Farmington Ski Racing Team Ready to Hit the Slopes

Donna Scott has known Brett Carroll since he was in the fifth grade.

So when Carroll told her he was going through all the necessary steps to create a ski racing team at , she wasn't the least bit surprised.

"He is definitely a leader in all aspects," Scott said. "He's a great kid, National Honor Society, really high achiever. I can't say enough about him."

Carroll – now a senior at the high school – approached Scott – a special services tutor at the high school – in his sophomore year about getting a team together.

The onus fell on Carroll, who spoke to the student activities director, as well as all the other necessary parties in the administration. By that winter, Carroll was one of 12 members on the brand-new team, with Scott serving as the squad's coach.

"Freshman year I was kind of disappointed to find out they didn't really have a ski team," Carroll said. "So sophomore year I started talking to the people I needed to talk to ... and really got the ball rolling as far as starting a team."

The ski racing team, which competes against other high school teams across the state in the Connecticut Interscholastic Ski League, is not to be confused with the Farmington High School ski club, which takes a much more recreational approach to the sport.

Make no mistake, the ski racing team is competing. And it's competing in races you've probably never seen before.

The season typically runs from early January through the end of February, with six weekly races followed by the states race and end-of-season shootout races. Each weekly race is held on a Wednesday or Thursday night, and all of the season races are held at Mount Southington in Southington, CT.

During each weekly race, every skier takes two timed runs on their designated course. From those times an individual total time is calculated. After that, the six fastest two-run individual times on each varsity team are added to calculate a team total time, and so on.

But what makes the CISL runs at Mount Southington so unique and entertaining is the setup – four racers skiing simultaneously on a wide trail that's split into four courses.

"You've never seen a ski race like this," Scott said. "They have four race courses set up side-by-side, two boys courses and two girls [courses]. Nobody anywhere does that, so it's just crazy. It's fun to watch."

For a team only entering its third year of existence this January, Farmington has had a fair amount of success so far. Two years ago, Carroll was one of three Farmington skiers to qualify for the shootouts, along with Christian Mirana and Zach Zaback.

"Typically they only race GS, which is giant slalom," Scott said. "But they also race slalom [at the shootouts] too because when we send the kids to the state championship races we're competing against schools from Wisconsin all the way East Coast. It's a pretty big deal."

Last year Carroll again was one of three to qualify for the shootouts, though he came up just short of earning all-state honors. Carroll said he would like to punctuate his senior season with an all-state selection.

"Last year I just missed qualifying for the all-state team," Carroll said. "I was honorable mention. The all-state team goes to New Englands, which is usually in Vermont or New Hampshire somewhere."

Carroll, who has been skiing since he was 3 years old, has raced outside of the school setting for a number of years. That is how he got connected with Cody Scott, Donna's son, who was an all-state selection at Berlin High School and is now a freshman at Plymouth State.

Carroll's passion for skiing is evident. But Carroll is also hopeful that the team will thrive for years to come after he graduates this school year. After boasting a 12-member team in 2009, the team dipped to just 10 last year. But Carroll said the team, buoyed by an influx of youth, is back up to 11 this year.

"This year we had our largest underclassmen turnout," Carroll said. "We've got six kids that are either freshmen or sophomores.

Carroll has also tried to increase awareness of the team with various fundraisers, highlighted by the screening of "Work it Out," the latest film from Burlington, VT-based ski film company Meathead Films. With the help of local charity Farmington FOCUS, the team was able to afford the screening fee and raise their own money through ticket sales.

"[Meathead Films] has a program where you can pay them a certain screening fee, which we actually got covered by Farmington Focus," Carroll said, " ... and they can come and show one of their movies as like a fundraiser for a ski club or team or ski shop or whatever."

The event, which was held the night of Friday, Dec. 3 at the high school, drew a crowd of roughly 70 people. The proceeds will be put toward paying for one or two practices to help get new members acclimated to the racing that awaits them during the season.

Though the ski team is a varsity team, it is not funded by the school, so all costs are out-of-pocket.

"That's actually why we were holding the fundraiser because we're a varsity team, but the school just didn't have it in their budget to fund a full varsity team, so we don't get funding from the school," Carroll said. "We don't really have practices during the year. We pay for one or two just on our own, just to get kids comfortable in the games because most of them haven't raced before."

Both Carroll and Scott said they are looking forward to the start of the season, which figures to be Wednesday, Jan. 5. But Scott also admitted it will be strange to see the team without its creator and leader come next winter.

"I'm going to miss him next year," Scott said.