Martina Brich of Vernon and Dylan Jay of Pingry were the big winners by taking the girls and boys overall titles, respectively, at the New Jersey Interscholastic Ski Racing Association’s Race of Champions.
Each swept the slalom and giant slalom events to secure the state’s top individual high school honors at the National Winter Center’s Winter4Kids facility Thursday in Vernon.
The performance caps a stellar high school career of New Jersey racing for the senior Brich, whose expansive trophy case will include R of C hardware. She did not compete in last year’s edition after finishing eighth in her sophomore season.
“I’ve been really wanting this for a long time,” Brich said. “The season’s been up and down, so I really wanted this. So, I really went after it today.
“I’ve been ski racing since I was 8 years old and I’ve learned so much throughout the years. The biggest thing this year taught was that you have to be confident within yourself, just trusting your ski. If you train, if you push yourself hard, you’ll get what you want.”
Martina Brich of Vernon is all smiles after taking first place overall the NJISRA Race of Champions at Winter 4 Kids in Vernon on 2/24/22.Tom Horak | For NJ Advance Media
Brich’s victory faced a challenge in the first giant slalom run, when she was third behind Blair’s Morgan Celley and Tenafly’s Megan Yi after posting a time of 33.44. She went out on a high note, however, as her subsequent run of 32.98 was the fastest girls’ time of the day and allowed her to beat out Ramapo’s Sophia Underfer by 0.33 seconds in the final tally.
The senior’s initial slalom run was tied at the top with Yi (45.09), whose sister Kristen was two-tenths behind in the first such set. Her next run was a 44.87, allowing Vernon another piece of skiing hardware after falling just short at last week’s team NJISRA championships at Mountain Creek.
“This one obviously meant a lot to me because it’s my last year,” Brich said. “I really feel like I’ve worked really hard for this. So I think this one is definitely really big in my life.”
Martina Birch of Vernon competes in the NJISRA Race of Champions at Winter 4 Kids in Vernon on 2/24/22.Tom Horak | For NJ Advance Media
On the boys’ side, Jay made a triumphant return to competition after missing time with a minor concussion. He likewise faced competition over a first run, placing second behind Delbarton’s Louis Fredrich after the opening slalom.
But Jay, just a sophomore, dominated from there on out.
“I’m definitely on a high right now,” Jay said. “I feel pretty good because I just came out of a concussion a couple of weeks ago. This was actually my first race back. So I’m pretty happy about how it turned out. I kind of just wanted to get some clean runs down. That was just my goal today. It was to just have a good fight and to (make it to) Easterns.”
The top boys and girls finishers will be invited to participate in the Eastern High School Championships set for March 4-6 at Attitash Mountain Resort in New Hampshire. There will be 12 spots to fill on each team and Jay said he plans to be part of the event.
Thursday’s victories for Jay, like several before them, were earned alongside his brother, Tobey, who finished third overall. In second was Matt Tavares, who helped lead Vernon to the NJISRA team title last week at Mountain Creek.
Because Dylan was situated behind Tobey on the starting list Thursday, like so many times this season, he was able to receive some valuable insight from his brother about a course rendered mostly frozen by rollercoaster weather in the North Jersey area this week.
“We knew that it was going to be icy today, so I had to make sure that our edges are sharp and everything was set,” Dylan said. “My brother helped me a lot. He always went before me on courses so he could always give me a nice course report,
“On Thursday, he told me not to go too hard, end up blowing out. He told me to just lay it back and run it down clean.”
Dylan Jay of Pingry (1st place, left), Matt Tavares of Vernon (2nd place, center) and Tobey Jay of Pingry (3rd place, right) pose for a photo after placing in the NJISRA Race of Champions at Winter 4 Kids in Vernon on 2/24/22.Tom Horak | For NJ Advance Media
BOYS
OVERALL
1-Dylan Jay, Pingry, 2-Matt Tavares, Vernon, 3-Tobey Jay, Pingry.
GIANT SLALOM
1-Dylan Jay, Pingry, 1:06.20. 2-Matt Tavares, Vernon, 1:06.84. 3-Tobey Jay, Pingry, 1:08.69.
SLALOM
1-Dylan Jay, Pingry, 1:29.29. 2-Matt Tavares, Vernon, 1:31.48. 3-Tobey Jay, Pingry, 1:32.33.
GIRLS
OVERALL
1-Martina Brich, Vernon. 2-Megan Yi, Tenafly. 3-Camille Collins, Pingry.
GIANT SLALOM
1-Martina Brich, Vernon, 1:06.42. 2-Sophia Underfer, Ramapo, 1:06.75. 3-Camille Collins, Pingry, 1:06.96.
SLALOM
1-Martina Brich, Vernon, 1:29.96. 2-Megan Yi, Tenafly, 1:30.40. 3-Camille Collins, Pingry, 1:32.01.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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