The Hopkinton girls’ Nordic skiing team has been a force throughout the season, and the Hawks put an exclamation point on the campaign Wednesday at Gunstock Mountain Resort in Gilford.
Lily Sabol won the classic race and Emma Rothe took first place in the freestyle to lead the Hawks to their first Division IV championship since 2014. The girls weren’t alone in the winner’s circle, either, as the boys also claimed a D-IV crown – their first since 2016.
“It was phenomenal to come away with a double win, especially for a small school like Hopkinton,” Hawks coach Rob Rothe said. “These kids put their all into it every day at practice, and it’s been a tough year for the southern schools with snow conditions. We’ve basically been chasing snow and we’ve been trying to find something to practice on. They’ve worked hard to get where they are. It’s an incredible group.”
The girls earned the title in emphatic fashion.
Sabol finished the classic in 17:00.6, while Rothe was tops in the freestyle at 15:04.1. Hopkinton’s depth proved vital in the title hunt, as the Hawks represented four of the top six skiers in each girls’ race. Rothe was third in the classic at 17:11.3, followed by Lillian Eckberg (fifth, 18:57.2) and Francie Trafton (sixth, 18:59.4). For the freestyle, Sabol took fourth (15:53.9) while Trafton (fifth, 16:05.1) and Eckberg (sixth, 16:46.0) also accrued championship-winning points for the Hawks.
While the entire team was impressive, the performance was a little extra special for Sabol.
“Lily Sabol has been one of our dominant girls but has always fallen short of winning anything on the championship level,” Rothe said. “For her to come away with the classic win overall, it was a really big day for her.”
Hopkinton left the classic with 16-point lead over Inter-Lakes and comfortably claimed the title in the freestyle with 777 points. Inter-Lakes (747) earned runner-up honors, followed by Moultonborough (730), Derryfield (680), Profile (663) and Sunapee (651).
Unlike the girls, the Hopkinton boys needed to make up some ground in the afternoon. Theodore Mollano placed second in the classic at 14:59.6, but Moultonborough and Inter-Lakes held a slight edge over the Hawks despite points from Michael Eggers (fourth, 15:30.5), Ryan Hughes (11th, 16:57.4) and Parker Wuellenweber (13th, 17:28.5).
“The boys have worked hard all year and they’ve been progressively getting better. After the first race in the morning, we kind of looked at the results and they were only four points away from the lead,” Rothe said. “I think they realized at that point they were more than capable of doing it. They really pulled it together for the second race, give it their all and left it all out there, and they had some phenomenal results.”
Mollano replicated his success in the classic with another runner-up finish in the freestyle at 12:59.6. He was followed with top-10 performances by by Eggers (third, 13:48.6), Huges (seventh, 14:30.7) and Wuellenweber (ninth, 14:47.3). Simon Page (18th in classic and 19th in freestyle), a senior, was also part of the Hopkinton triumph.
The Hawks prevailed with 759 points, narrowly defeating Inter-Lakes (754) and Moultonborough (750), while Derryfield (675), Profile (673) and Sunapee (637) rounded out the field.
“The super cool thing about the boys is that the roster this year was six boys and 19 girls,” Rothe said. “We took five boys to the championship and to win it with a small roster like that is pretty cool.”