Winter sports previews: Derryfield School

Last winter, the Derryfield School found plenty of success indoors and outdoors in winter sports. This year, the Cougars look to replicate, and in some cases improve, those showings, while some teams look to reload after losing many athletes to graduation. More on each team:

Boys basketball

Head coach:

– Ed Meade (6th season)

Last season:

– 17-2 last season (lost it the quarterfinals of the state tournament)

Key returners:

– Sam Fazelat (Junior captain)
– Jon Martinez  (Junior)
– Lukas Gaff (Sophomore captain)
– Blake Moskov (Sophomore captain)

Promising newcomers:

– Keith Townsend (Sophomore)

– Jake Larson (Freshman)

– Liam Ceaser (Junior)

Potential challenges/expectations:

“Our main challenge will be experience. We lost nine seniors from last season, so this is pretty much a new team and very young. We definitely have some talent, but it will take some time for them to learn to play together.” – Meade

Girls basketball

Head coach:

• Courtney Cheetham (5th season)

Last season:

– 12-6 regular season

– Won first round playoff game at Oyster River, then lost to eventual champion Concord Christian in quarterfinals

Key Returners:

– Chloe Bremberg (Captain)

– Tia Ferdinando (Captain)

– Katie McCormick (Captain)

– Bre McCabe (Sophomore)

– Ella LaFlamme (Junior)

– Kelsey Beekman (Sophomore)

– Kim Amendah (Senior)

– Briana Sanchez (Senior)

Promising newcomers:

– Anna Fazelat (Freshman)

– Angie Kenison (Sophomore)

– Emma Sloper (Sophomore)

Potential challenges:

“A lot of new faces that have a key role, so it may take time to gel, but looking forward to seeing that progress.” – Cheetham

Expectations:

“Hoping to build on a successful (first) year in D-II last year, and continue to show progress over time.” – Cheetham:

Nordic skiing

Head coach:

– Brian Chrzan (1st season)

Last season:

“We didn’t win much, but we gained a lot of experience and had a great time along the way.” – Chrzan

Key returners:

“Captains have not yet been selected. Many of our top skiers from last year are returning this year, including our two seniors who have been with the team throughout high school.” – Chrzan

Promising newcomers:

“We have three first-time skiers joining the team this year. We love welcoming new skiers to the team and helping them grow in the sport.” – Chrzan

Potential challenges:

“The perpetual challenge for Nordic skiers is finding good local snow to ski on. We have adapted as a team by incorporating a couple of practices each week on artificial snow loops. This will ensure that we get plenty of practice time on skis, though we are always hopeful that the weather will allow us to ski on natural snow closer to home.” – Chrzan

Expectations:

“Our main expectation is to learn and improve as skiers while maintaining our tightly-knit and welcoming team culture. That being said, we have a promising group of 9 boys on the team this year, many of whom have been skiing together since middle school. We will be looking to build on their performances from last year and become more competitive at the D-II state races. With only one senior girl and one middle school girl, we will unfortunately again not be able to field a full team on the girls side. The girls will aim to see personal improvements and have fun skiing.” – Chrzan

Alpine Skiing

Coaches:

• Head coach: Kathy Goldberg (6th season)
• Assistant: Kevin Van Dam
• Assistant: Cameron Huftalen

Last season:

– Girls placed 2nd at D-IV state championship (4th-consecutive year as runner-up

– Boys finished third in 2023 title defense

“From those races, we qualified four athletes to compete at the Meet of Champions, racing against the top athletes from all divisions. Three of those racers earned a spot on the very prestigious High School Easterns tea, and represented Team New Hampshire at a race against the best High School racers from 12 states.” – Goldberg

Top returners:

– Alex Benson (Senior captain)

– Lucy Yakola (Senior captain)

– Aubrey Webb (Senior)

– Piper Locke (Senior)

– Will Cairns (Junior captain)

– Myles Rozen (Junior)

– Chloe Larson (Junior)

– Alex Benson (Junior)

– Pola Jankowska (Junior)

– Jake Oliviero (Junior – 2023-’24 D-IV All-Conference)

– Teagan Peabody (Junior – 2023-’24 D-IV All-Conference)

– Reese Bishop (Sophomore)

Promising newcomers:

– Sammy Oliviero (Freshman)

– Charlotte Belanger (Freshman)

– Garrett Lande (Junior)

– Logan Garin (Sophomore)

“We have some strong skiers coming up from the middle school team as well as some strong recreational skiers who will be learning to ski gates this year.” – Goldberg

Potential challenges:

“The weather is our biggest challenge with the potential for some races to cancel for not enough snow, or others for snow days.” – Goldberg

Expectations:

“We start our race season next week with a slalom race at Bretton Woods and will begin our on snow training at Pats Peak after the New Year. We are looking forward to seven regular season races this year, and hope to take on all the Manchester City Teams at the Manchester City Cup Race at McIntyre in February … We are hoping for some great team results at our State Championships this year, and we have a lot of skiers hoping to secure a spot for the Meet of Champions.” – Goldberg

Note: All coaches have been reached out to for our pre-season survey. The teams of those who responded are featured here.