Meredith Skier Captures LaFoley Championship

--- Excerpt from the April 12, 2007 Meredith News newspaper ---

NEW HAMPTON – Meredith skier Matt Dodge (New Hampton School) captured the Men's Overall Title in the New Hampshire Alpine Racing Association's 2007 LaFoley Spring Series in the eighth and final race of the Series on Sunday, April 1. He bettered over 100 high school and college racers vying for the title. The LaFoley Spring Series is a grouping of eight slalom and giant slalom events held at various New Hampshire ski areas each March weekend. Points are given to the first thirty finishers in each race and the racer with the highest points at the end of the eight contests wins the series. Dodge accumulated a total of 545 points in the eight races, easily outstripping the 350 points earned by the second place skier.

"Matt was very consistent throughout the Spring Series, especially in slalom," New Hampton Head Alpine Coach Jason Guilbert commented. "He took advantage at the right races and it worked out very well."

After missing the first race of the season, Dodge faced strong competition from Neil Hansen (BBTS, Waterville Valley) and Alec Peters (Franconia Ski Club). He finished second in the next race and skied well in the next third and fourth races to pull into first place, but the series still came down to the last two races. The final race of the series, a slalom at Attitash, was the deciding factor. Dodge finished second, just one-tenth of a second behind Joshua Kernan of Colby College on total time. The second-place finish earned Dodge enough points to secure the Series title.

Dodge will be presented with the Pepi Hermann trophy to commemorate his series championship. He is a member of the NHARA Development Team and is a 4-year member of New Hampton School's USSA/FIS Ski team. He is co-captain of New Hampton's boys' varsity soccer team, a member of the road cycling team and is a high honor roll student.