Credit: ALEXANDER RAPP / Monitor 
Sunapee’s Celia Osborne finished third in the girls championship with 171 points from two jumps. Credit: ALEXANDER RAPP / Monitor
New Hampshire is still the only state in the nation with ski jumping at the high school level, which puts a spotlight on Granite State jumpers.
The efforts of parents, volunteers and organizers have paid off this year as seven jumpers were invited to Junior National Jumping and Nordic Combined teams in Steamboat Springs, Colo.
The seven are Proctor’s Burke Pekala, Lebanon’s Paisley Rancourt, Londonderry’s Bennett MacCulloch, Mascoma’s Timothy Tourville, Plymouth’s Sebastian Eisenbarth, White Mountains’ Stinson Myles and Concord’s own Sebastian Christie.
Nordic combined, which mixes jumping and Nordic skiing, has been in the headlines recently because it’s the only sport at the Olympics this year to feature a men’s competition but not a women’s. However, there are female competitions at the junior and World Cup levels.
Christie’s said he’s excited for the experience and knows the competition will be tough. Some athletes in Colorado will have been ski jumping for many more seasons than he has, but he hopes to make an impression.
“It’ll be the last year I’ll be able to do it, so I just want to savor it as much as I can,” he said.