Ski team races down the slopes

While the snow keeps falling, most St. Bonaventure University students wish for spring to come soon. But the St. Bonaventure ski team is hoping for the opposite. The ski team has five members in its first year back since 2008, but members still have a good time together.

"I've grown really close to everyone on the team," Sara Kosakowski, a team co-captain and sophomore elementary and special education major, said.

Kosakowski and her longtime friend Kirsten Andersen, also a sophomore elementary and special education major, reintroduced the race team to St. Bonaventure this year after a hiatus.

"I wanted to start it last year, but Sara was going to college at Geneseo," Andersen said. "I decided to wait until she came to St. Bonaventure so we could start it together."

Kosakowski and Andersen have been racing together since they were in eighth grade.

"It's a big part of my life," Andersen said. "I wanted to get the program started back up again, and so far it's been going well."

The team practices at Holiday Valley for two hours Tuesday and Thursday nights. On weekends, the team travels to different mountains in the area for races. Two weekends ago it competed in the Kitt Cup at Swain Mountain in Swain, N.Y. This upcoming weekend the team will be at Greek Peak in Cortland, N.Y., for a race.

"We've done really well considering the team was just restarted, and although we might not be coming in first, we're still beating big teams like RIT and Geneseo. We definitely would not be able to do so well if it weren't for our advisers Terry Moran (professor of management science) and Guy Imhoff (modern languages department chair)," Kosakowski said.

Undeclared freshman Margaret Seitz said she loves skiing and couldn't pass up the opportunity to join the race team.

"I love the adrenaline rush skiing gives you," Seitz said.

She said she has been skiing since she was 3 years old and racing on and off since she was 7 years old.

"I had heard about the race team but I couldn't find any information on it," Seitz said. "I found them at the Organization Fair this year and signed up."

For those who are considering joining the team, Kosakowski said it's not too difficult.

"You just need to know how to ski and have your own skis," Kosakowski said. "Even if you don't know how to race, we would still love for you to join."

Andersen added these other necessities.

"There are some dues to pay," Andersen said. "Although the university does give us money, we still need to pay for entry fees for the races, hotels we stay at and gas to get to our races, but whoever wants to join is more than welcome."

The team is hoping in the future it will be able to grow in size and get more people involved and aware of the team.

"I know there are people at Bona's who are good skiiers, and they shouldn't be afraid to join," Seitz said. "I would encourage anyone, even if they haven't raced before, to give the team a try."

gionetme09@sbu.edu