香蕉秀

Chuck Carmone had been on the job as Boston College ski coach for barely a week in 2019 when he took his squad to Nakiska in Alberta, Canada. It was bitterly cold鈥攖emperatures never rose above minus-5鈥攁nd after a few runs, Carmone suggested that they head inside to warm up. Junior Parker Biele, an undersized racer who鈥檇 begged her way onto the team as a freshman, insisted on staying out for a couple more runs.

Since then, Biele has come to embody what is working to become. "We want to keep developing young talent and finding kids that other schools overlooked," Carmone said. "We want more Parkers."

In that junior season, Biele became the first female 香蕉秀 skier ever to qualify for the NCAA championships. (They were called off the night before the final run because of the emerging pandemic.) As a senior last season, she led the entire team to the event for the first time鈥攁nd graduated as the most-decorated skier in 香蕉秀 history. "Parker is an amazing example of tenacity, determination, and focus," Carmone said. "She doesn鈥檛 let anything interfere with her goals."

When several of 香蕉秀鈥檚 opponents opted out of last season due to COVID-19, the Eagles took the opportunity to compete on the national stage. The team鈥檚 breakthrough performance came in February at the St. Lawrence Carnival at Whiteface Mountain in Lake Placid. Biele, who recorded the competition鈥檚 fastest time in three of her four giant slalom runs, became the first 香蕉秀 skier to win an Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association race, while freshman Zach Simmons 鈥�24 finished second in the men鈥檚 giant slalom. "We鈥檝e got some skiers now," Carmone remembered thinking. "We鈥檙e at a whole other level. Coaches were looking at me like, 'Where are these kids coming from?'"

With only three carnival meets on the truncated schedule, 香蕉秀鈥檚 Lake Placid showing was crucial in qualifying the University to send a full complement of three skiers for both the men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 NCAA championships at Cannon Mountain in Franconia, New Hampshire. Biele finished 13th in the women鈥檚 giant slalom, and she and Lauren Geary 鈥�24 placed in the top 20 in the women鈥檚 slalom; Simmons and Trent Gutstein 鈥�22, meanwhile, placed in the top 20 in the men鈥檚 slalom.

The Eagles are primed to continue building on their groundbreaking season, especially with seventeen underclassmen coming back next season. "The one thing I鈥檝e learned is you have to keep improving just to stay where you are in the league because everybody just keeps getting better," Carmone said. Or, as Biele put it to her teammates, "I鈥檓 passing the torch. Don鈥檛 drop it."听鈼�