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Andover girls skiing surged to a second-place finish at the Mass. State meet, finishing just two points short of Westford Academy for the title.

"We were psyched to be finalists," said Golden Warriors coach Tom Busta. "But it was disappointing.  Two points, that's like the length of a pen. Like a shot going around the rim and out. But a lot of teams would be happy to be where we are."

Andover's Kerry Christopher and Jess Kearns went 1-2 in the Bove Meet 11th-12th grade race. Christopher and boys standout Reed Spencer had the fastest times of the day.

Led by Julia Ganley, Andover placed five of its eight skiers in the top 15 to win the girls Interscholastic meet. Ganley came in third overall followed by Sara Faigel in sixth to spark the title run. North Andover finished as runner-up driven by fifth-place Alyssa Zahoruiko and Allie Roberts in seventh.

Andover's girls skiers completed an unbeaten regular season (10-0) with a 90-45 victory over Masconomet. Jess Kearns, Julia Ganley, Kerry Christopher and Nicole Ericson finished second through fifth overall for the Warriors. They'll be the favorite in next Tuesday's Interscholastic Meet at Bradford.

Taking three of the top four spots, Andover remained unbeaten with its dominating ski victory over Masconomet. Kerry Christopher was the overall winner for the Warriors followed by Jess Kearns in third place and Julia Ganley in fourth.

North Andover senior Alyssa Zahoruiko nipped Andover's Jess Kearns, winning in 20.86 for her first victory at Bradford Ski Area as both the Knights and unbeaten Warriors both won their ski meets.

Despite the mild winter, the ski season got underway at the Bradford Ski Area for local girls yesterday and Andover made a dominating statement. The Warriors whipped both North Andover and Manchester Essex and, led by winner Jess Kearns, had the top three places and four of the top five.