BHS Skiers Qualify for 2019 State Alpine Ski Championships and League All-Star Recognition.

Submitted on behalf of the BHS Ski Team 

The Bedford High School Ski Team finished its regular season on Thursday, February 14^th at Nashoba Valley with 3 skiers qualifying for State Championships out of the Massachusetts Omega Conference and also being named Omega All-Stars. The 2019 State Championship race will be at Wachusett Ski Area on February 27^th.

In Thursday’s slalom race, Senior Co-Captain, Matt Carluccio led the way for the Bucs boys with a 2^nd place finish.  For the season, Carluccio finished second overall in the Omega Conference just behind the repeat conference champion Jack Preston from Winchester.  With four 1^st place finishes Preston had a perfect 400 points, while Carluccio with three 2^nd and one 3^rd finish posted 395 points.  Carluccio, who will be competing in his 4^th State Championship race and is 3-time league All-Star, will be joined at Wachusett by Freshman Jay Schwartz who finished 7^th Thursday and 8^th overall in the conference for the season.  Schwartz was also the only Freshman from the Omega Conference to qualify for the Championships and as a league All-Star.  Both Bedford racers will be in a field of about 120 competitors at Wachusett and looking to challenge Preston who finished 4^th overall in the 2018 Championships.

Leading the Bucs girls for the 3^rd straight year was Senior Co-Captain Maddie Filosa.  She finished 9^th in Thursday’s Slalom race and 10^th overall in the conference for the season.  Filosa posted four top 10 finishes in Omega races during her senior season to earn league All-Star honors and will be skiing in her 3^rd consecutive State Championship race.  She will be looking to finish her high school career with a strong showing at the Championships.  The Buc girls also had another good showing in Thursday’s race by sophomore, Libby Herzog who finished 21^st and finished overall for the season in 28^th place.  Stella Alphas, the 2018 combined Massachusetts State champion from Weston High School, captured 1^st place for the girls in the Omega Conference with a perfect 400 points – her third straight Omega championship.

“It was a great season and I’m glad the kids who worked hard all year are being rewarded by making it to States,” said Coach Derek Johnson.  The team will also graduate several seniors this year in addition to Filosa and Carluccio, including Aiden Engel, Allie Kranz, Ally Milano, Kyle Harrington, Linoy Noikas, Meghan Barnes, Nicholas Manning, Dylan Catanzano, and Kevin Murphy.  Murphy, a Championship qualifier in past years and who had an excellent racing career for the Bucs, finished off his senior season with an 11^th place finish Thursday and missed qualifying for the Championship race by a few spots.