Dartmouth Carnival

We were back at Stowe last weekend for the Dartmouth Carnival - no snow in Hanover. This was sad, since Oak Hill is a fun and challenging course (and is also a lot closer to home). On the other hand, Trapps is a great course as well, and there was plenty of snow, so we weren't too disappointed. In Friday's 5/10k skate race, the first-years were the big story. Kevin finished 31st, just one place away from his first ever NCAA points - it's rare for us to have a first-year in this position, so this is exciting stuff. Jackson continued his impressive season with another stellar race, finishing just 29 seconds from NCAA points. Lots of other good races - Kaitlynn and Maren were their usual consistent selves, and Erin once again pulled off a solid finish despite feeling completely depleted during her warmup.

The classic day was another "not quite klister, not quite hard wax" day. This could have been rough, but it wasn't - we certainly had to scramble, but we managed decent skis, thanks in large part to Wilson (sadly still injured), who served as our third wax tech. Spencer was also a true team player, jumping in at the last minute to help make an adjustment to Steph's skis. Spencer also had our best finish of the day - he skied in a train just off the lead pack, picking off several skiers in the final kilometers to finish 18th, his best classic result ever. However, Alec had the race of the day - The Perfect Race, in fact. He skied patiently and paced himself well, moving up throughout the race for a career-best 41st place finish. Last year, Alec showed a real aptitude for the long races, and I had a feeling that he was due for a good one - it was a thrill to see him discover his inner Magnar and break out for a huge race. On the women's side, Kaitlynn posted a solid 26th place finish. Kaitlynn has a remarkable ability to get kick from minimal wax, and in this race she ended up going on a colder klister applied super thin. She had OK kick, but not quite enough for her to really glide it out on the long climbs. Nonetheless, she kept herself in the race through determination and fast skis - an impressive effort. Hannah also skied very well, and Steph gritted out a competitive finish despite clearly not feeling her best. Last year, Steph had a pretty not-fun 15k classic race at Trapps - Saturday's race was a clear indicator of how far she's come since then.

The nice thing about the Dartmouth Carnival is that the weekend ends with the traditional Carni Crush (or Carnival Crush, as some of us oldsters call it). This is always a fun time, and everyone goes home happy regardless of how the races went. Here are a few of our team's more notable crushes: a dead lobster (Maren), a dead fish (Hannah), chocolate abs (Wilson), an elegant dinosaur drawing (Alec), a romantic vocal and guitar performance (Scott), a hilarious parody of a parody song (Jackson), and a Ben and Jerry's themed poem (complete with actual pints) from our women to the SLU men. Very impressive effort by all (except for a super lame men's team that shall not be named).

Once again, we were the fortunate guests of the Miller family, who hosted the women and made another delicious meal for the whole team. Thanks so much to Deborah and Hannah for opening their home to our team yet again! Thanks also to the many parents in attendance - your support was amazing. I've been lucky to receive a huge array of photos for the past two carnivals, courtesy of Greg Askins, Cathy Hoose, and Ron Aseltine, and I'm way overdue to post them - I promise I'll get these up shortly.