Stowe got a nice refresher just before the UVM Carnival, and we had nice conditions for the skate sprint. Lily was the top women in 52nd and Mac led the team with an impressive 15th in the qualifier, but the big story of the day was Sam - he's always been more of a distance grinder type guy, but on this day he found an extra gear and qualified in 24th! Sean just missed it in 32nd - with 2 open skiers in the heats, he still achieved a top 30 finish. The heats didn't go our way, unfortunately - Sam crashed and Mac's skis were a bit slow, and they ended up in 26th and 24th, respectively. Still quite a good day with all of our men's scorers in the top 30 - something that's becoming a regular event! That night we had our traditional dinner at the Miller house, with a great turnout of team parents in attendance.
Next day was beautiful and crisp - perfect for a classic race. The women got it started with a good solid day, with Hannah leading the way in 17th (for college skiers). Kaitlynn and a few other elite skiers competed as guests, and Kaitlynn won the overall race by a solid margin - good day for the Miller sisters! The men followed up with an absolutely stellar performance. Ian was taking splits - we've never done much with splits in our program, but this year we decided to give it a shot, and this was our first day trying out Racesplitter. When the early splits started coming in, we didn't dare to give them to the athletes - they were so good we were afraid to believe them! Turns out that they were real. Mac caught a ride from Williams' top skier and hung on all the way to the finish to take 8th place (for college skiers), and Sean was right behind in 10th. Orion and Jake were separated by less than a second in 25th and 26th, respectively. Two men in the top 10 and four in the top 30! We've accomplished each of those feats once before, but not on the same day, so this was quite possibly the best day we've ever had on the men's side. Just a great, great day and a lot of fun to watch. Happily, we had a lot of parents there to witness it and also some enthusiastic alumni!
At home between carnivals we enjoyed some great skiing at Pineland, including a nice OD with some beautiful crust cruising.
Just as we were gearing up to leave for Craftsbury and the Dartmouth Carnival, a big storm came in and just kept getting bigger. With some last minute scrambling and some help from supportive professors, we were able to get out of town just before things blew up. Driving wasn't great going across New England, but with the worst of it confined to the south and the coast, it wasn't too bad. Temps dropped quickly after the storm, and we woke up to a nice cold day for our 3x5k skate relay. Our top men's team of Sam, Sean, and Mac battled to a 9th place finish - our second best relay finish ever. Hannah, Ellie, and Lily put up the top finish for the women - a very respectable 14th. After the races, the teams got together for their usual Carni Crush activities. As usual, I stayed clear of the festivities, but I'm told that our team's crushing was more or less tasteful and not too embarrassing. I understand that ice cream and dancing with wolves were involved.
The next day was a combined carnival/Eastern Cup, so there was a huge crowd of juniors, as well as a few masters and a handful of elite skiers - quite a scene. Sean was our top performer for the men in 19th, and Jake found his form to post his best finish ever in 24th. The women followed and skied one of their best overall races of the season. Hannah was 10th, with Lily in 37th and Ellie 52nd. Fiona, Rachel, and Katja all had PRs - really solid skiing by everyone and a good finish to a rather hectic weekend. Many thanks to all the parents for their support, particularly Deb Miller for hosting the team for two weekends in a row! With Hannah wrapping up her college career, this looks like the end of a great 7-year run - very sad but also very grateful to Deb for all that she's done for the team over the years.
There's one final note to this long post: after a great OD workout on Sunday, the snow started coming down again. This storm was even bigger than Thursday's - big enough to cancel classes for the first time in 10 years. No idea how much actually fell, but it was a lot - I'd guess at least 18 inches and possibly more. The skiers enjoyed their day off and had quite a romp around campus! Nice way to recharge after a carnival - should be enough to see us through the season with great skiing the rest of the way.
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