CHARLEMONT — Murmurs grew across the large group of spectators at the bottom of Berkshire East Mountain Resort as Mohawk Trail’s Phineas Tuttman swerved through the giant slalom course on Thursday night. Tuttman sailed to the bottom of the mountain to a shower of cheers, easily posting the best time in the boys’ race at the first PVIAC alpine ski meet of the winter.

The Warriors senior posted a time of 29.07 seconds, nearly three seconds faster than any other participant on the boys side, to finish first. After he found his parents in the crowd, his father showed him where he placed using the live results link on his phone. When Tuttman saw the first-place finish, he hugged his mom and dad in excitement.

It was quite the moment to kick off his senior season.

“That was a great feeling,” Tuttman said. “The adrenaline kind of left my body a bit, and seeing them and seeing the number one spot, it definitely feels good.”

Tuttman admitted he felt nervous at the top of the mountain given it’s the first meet, but putting forth a performance like that will certainly settle those moving forward.

“I was just pushing it, and the conditions were amazing,” he said. “Berkshire has done a great job keeping everything in shape… We’ve done everything to get out as much as possible, working hard in the dry land season working out every day, so coming in now, everyone is feeling prepared and feeling good. We’ve been pushing each other.” 

Grayson Bishop placed sixth (33.05), Benjamin Zarotny grabbed ninth (33.98) and Liam Zarotny slid into 10th (35.88) to round out Mohawk Trail’s top finishers. Gunnar Triggs (30th, 39.82), Zavel Gardner (31st, 40.12) and Oliver Ferris (34th, 40.29) all had strong showings for the Warriors on Thursday as well.

As for the girls race, they took on Berkshire East’s slalom course. Mohawk Trail’s Addie Loomis kicked the season off on the right foot, blazing through in a time of 46.35 seconds to take first place. 

The Warriors littered the top 50. Lydie Pinkham  placed fourth (48.73), Sofiya Slocik-Gritzner came in eighth (51.99), Grace Sisum took 13th (54.42), Brooke Koshinsky finished in 19th (59.60), Caroline Makoskiej came in 31st (65.48), Teagan Hale took 45th (74,96), Ohia Dellert finished in 47th (75.39) while Charlotte Bishop placed 50th (76.52) for Mohawk Trail.