UVM Carnival/Stowe Eastern Cup

Another good weekend at Trapps at the combined UVM Carnival/Eastern Cup. This was our best weekend so far as a team - good solid skiing by everyone. Friday's mass start 15/20k classic was highlighted by Kaitlynn's 19th place finish. The women beat Colby for the first time in years - I can't even guess when that last happened. The men were solid as well, with Spencer and Wilson in the top 30 and James just missing it by a lunge. Sub-par skis for a couple people kept a good day from becoming a great day, but even so this was our best ever classic showing at a carnival.

Saturday's skate was beautiful and sunny, with tons of Eastern Cup skiers joining the college crowd. Spencer led the way in 20th, following his usual pattern of picking up steam after a sluggish January. Wilson scored NCAA points for the 4th time in 5 qualifiers - he finished 29th, just 15 seconds from another top 20. Kaitlynn was our top woman in 34th with her best skate performance of the year. Hannah had a great half-race - at 2k she was just 15 seconds down to Erika Flowers of Dartmouth (who ended up finishing 4th) and she stayed on Erika's tail for another kilometer before an unfortunate stumble and face plant. This cost her a lot of time and momentum, and her result wasn't anything remarkable - still, her performance in those first 3k tells me that she's capable of skiing in the upper half of the field. With a little better luck in these next few races, she'll have some nice finishes.

Sunday's Eastern Cup also went well, although it was lightly attended by Bowdoin skiers due to illness. Grace, Alec, and Rainer all scored some of their best NENSA points ever.

EISA Results
Eastern Cup Results

Much thanks to the parents who came out to support the team this weekend. Deborah Miller hosted our team for a delicious dinner on Friday, with some help from the Lynn family, and several families were in attendance at the races with food and cheering. Here are some photos courtesy of Greg Askins and the Kenney family.





Astute alums will recognize John B. Hall '08 on the right - he and his family came out to cheer on the team on Saturday.

Saturday was also Hannah's 20th birthday.



We just found out that Dan has mono - what a bummer. After a nagging shoulder injury that cost him a lot of training and racing last year, he wasn't due for any more bad luck for a while, but he got it anyway. Here's hoping that he'll be able to make the most of these last few weeks and then have a huge season next year.