Jumping into a new sport

I stumbled across this story while catching up on the New Hampshire primary. I love that certain sports thrive in select areas of the country, like lacrosse in Maryland, field hockey in the Northeast, and eight-man football in some Plains states. That's why -- after reading about Rudy Giuliani's thoughts regarding a vice presidential choice -- I checked for sports stories on the Concord Monitor's website, where I found this story on prep ski jumping. Sounds like fun for both the athletes and reporters. I'd love to cover ski jumping. Getting out on the slopes alone would be worth the trip. I'd also like to learn how the sport is scored for team results. It appears points are awarded for reaching certain distances. Perhaps, scores are calculated based upon difficulty, like in diving. After reading this story, it also appears four skiiers' efforts count toward a team's overall score, where the higher score wins -- unlike in cross-country running. I'd love to hear from anybody who has covered this intriguing sport. (Send photos as well, if you can.) In the meantime, I'll try to determine how scores will tally up next Tuesday in that other rollicking competition in the Granite State, where we'll learn if Hillary Clinton has an inside game, whether Mitt Romney can defend the home court, and if Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama have the endurance to win this political marathon.

Here's the Monitor's ski jumping story:

Joe Merrow of Hopkinton came in first overall, scoring 51 points after three jumps of 12 meters in the season-opener at Blackwater's K18 hill.

It was Concord, however, that took home first-place team honors with 370 points. Nashua South was second at 368, followed by Plymouth (367.5), Hopkinton (365), Sunapee (258.5) and John Stark (240).

Parker Finch (fourth place) led the Tide, scoring 44.5 points with the longest jump of the night at 13 meters. Matt Bengston (sixth), Gavin Guay (ninth) and Bryan Higgins (15th) rounded out Concord's scoring.

Also earning points for Hopkinton were Duncan Sweny (third) and Brian Scala and Brooks Wood (tied for 21st). The Hawks' Olivia Wheat came in first overall for the girls.

Greg Franciscovich, competing for the first time, led John Stark with a 27th-place finish. Sam Harris (30th) and Sarah Ray (35th overall, fifth for girls) completed the Generals' scoring.

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