Salisbury ski jumping team competes in Lake Placid

The Salisbury Winter Sports Association’s ski jumping team travelled to Lake Placid,NY, the weekend of Saturday, March 8, in a multi-club jump competition.

Ten athletes from SWSA joined a field of 20 other ski jumpers from across New York, New England and Canada.

Competitors jumped in one of two heights, the 10-meter and 20-meter jumps. Additionally, athletes competed in a cross-country ski racing event, in which competitors skied a half-kilometer course at the bottom of the ski jumps.

Athletes completed two to six laps covering a distance from one to three kilometers in distance depending on their specific competition group.

Ski jumpers competed in their age classes with the youngest jumpers in the 10 years and younger group jumping first.

SWSA’s Bodhi Thomas of Falls Village jumped to a gold medal in the U10 boys with a distance of 26 feet.

In the U12 division, Charlotte Milner of Lakeville jumped to a silver medal with a distance of 44 feet for the girls.

Wyeth Taylor of Somersville, Massachusetts and Salisbury took the gold medal jumping 48 feet and Henry Sheil of Lakeville took the bronze medal with a distance of 44 feet.

In the open category, Augustus Tripler won gold with a jump of 51 feet on the large hill.

Aerin Sheil of Lakeville skied to a bronze medal finish in the U10 girls Nordic combined with a time of 6:15 in the 1K. Mather Eckert of Lakeville took second place for U10 boys with a time of 7:07.

In the longer distance categories Wyeth Taylor grabbed silver with a time of 9:56 and Henry Sheil earned bronze with a time of 12:41 for the 2K distance U12 boys category.

In the open category, Augustus Tripler finished in second earning his second medal of the day.

While conditions were less than ideal with the warm air and strong sun, all the jumpers seemed to be having fun. One of the younger jumpers, Oona Mascavage, 7, from Lakeville said “It was great! I had a lot of distance on my jump” and Francesca McLoughlin was happy with the overall event saying “I had a lot of fun!”