NCAA Skate

We were lucky to end the 2014 season on an absolutely gorgeous day at Soldier Hollow.  It was sunny and warm, but the snow was frozen and fast, and it stayed fairly firm through both races - perfect for skate racing.  James and Kaitlynn both skied well and showed great tenacity.  James hung with the pack for a while before finding the pace a bit too fast - he dropped back but didn't stop fighting, and was able to pick up a couple places in the final kilometers to finish 35th.  The women's field went out at a furious pace, and Kaitlynn quickly decided that she'd be better off skiing her own race - she was well back after the first few kilometers, but she kept pushing, skiing smoothly and steadily gaining on the skiers in front of her.  By the end of the race, she'd moved up to 28th - a well-paced and determined effort.  Overall, a great day and a nice finish to James's and Kaitlynn's Bowdoin Nordic careers.  These two have been pillars of our program for a long time, and they've done a lot to make our team a better place.  Working with them has been a pleasure - I feel so lucky to have had the chance to coach them.  It's hard to imagine next year without them - they'll be missed!

One thing that's been pretty special about this week is the amazing support and encouragement we've received.  There's been a decent amount of positive press about our skiers' accomplishments, and we've heard a lot of kind words and good wishes from a lot of people in the past few days.  We had a great crew of parents and alumni helping out and cheering this week - pretty amazing considering that we're a long way from Bowdoin.  No one has helped our team more this week than Wilson - he's been outstanding as our volunteer wax tech.  It's been a lot of fun testing skis and waxing with him these past few days, and it's neat to see how far he's come in the last couple years as a professional coach.  One last thing that's made this week great has been working with other EISA schools.  Our wax cabin was in a small group with Colby, Bates, Williams, and Harvard - all week we've been constantly talking and sharing information in an effort to help each other have a successful week.  It's pretty cool to be part of such a supportive ski community.

So now the 2014 season is over for real.  It's been a great season - far better than I could have imagined when we all came together last fall.  I'm already looking forward to next year.  For now, though, we'll all enjoy a bit of a break.  A few folks will do a little more racing over Spring Break - I'll post updates about this and anything else team-related, including photos from NCAAs.