Skiing: Greeley's Convery, Brewster's Crivelli skimeisters, Greeley wins Section 1 team titles

HUNTER — He's a freshman, raised on a ski slope that's more very big hill than mountain.

But no one who watched Brewster's Lucas Crivelli handle the giant slalom and slalom courses at Hunter Mountain Tuesday would have guessed either his age or his long-time training ground.

Crivelli, who figures he was about 5 when he first started skiing at Thunder Ridge in Patterson, finished second in giant slalom and first in slalom at the Section 1 skiing championships to beat out Horace Greeley senior CJ Hessert for the coveted boys skimeister title for the lowest combined times of two slalom and two GS runs.

"I started with the mindset to just kind of do my best," Crivelli said, explaining when he found himself in contention for the overall title, "I really tried to push it."

And that probably made him king of the mountain.

Crivelli who was second to Hessert (71.86-70.34) after their GS runs, took the crown by beating him in slalom 68.98-71.01.

Crivelli, who was seeded eighth out of 65 skiers in the boys field with Hessert second, has skied this season for West Mountain in Glens Falls.

But he went there with a solid background from Thunder Ridge and credited that to his competition.

"I think the people I've surrounded myself with — older kids, most times — they pushed me on that little hill," the 14-year-old said.

Among the older kids is his sister, Mia, a junior who'll join her brother at the Feb. 27-28 state championships at Bristol Mountain after a strong day in which she finished sixth in the 65-member girls field for skimeister.

"We always have a rivalry of who will have the best times," said Crivelli, who hopes to finish top-10 in both slalom and GS at states.

Hessert, a four-year Greeley skier, who went to states last year and would have gone earlier had they not been canceled in 2021, was 19th in slalom and 29th in GS at last year's states.

This year, he plans to go all out, not necessarily to win an individual medal but with the hope of gaining a team gold.

Horace Greeley was one of 13 boys teams with the required three skiers to compete for a team title. The top slalom time for each of the three racers was added to determine placement.

Greeley took the boys team title with the combined John Jay-Cross River/North Salem/Somers squad second, Fox Lane third, Yorktown fourth and Scarsdale rounding out the top five.

Erik Accordino and Henry Holmquist will join Hessert on the Quaker team at states.

Referring to the fast times posted by winning teams at states, Hessert, who's considering skiing for Syracuse University's club team next year, said his strategy would be to do "the best I can, even if it means falling."

Convery repeats as skimeister as her team returns to states

Greeley will also be the Section 1 girls squad that competes for a team title at states.

It also qualified last year, then finished second out of the top teams from the state's eight regions.

One big reason for that success was then-junior Sarah Convery, the 2022 Section 1 girls skimeister, who went on to finish sixth in slalom and 16th in giant slalom at states out of 64 starters.

She's hoping for even better results this year after repeating as girls skimeister and seeing her team win another girls title.

Greeley (Convery, Julia Accordino and Emerson Puleo) had a combined best-slalom time of 117 seconds with Mamaroneck second at 125.34.

With 11 girls teams scoring, John Jay-Cross River/North Salem/Somers was third, Hen Hud fourth with Edgemont, less than a second behind, was fifth.

Convery won slalom with a combined two-run total of 76.7 with Dobbs Ferry's Ludovica Corte second in 77.51.

Convery was fourth in the GS, which was won by Kate Kaplan of the combined Byram Hills/Briarcliff/Croton squad.

Convery captured skimeister with her four runs totaling 149.86 seconds. Corte was the runner-up at 151.04.

Convery said she had fun racing at states last year but should have been more aggressive.

Indicating that would change this year, she said, "I think there's more pressure here (at sectionals). At states, it's basically as far as you can go and you have noting to lose."

Convery, who skis on Windham's club team, is shooting for a top-five finish in slalom and wants to finish in the top 10 or 15 in GS.

Characterizing skiers as a "loving community" that cheers each other on, Convery, who has been on skis since age 5, also noted skiing has another appeal.

Calling most skiers "speed demons," she said, "It's such a fun sport. It's one of the only sports where you can move this fast without a car or vehicle."

2022 state resuls:Carmel's Dudjak 3rd in state boys GS championship, Dobbs Ferry's Deakins 4th girl

2022 states results: Three Section 1 skiers finish top-10 to medal in slalom at state championships

Who else is going to states?

Section 1 will send 11 boys and 11 girls to states.

Besides Convery, Julia Accordino, Puleo, Mia Crivelli, Lucas Crivelli, Hessert, Erik Accordino and Henry Holmquist, the section will be represented by Corte, Kaplan, Nyack's Alyssa Lundberg, Mamaroneck's Maggie Roseberry, John Jay-CR/North Salem/Somers' Rosie Binette (the top girl seed entering sectionals), Chris Marchini, James Bysshe and Luke Spieler (the top boys' seed going into Tuesday), Greeley's Jillian Ludl and John Holmquist, Carmel's Isabel Jurado, Fox Lane's John Hamilton and Ethan Anthony and Scarsdale's Elliot Zhang.

Clarkstown's Olivia Bednarski is the first girls alternate and Pawling's Cassidy Bradley is the second.

Yorktown's Reilly Doller is the top boys alternate and Micah Fox of Suffern is the second.

Nancy Haggerty covers cross-country, track & field, field hockey, skiing, ice hockey, basketball, girls lacrosse and other sporting events for The Journal News/lohud. Follow her on Twitter at @HaggertyNancy.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Skiing: Greeley wins Sec. 1 team titles, Convery, Crivelli top skiers