Big day for Cavallaro family, Denoncourt
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It’s safe to say the Cavallaro family of North Andover won’t soon forget March 7, 2017.
There was a family reunion of sorts at Mt. Wachusett in Princeton and the skiing Cavallaros celebrated in fine fashion.
Maria placed second in the slalom in 39.78 seconds and fourth in the giant slalom in 57.83 seconds to lead the Scarlet Knights to an oh-so-close second-place finish at the State Meet. Her twin sister, Rachel placed eight in the GS and 12th in the slalom. Their brother, St. John’s Prep senior Nolan, took 10th in the giant slalom in 58.25.
On the boys’ side, Andover sophomore Jason Denoncourt was brilliant, winning the giant slalom in 55.37 while taking the silver in the slalom in 39.30.
The Knights were shaded by Marblehead 3:02.86-3:03.67. So the margin among the four girls for each team doing the two events was less than a second (81/100ths of a second).
The Knights looked like the championship was coming back to Turkey Town for the second time in three years but disaster struck on their final race of the day.
Knights coach Jerry Marchegiani said, “We just needed an average run for the final run in the slalom and the girl straddled the gate. We just needed 43 seconds.”
That was the difference and the Headers had the come-from-behind win, giving Marblehead both the boys and girls crowns.
Overall, though, the 42nd-year North Andover head coach was more than pleased.
He said, “The girls (the Cavallaros, Emma Callamaro, Cameron Deery) came totally prepared and focused. It was a laser focus. They left everything on the hill. I was so pumped and excited. Maria was phenomenal. You can’t get much better.”
There is no official combined individual score, but Denoncourt and Maria Cavallaro had the lowest combined times.
Everything went right for Maria, who also received a “promposal” yesterday from a member of the North Andover boys team.
This was also her first major giant slalom since sophomore year. She missed last year after surgery for a partially torn labrum in her hip joint.
She explained, “Bradford (Ski Hill) is like 20 seconds and this is a minute. I was obviously nervous. My legs were exhausted.”
As for the tough break teamwise, Maria said, “Honestly, I’m happy with how we did.”
Maria still had her sense of humor.
Her brother, Joey, drove the three hours from UVM to watch his skiing siblings.
She said with a big laugh, “My brother was there to remind us of his glory days but they weren’t so glorious!”
Well, yesterday was glorious for the Cavallaros, that’s for sure.
Denoncourt a state champ
Second-year Andover coach Jackie Guy said, “Jason (Denoncourt) took advantage of his early starts (when the course was particularly fast). He skied to best of his abilities and skied hard and did well.
She continued, “He skied a very clean run. He took an aggressive straighter line than most. The slalom we were expecting him to do well. We didn’t expect much in the giant slalom vs. the bigger skiers.”
Haverhill got a strong effort from senior exchange student Filip Matijevic, who placed 30th in the giant slalom (59.87) and 24th in the slalom (42.01).
Game Statistics:
Mass. State Meet
Team scores: 1. Marblehead, 2. St. John's Prep
Slalom: 2. Jason Denoncourt (And) 39.30,
Giant Slalom: 1. Jason Denoncourt (And) 55.37; 10. Nolan Cavallaro (SJP/North Andover) 58.25
