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With the seven of the top eight finishers at Bradford Ski Area yesterday, St. John's Prep easily swept past Andover and Masconomet to remain unbeaten in North Shore Ski League competition.

A strong, deep St. John's Prep squad placed three of the top four skiiers to handily win its opener over North Andover, 103-32, despite Nate Miceli's seventh-place finish. The Knights recovered to beat Manchester Essex. Andover rode the efforts of Tom Suglia and Adam Risman to a split, beating Austin Prep and falling to Masconomet. Despite the best efforts of Owen Kallery, Haverhill lost to Austin Prep in its season opener.

Andover ski coach Tom Busta described the scene in baseball language.

"It was like being down by two runs heading into the bottom of the ninth," he said. "Then coming back with three runs to win it."

The top local performance at the Division 1 states was by Pinkerton's Andrew Husson, who placed seventh in the slalom. Londonderry's Cameron Rouleau placed ninth and was 12th in the giant slalom. Tyler Somen led Windham with a 32nd in the Division 2 slalom.

Nick Sherman had the fastest time of the day and teammate Matt Cummings was second to lead Andover to easy wins over Manchester Essex and Haverhill.

The top two North Shore League skiers on the day were Andover’s Nick Sherman (20.40) and St. John’s Prep freshman Bobby Holmes of North Andover (20.61).

Behind stellar outings for Nick Sherman and Matt Cummings, the Andover boys placed second as a team at the Mass. state meet.

"I've been the coach here for 11 years and this is the best finish we've had," said Golden Warriors head coach Tom Busta. "This is the best day we've had I remember. It was a great reward."

The 1-2 punch of Matt Cummings and Adam Risman allowed Andover to barely edge rival St. John's Prep in the Interscholastic Meet at Bradford. Cummings scorched the slalom and giant slalom courses for a combined 49.13 clocking, almost 1 1/2 seconds better than teammate Risman. Solid depth points from Tom Suglia and Matt Binder helped lock up the win for the Golden Warriors.

Nick Sherman (23.11) and Matt Cummings (23.48) continued to dominate, placing first and second individually as Andover topped North Andover 124-11 by lost to undefeated St. John's Prep 72-63. The Golden Warriors' only two losses of the season have been to the Eagles. 

Befitting the standings, Andover and St. John's Prep dominated with 13 of the top 15 finishers in yesterday's North Shore Ski League action.

Golden Warriors' Matt Cummings and Nick Sherman finished 1-2 overall in a 103-32 drubbing of Masconomet, and Wesley Groom led five Eagle finishers in the top 10 in a 130-5 verdict over North Andover. Sam Durfee placed 22nd overall to lead the Scarlet Knights.

Former Pelham High star Patrick Moulton, who currently lives in Providence, was the top finisher at Sunday's Boston Prep 16-Miler in Derry. Moulton, 28, finished in 1:25:56, which is a 5:23 pace per mile. Lisa Ferrisi of Windham, N.H., was the top woma in her age category (30-39) with a 1:55.53 and was the fifth woman overall. There were 705 finishers.

Andover's boys ski team, which opened the season with a 99-36 win over Masconomet, had the first (Nick Sherman) and third-place (Matt Cummings) finishers, but St. John's Prep took second and fourth through ninth while routing North Andover 126-9.

Tyler Zahoruiko beat the field by more than two seconds (39.81) to take the top spot in the boys senior division at The Bove Memorial Race at Bradford Ski Area. Haverhill's Mara Jaffarian, an Austin Prep student, came in first in the girls senior division in 43.95. In the junior division, Adam Risman of Andover and Jackie Shaw of Austin Prep won their races, and Kerry Christopher and Joey Cavallaro, both of the Bradford Ski Team, came in first in the middle school division.

For the first time in Tom Busta's 11 years as head coach, the Andover boys ski team finished the regular season undefeated (10-0) after whipping Masconomet 104.5-30.5 yesterday. Sophomore Nick Sherman led the way, finishing second overall, Adam Risman tied for fifth and freshman Matt Cummings tied for eighth.