OMS U14's Move onto Nationals and Can-Ams!

Merina Visnic, Josh Rosenberg, Nina Garbarino

It isn’t a secret that our athletes come to Okemo Mountain School because they want to compete at an elite level and reach their full potential. However, the time and dedication that has to go into making that happen is extreme and often consumes the lives of these middle and high schoolers. All of these athletes want the same thing; to be the best. Being the best comes with a lot of hard work, so when that hard work pays off, it is something to be celebrated as an athlete, a team, and as a school.

The hard work has paid off for a few of our alpine athletes in the last couple of weeks, getting them into races where they compete with the best skiers in the country. Our U14’s started by competing at the VARA Vermont State Championships, where they cleaned house and several were able to move onto the Eastern Championships. Eastern’s took place at Whiteface Mountain in New York last weekend where U14 skiers from all over the eastern region compete in Slalom, Giant Slalom, Super G, and Skills events. Just to make this event is an accomplishment in itself, but to place in the top 10 takes skill, talent, and hard work. Not only did one of our athletes do this, but 3 of them did!

For the men, Josh Rosenberg, who has competed at the top of the pack all season took the podium in all four events! He placed 1st in Skills Quest,1st in Slalom, 2nd in Super-G, and 2nd in GS. With these awesome runs, Josh earned himself a spot in U16 Nationals, which takes place this weekend in Breckenridge, Colorado. This means that Josh will not only be competing against the best athletes in the country, but also in the age bracket of U16’s. For an alpine athlete, competing at Nationals is the goal and Josh is on his way to making his athletic dreams come true.

For the women, both Nina Garbarino and Merina Visnic took home some hardware in numerous events. Nina placed 9th in Slalom, 5th in Super G, and 4th in Skills Quest. Merina placed 9th in the GS. Again, Nina and Merina were competing against some of the best athletes in the eastern region and did very well. This earned both of them a spot in the U14 Can-Am series in Tremblant, Ontario at the end of the week!

We wish our student-athletes luck in their upcoming races and can’t wait to see what the future holds for these dedicated young racers!

A few words from OMS Head of School, Mariel Meringolo: "I couldn't be more thrilled with our U14s and their progress this season. Not only are they as a whole skiing fundamentally well, we are seeing incredible results at the highest levels of competition. I know that Nina and Merina both have the drive and athleticism to perform well at Can-Ams and can't wait to cheer them on. Josh is an awesome athlete as well, but I believe his incredible mental focus and consistency gave him the edge to win U14 Easterns. These traits will serve him well as he steps up to the next level of competition against the U16s at Nationals."

Ashley BillingsMarch 25, 2019