UNH Carnival 2014

Another good weekend at the UNH Carnival.  Jackson got a little snow prior to the races, and the course was in decent shape by the time we showed up.  This was nice - since their 5k loop is one of the most fun courses around, it was great to be able to ski the whole thing and enjoy decent conditions.  Friday was very cold, and the snow was super abrasive - always tough for a classic race.  Although the tracks were pure ice under a thin skim of powder in many spots, we were able to avoid klister with a binder/hardwax combination that was nice and fast with good kick.  The Millers were on fire, finishing 6th (Kaitlynn) and 16th (Hannah) in a very fast and tightly contested race.  As a team, the women finished 6th, just a few points from 4th.  James was recovering from a cold and didn't race, but Riley and Tyler stepped up to lead the men in 41st and 42nd (EISA), respectively.

Things warmed up slightly for Saturday's mass start skate.  Riley provided the big highlight of the day with a tremendous effort, finishing as the 17th EISA skier.  It was super fun to watch his race - he got off to a good start in the middle of the pack and then steadily moved up, skiing into the top 30 by the mid-point and then picking off a few more to break into the top 20 by the finish.  It was an impressive performance - great to see months of hard work pay off.  James got tripped up at the start and had to pass dozens of skiers to bring himself back into a competitive position - although this required a costly effort, he was able to hang on to finish 27th.  Jackson rounded out the men's scoring in 34th and also earned an NCAA point for his efforts (a few non-carnival EISA skiers were ahead of him and didn't count in the NCAA scoring).  On the women's side, Kaitlynn hung around the top 10 or 12 for most of the race and picked up a couple spots in the final kilometers to finish 7th.  Hannah got off to a fast start and then looked like she might fade before surging back to hold onto 27th.  She's now 4 races into her college career and has scored NCAA points in each of them - perhaps the most consistent start of any Bowdoin first-year nordic skier I've seen.  Tess and Eva went back and forth in a battle for the final scoring spot, finishing 48th and 49th, respectively.  Overall, another great weekend for our team.  In addition to somewhat frequent breakthroughs, we're seeing solid, consistent skiing from the team as a whole - these guys look really good out there.  Right now our highs are as high as they've ever been and our lows are actually not too bad, so I like the direction were headed.  Can't wait to get back at it this weekend!

Thanks to all the parents who braved the cold to support the team and provide hot soup and snacks!  Deb Miller was once again on the job with photos - here are a few: