Alpine skiing: Hopkinton wins 3rd consecutive Capital Cup
Published: 01-30-2025 12:10 AM |
For the past two years, the Capital Cup has resided at the Everyday Cafe in Contoocook. After Wednesday evening’s victory, the Hopkinton Alpine ski team brought it back yet again. Senior Merrick Chapin topped the boys’ standings, and both the Hopkinton boys’ and girls’ teams won their respective events as the Hawks claimed their third consecutive Capital Cup on Wednesday at Proctor Academy.
Hopkinton’s combined score from the boys’ and girls’ races was 763 points, while Bow (730) edged Concord (728) for second place. Bishop Brady (639) and John Stark (596) rounded out the overall team standings.
The Hawks are defending Division III champions on both sides, and while it’s hard to know exactly how well Hopkinton stacks up against the rest of D-III without traditional team standings, winning the Capital Cup against a strong D-II team like Bow and a strong D-I team like Concord, is a positive sign.
“Both teams are skiing pretty consistently right now,” Hopkinton head coach Scott Zipke said. “There’s a lot of similarity between the teams. We have a real strong top four, but then depth on both teams pushing that top four.”
Chapin, last year’s D-III individual champion in the slalom and runner-up in the giant slalom, and last year’s titleholder in the slalom at the Meet of Champions, had the two fastest slalom runs of the day on Proctor’s course. His time of 29.17 and 29.57 seconds, good for a combined time of 58.74 seconds, bested Concord sophomore Lucas Golden, who finished runner-up in 1:00.10.
“Merrick is quite the kid to watch ski race, it was a good showing,” Zipke said.
Sophomore Coley Wells was sixth for Hopkinton, the best No. 2 skier out of all the teams, while freshman Chet Behner (eighth) and sophomore Edward Blagriff (10th) capped the scoring for the Hawk boys, with Ryan Dermody (11th) right behind.
On the girls’ side, Concord’s powerful 1-2 punch of senior Ellie Worster and junior Mika Taylor topped the standings, but Hopkinton’s Marcella Guadagno, Avery Loew and Anne Pearce went 3-4-5.
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Worster, a transfer from the Holderness School, won with a time of 1:00.31, nearly six seconds faster than Taylor.
Sophomore Lia Chapin (eighth) rounded out Hopkinton’s scoring for the girls, with fellow sophomore Maddie Dwyer (14th) also skiing well.
Zipke was especially encouraged by the performances of Behner and Pearce, who were both sidelined all of last winter due to injuries, but have done a great job getting acclimated back into racing form. Pearce matched the fifth-place result she received two years ago, prior to her injury.
“The fact that we get to combine girls and boys scores, and have it be a geographic competition, it’s a very unique event,” Zipke said. “Proctor does a great job putting on this race and (Concord High head coach) George Golden puts a lot of effort into making it happen. We’re happy to keep the Capital Cup in Hopkinton.”
Bow’s Madelyn Hebert (sixth), Sophia Coombs (seventh) and Sierra Scull (ninth), and Concord’s Lilly Merrill (10th) rounded out the top 10 for the girls. Bishop Brady’s Jillian Howe (18th) and John Stark’s Sophie Gray (29th) led their teams.
John Stark’s Austin Freeman (third), Bishop Brady’s Caleb Goldstein (fourth), Bow’s Cavot Blaney (fifth) and Oliver Weiss (ninth), and Concord’s Eugene Conn (seventh) were the other top boys’ finishers.