CHARLEMONT — Led by senior Jon Dunn and freshman Billy Warren, the Hampshire Regional boys alpine skiing team took home its fourth consecutive PVIAC South Division title on a sunny Thursday afternoon at Berkshire East. 

Dunn beat out Warren by 0.8 seconds to claim fourth place overall in the combined standings between the giant slalom run in the morning and the slalom run in the afternoon. Warren finished fifth.

Though Dunn got the best of Warren on Thursday afternoon, Warren won the South Division individual title by just a point over Dunn, who placed second in the season-long competition.

Though Dunn only has the MIAA state meet on Feb. 27 remaining in his high school career, he’s confident he’s leaving the team in good hands.

“(Warren) did very good from last year to this year,” Dunn said. “We’ll see how they do next year without me, but I think they got a pretty good team going, so we’ll see how the youngsters do.”

Though postponements and uncooperative weather have forced racers to ski in some unfavorable conditions in regular season meets, Thursday’s championship gave racers some of the best racing conditions of the season.

“It was really great today,” Warren said. “Groomers did a great job today and the course held up.”

Next up is the state meet at Wachusett Mountain. Both Dunn and Warren said they didn’t ski as well as they would have liked at last year’s meet, and they’re looking to improve on their times in the final race of the year.

In the next two weeks of practice, they said they’ll be working to ski hard on turns, get over on their edges and go hard on the ice.

Under where?

On the final day of the season for most skiers, several teams came out in costume. Pope Francis and Longmeadow wore onesies. Another team wore full suits.

Hampshire’s entire team wore boxers over their uniforms and the boys’ team wore Hawaiian shirts on top.

Dressing up for the PVIAC Championships in various themes has been a yearly tradition for Hampshire, and the girls’ team wore boxers last year as well.

“I think it makes it more fun,” Dunn said. “The season is kind of over, so it’s more just seeing where you place after your two races combined together. I think people just want to have fun.”

Around the mountain

In addition to Dunn and Warren in fourth and fifth, Hampshire’s Isaac Stith placed ninth.

Hampshire’s Ella Cleary also placed ninth place in the combined standings. She finished ninth in the slalom and fifth in the giant slalom.

Hampshire finished the season second in the South Division, two points behind East Longmeadow. In the individual league standings, Dana Warren led the pack in seventh, with Cleary in eighth and Tessa Burke in 10th.

The Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School boys team finished second to Hampshire in the South standings. Teddy Scott placed fifth, James Scott finished seventh and Clayton English slotted in at eighth for the Dragons. 

PVCICS’ girls team finished fourth in the South Division. Sarah Fardal placed third in the individual standings — she finished 10th in the giant slalom and 12th in the slalom.

Northampton’s girls team placed second in the North Division standings to Mohawk Trail and the boys placed third, to Mohawk Trail and Longmeadow.

Giselle Ohm led the Blue Devils in 21st place on Thursday, with teammates Camilla Hatch (22nd) and Maeve Skelton (23rd) right behind.

’Hamp’s Keller Mahoney finished fourth in the slalom but did not finish the giant slalom, which meant he did not place in the combined standings. Jasper Tuck wound up as the Devils’ top finisher Thursday, taking 23rd overall.

Amherst’s boys team tied with Agawam for fourth place in the North division while the girls team finished in sixth. Maya Phillips (30th) and Myles Reddington (54th) were the top finishers for the Hurricanes on Thursday.