Regionals Recap

We wrapped up the EISA season at Rumford last weekend with the Bates Carnival.  Friday was a gorgeous day - blue skies and sun, with clean snow and good coverage over the whole course.  With the slightly transformed, rapidly warming snow, waxing got a bit tricky - seems like we've had a lot of those this year.  We got a decent klister combination dialed in for the women - a touch slow, but great kick, which was a worthwhile trade-off on the very hilly course.  They responded with one of their best team performances of the season.  All six of them had good or great races - how often does that happen?  Kaitlynn led the way in 11th, just 18 seconds from 3rd despite not feeling great.  Hannah had another outstanding classic race in 21st, and Shelby set a new PR with a 38th place finish.  As a team, they finished 5th, the best single-race finish ever for the women's nordic team - outstanding!  The women have consistently been finishing in the top half of the field this season - it's been exciting to see them establish themselves as a group that can challenge almost any team in the conference on any given day.  The men's race was respectable, although not quite as thrilling - skis dragged a bit, which definitely held the guys back somewhat.  James was his usual consistent self with a solid 34th place finish, and Jackson skied a fantastic race to set a new classic PR in 40th.

Saturday was overcast with flurries, with nice fast snow after Friday's warm weather.  Kaitlynn hung in there for 18th place - she was obviously tired, but showed great tenacity to stick with her group when it would have been easy to fade back into the middle of the pack.  Tess was the biggest hero of the day - she found a spark and showed great fire throughout the race, finishing 44th for her best performance of the year.  She's struggled to find her form this season after a big increase in training, and it was great to see her close out the season with a great race.  The seniors wrapped up their careers with strong races as well - Hannah 33rd and Emma 53rd, perhaps her best skate race ever.  Both seniors have made impressive comebacks to have outstanding seasons - Hannah worked incredibly hard to rehab her ACL injury, while Emma bounced back from a year abroad with no skiing.  They've both come a long, long way since they arrived at Bowdoin, and I couldn't be more proud.  We'll miss them both so much next year.

The men's race was a grueling slog - the course was even hillier than the classic course, and the hills had gotten chopped up and sloppy.  Although these are the worst possible conditions for a big strong guy, James toughed it out for another 34th place finish, with Jackson right behind in 35th.  Both of them have been remarkably consistent this year regardless of technique, distance, or conditions - a great sign of not just versatility, but also excellent mental focus.  Riley also had an outstanding race, finishing 49th for his best performance of the season - an encouraging sign as we look ahead to his senior year.

RESULTS

After the races, a few of us headed over to Sunday River for the end-of-season awards ceremony.  Kaitlynn was named to the All-East Second Team - the first time ever that we've had a skier earn All-East honors.  We also had seven skiers earn EISA All-Academic honors - James, Hannah, Emma, Jackson, Tyler, Eva, and Tess.  I'm constantly impressed by how all of our skiers are able to maintain excellent grades while also spending countless hours on training, racing, and travel for skiing.  They're a truly talented and hard-working group, and I'm really proud of them.  Congratulations to all of you!

As usual, we had great support from the team parents this weekend.  We were fortunate to have the women's team hosted by the Aseltines and the men hosted by the Lessards - it was great to have the skiers staying in quiet, peaceful places closer to the race venue.  We also had a strong turnout of fans from campus - our non-carnival skiers showed up to cheer, along with several former team members.  Lastly, Sierra and Scott provided excellent waxing assistance throughout the weekend.  Thanks to all of you for your support last weekend and all season!

So, the regular season is over, but we're not done yet.  Kaitlynn has qualified for the NCAA Championships at Middlebury next week - our first NCAA qualifier since Nicole Robillard '97 qualified three times from 1995-97.  Jackson, Tyler, and Shelby are all headed to Fairbanks for JNs in a couple weeks, and several of our skiers will be racing in various marathons and citizen races over the next few weeks, starting with the Rangeley Lakes Loppet this weekend.  We'll keep you posted on how everything goes.