Regionals Recap

What a way to finish the season! EISA Regionals 2012 (aka, the Middlebury Carnival, by way of Stowe) was an event none of us will soon forget. Friday was pretty standard - 5/10k skate on nice fast snow. We had a good showing, one of our best team performances of the year. Spencer led the men in 18th, with Kevin adding to his already impressive list of achievements with a season-best 27th place finish. The men's team performance was good enough to beat Colby (first time the men have beaten Colby in my 5 years at Bowdoin), as well as SLU and a few others - a very good day. The women skied as well as I've ever seen - all of them looked strong and snappy. I was thrilled to see them scrapping for seconds in the transitions, and above all pushing the V2 into the uphills. On the final long climb before entering the stadium, Kaitlynn V2-ed almost the whole thing, looking efficient and controlled the whole way. I watched all of the top women come through this area, and none attempted to V2 past the first few meters of the climb, so this was impressive. Another highlight that jumped out at me was how Erin battled to stay in contact with the skier who'd started 1 bib behind her and passed her at 2k - after losing 30 seconds in the first 2k, Erin kept it close and gave up only 12 seconds for the final 3k. It was a pretty rewarding race to watch as a coach - it was as if all of the little details I've been nagging people about all season came together for one morning. I couldn't be happier with how the women in particular skied in this race.

One final noteworthy item from the skate day (I can't call it a highlight): A skier from another team accidentally ran over a squirrel during warmups. The unfortunate creature wasn't quite dead, and the kid didn't know what to do with it. Fortunately, Riley came around the corner at the right moment - he took decisive action and put the poor thing out of its misery. Not a happy ending, but a weird and memorable incident at the end of a weird season. Good for Riley for doing what he had to do.

That evening, we got together with several team parents for a banquet of sorts at Pie in the Sky. The official banquet was cancelled when the carnival moved from Middlebury to Stowe, so we decided to get dressed up and have a banquet of our own to honor the seniors and thank the parents. It ended up being a pretty fun time and a good meal. Remarkably, we were joined by Drew, Chris, and Sierra, who had driven up from Bowdoin to watch the team race the next day - or, rather, Drew had driven them up, through darkness and some pretty heavy snow in the final miles, a heroic performance that marks him as a van driver to watch as his Bowdoin Nordic career continues.

Did I mention that it had started snowing on Friday afternoon? Several inches had accumulated by the time we turned in that night, and it was still going strong the next morning. We (the coaches) were actually unable to get the gear van up the access road to Trapps on our first try - not what I was hoping for on what was shaping up to be a tough waxing day. Eventually, we all made it to the venue to find ever-deepening snow on course and high winds howling across the field and parking lot. After some testing, we ruled out zeroes but were unable to find the perfect hard wax - the snow was reasonably warm and a bit wet and clumpy, so the cold waxes didn't give quite enough kick, but the mid-temperature waxes iced pretty badly, even when covered. The wind shaking our tent didn't make the job any easier. In the end, we sent the women off with wax that was a bit too warm for my comfort and hoped it would work out. The race was crazy - with the tracks nearly obliterated by falling snow, no one wanted to take the lead, so the pace was pretty sedate for a long time. Even if they'd wanted to ski faster, they would have had a hard time on the soft, sloppy snow. Most skiers were also struggling with skis that either slipped or clumped up with snow. Our skiers fell into the latter category, but they persevered and hung in for respectable finishes - Kaitlynn was 27th, Hannah was 35th, and Erin gave a gritty effort resulting in perhaps her best race of the season, a 45th place finish.

With some lessons learned from the women's race and a bit more time to test, we were able to get closer to an ideal wax for the men, but it was still tough to find the sweet spot between not enough kick and too much. The wind intensified and almost tore apart our tent as we were frantically waxing in the final minutes, but we managed to get the skis done on time, albeit less well-tested than we would have liked. Spencer pulled back at the last minute from what would have surely been a distastrous decision (to use his zeroes), and the race went off. The pace was even more laid back than the women's race - the leaders looked ridiculously relaxed. Gradually, the pack strung out, with Spencer hanging on to the end of a very large lead pack and Kevin in a chase pack not far behind. Over the next several kilometers, the lead pack broke up and then came back together several times. I've never seen anything like this at the collegiate level - normally when the leaders break away, they're gone, but not on this day. This was good for Spencer, as he patiently worked his way up from the low 20s to the high teens entering the final 5k lap. As the pack continued to splinter, he kept moving up - by the time we saw him for the final climb, he was at the head of a group just outside the top 10. He passed one more skier, held off his pursuers, and crossed the line with a career-best 11th place finish - a fine way to end a great career. Kevin hung in for 35th, and Scott delivered a vintage Longwell performance, leaving the stadium at the back of the pack and doggedly working his way through the field to finish 38th. Overall, it was a great effort by all of our skiers - determination and persistence played as much of a role as fitness and technique in this race. I'm extremely proud of how our team skied - they showed lots of heart out there. The only cloud on the day was the skis - ours were functional, but not as good as they could have been (we hit it for Spencer, but our adjustments for others were a bit off). It was a tough waxing day, and very few racers had great skis out there, but I think a slightly different call on my part could have improved our skis considerably and made a good day into a great one. Ah well - a good day nonetheless, and a weekend that all of our skiers can be proud of.

A final thanks to all of the parents and family members who supported us so well us all year long - they were out in force last weekend as usual, and they took great care of the skiers on a tough day for racers and spectators alike. A special thanks to Wilson, who once again provided outstanding waxing support. It was tough to see him out of the action for most of the season, and I know it was extra hard for him to be at the races yet unable to compete, yet he stepped up week after week for the sake of the team. Honestly, I don't know how we would have done it without his help this season - I'm sure we would have managed, but it would have been a lot tougher, and we probably wouldn't have had good skis as often as we did. Lastly, a sad farewell and congratulations to all 7 of our seniors - it's been a great run.

Of course, nothing's over just yet. A few folks are racing the Loppet at Rangeley this weekend, as well as a few other events throughout March. We'll keep the updates coming as things happen.