So - a few thoughts about this past season as we leave it behind. It's been a good one. The men had their best season ever as an EISA team by any measure: we had our best ever team finishes (4th - Bates skate; 5th - Midd skate; 6th - Williams skate) and individual finishes (Walt - 5th twice; Forrest - 8th; 5 skiers posting regular finishes in the 30s or better), and our percent back figures show all of our skiers closing the gap on the race winners. The women's team showed steady improvement throughout the season and individual flashes of brilliance from everyone. We have 4 of our 5 women coming back next year, so there's good reason to be excited about the future of our team.
Some other highlights, in no particular order:
- Snow: Stellar conditions at Pineland from the beginning of December through the end of March and groomed trails on campus as well.
- Maine: fall ca
mp in the western mountains; island time trial on North Haven; pre-season camp in Fort Kent; beach run at Morse Mountain - in short, we experienced some of the best training that the state has to offer.- Fall semester grades: 7 skiers at 3.5 or above, and only 3 Cs from the entire team combined.
- Persistence: Only 1 DNF (and with good reason - trailside vomiting).
- ECT: This group did a nice job of pulling together the details of race trips outside the carnival circuit. I'm glad that we were able to provide some resources to get them started, and even more glad that the older skiers showed great leadership to make things come together.
- Race season health: Only 4 carnival races total missed due to illness or injury (3 of t
hose were from the residual effects of the January camp plague).- Judgment: Good decision-making by our skiers all season long.
- Parents: Cheering, photos, and great food at every carnival, not to mention some housing support for the ECT.
As I compile this list, I'm finding plenty of reasons to feel good about what we accomplished this year. But this wasn't a perfect season, and there are some areas where we need to improve. Here are a few:
- Consistency/peaking: The plan wasn't perfect - some skiers made gains throughout the season, while others
were up and down. Our February taper took a long time to have its effect, and some of our skiers weren't "on" for the races in the middle part of the month. We saw a nice bounce at Middlebury, but some of our best results didn't come until March (Rangeley, Sugarloaf, & biathlon races). That's great if we're sending skiers to NCAAs and JNs, but we need results in January and February to get there.- Fall health: Our health in the fall wasn't terrible, but it needs to be better. We had a few skiers who were just snakebit - constantly in and out of training with nagging colds, etc. For some, this was a season-killer.
- Split practices: We held a lot of split practices, where skiers would choose between a morning or afternoon session. This was a good thing, because it minimized missed training time due to class conflicts. However, this also meant that we rarely had the whole team together at once, which is too bad. We'll have to think creatively to get around this one.
None of these challenges are insurmountable. We're learning from the good and the bad of last season - we'll put some thought into our planning this spring and come up with ways to address them. I'm super fired up about the future of this team, and I feel lucky to be here during a time when the program has momentum and is moving up. I can't wait to see the team next fall - I know we'll see some big gains over the summer. For now, we'll relax and enjoy spring at Bowdoin - a beautiful thing.
