CHARLEMONT — With a freshly-dropped coat of white powder at Berkshire East Mountain Resort, the first run was a winner for a pair of Marblehead senior captains at Wednesday’s MIAA Alpine championships.
Baxter Jennings raced to a boys’ slalom title (46.51 seconds) — his third straight victory in that discipline — and Cate Honos took the girls’ giant slalom in 49.28. Both finished second in the other event, with Jennings the runner-up to Cohasset’s Rob Blanchard (48.63) in the GS.
“Instead of being nervous and being scared to have bad results, I had a more confident mind-set,” said Honos, who was second in the GS last year at Wachusett.
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“I knew I had the skill to be able to win. I came down absolutely winded, but that’s how you know I put my all into each run.”
Honos found it difficult to go first, with the fresh snow being powdery, but powered through to top of the leaderboard for the first time at the event.
“I’ve become much more confident,” she said. “I knew I had the skill to be able to get first. I used to be nervous at the top, nervous to go down, ‘is it going to be icy?’ ‘is it going to be ready?’ I let that all go.”
Jennings said he just took a deep breath ahead of his run, assuring himself he’d be proud of himself no matter how it goes.
“It’s a really mental sport,” he said. “It’s a lot of training, it’s a lot of time for a 40-second run. If you can beat that mental battle with yourself, you’ve just got to go. There’s nothing more to it, you don’t need to overcomplicate it.”
Marblehead was the runner-up in both the boys’ and girls’ team championships — with St. John’s Prep repeating as in the former after a recount. Prep had eight qualifiers for the tournament, and of the five athletes who had scores count for team totals, just one is a senior.
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“It’s awesome,” St. John’s Prep coach Tim Broderick said. “We won the state championship last year as well. We’re happy that we’re able to repeat. It hasn’t happened since I’ve been coach. It’s fulfilling.”
Sophomore Josh Haarmann was the team’s top finisher, earning third in the slalom, eighth in the giant slalom, and third overall. Senior Cole Hosmer was 33rd, and Aidan Rogers 39th.
“The kids are great,” Broderick said. “They do the work. They’re the best. I just try to be there to support them, but they’re all talented athletes.”
Mohawk Trail repeated as girls’ team champion, led by Addie Loomis, who won the slalom (47.86 seconds) and took second in the giant slalom. .
AJ Traub can be reached at aj.traub@globe.com.