WOODFORD, Vt. — The conditions couldn’t have been better at the 2025 MIAA Nordic Ski Championships Tuesday afternoon, and with the amount of waxing Mohawk Trail head coach Mark Pollard did the night before, his Warriors boys and girls teams could feel a difference immediately as they blazed through the trails at Prospect Mountain.

Mohawk Trail’s girls team came in with high expectations having won a regular season classic meet earlier this season. Pollard expected the Warriors, which co-op with Hampshire Regional, to be in the mix for a top five – or better – finish. However they weren’t quite able to put together enough strong performances to challenge the likes of Mount Greylock, Amherst and the other top finishers on Tuesday.

The Mounties (61 points) earned the state title, the Hurricanes (72) took second and Acton-Nashoba (77) rounded out the podium. Mount Greylock also won the boys race, securing first with 34 points. Wahconah (55), Concord-Carlisle (68), Newton South (90) and Amherst (104) made up the top five.

The Mohawk Trail girls slid down to seventh place with a score of 126, while the boys grabbed 10th with 177 points.

“First off, it was amazing conditions today,” Pollard said. “The snow was beautiful, it was fast, they did an amazing job of grooming. This was the best conditions we’ve had in states since I can remember. I must admit, I was a little disappointed. I thought we were going to do a little bit better on both sides. But I’m proud of them for a great season.”

On the girls side, Ada Comer led the charge for the Warriors – finishing in 23rd place in a time of 29 minutes, 2 seconds. Behind her came Charlotte Niswonger (29th, 29:30) and Piper Oswald (30th, 29:38), then Anya Read (47th, 31:06) soon after.

“Mark waxed the skis really well, so they were super fast,” Charlotte Niswonger said. “All of us on the team were able to go much faster because of that.”

Claire Pickard (59th, 32:57) was the only other Mohawk Trail finisher in the top 100 in the girls race.

Augustus Niswonger nabbed a top 15 finish in the boys race, as the Warriors junior took 13th with a time of 23:04 to lead the team.

“I did better than I expected I would do,” Augustus Niswonger said. “The skis were really fast, and it was a good race. I felt solid. I enjoyed it. The hills are obviously tough, but because of the new snow, it went really quick – which is great.”

Luke Pickard was the next finisher in yellow and blue to cross the line, doing so in 25:39 to take 41st place. Adam Muller (48th, 26:14), Lukas Manley (92nd, 31:41) and Malcolm Todd (93rd, 31:52) cracked the top 100 as well for Mohawk Trail.

“States can be strange, because some kids do really well under the pressure and some kids don’t,” Pollard said. “It’s really different than the league races. We did all right, but I was really hoping to do better.

“Luke Picard had an exceptional race, and his sister Claire did too,” Pollard added. “Augustus Niswonger had an exceptional race, too. Augustus has consistently done really well this year. Claire and Luke, they just had an amazing day. It really came together for them today.”

The future of Mohawk Trail skiing is still quite bright. The Warriors fielded one of their biggest rosters ever this season, and the boys team doesn’t have any seniors – so everybody will be coming back looking to improve on the 10th-place mark. 

Not only do the Warriors not have any seniors, they also have an influx of middle school skiers that joined the team this winter. And they’ve become quite a strong addition to the team.

“This is the biggest the team has been in a very long time, which is exciting,” Augustus Niswonger said. “We have a lot of new kids, but we’ve been doing well. We’ve been placing well as a team, those new people are finishing better, and we don’t have a single boys senior this year. Next year is going to be great. It’s very exciting. We’re building up that base.”

And for the girls, they only have one senior. So in similar fashion, most of their athletes will again be suiting up and ready for redemption at states.

“The girls, we started to get really strong this year,” Charlotte Niswonger said. “We won the classic race this year, which we haven’t won a race in a really long time. We have one senior who sadly couldn’t ski [today], so we also have a strong base of young skiers and hopefully we’ll be even better next year.”