Regionals 2017

It happens every year - all of a sudden it's Regionals, and we're left wondering where the season went.  Six weeks, six carnivals - it goes by so fast!  This year Bates and Black Mountain were the hosts for our regular season finale.  After the massive snows of mid-February, we got an equally massive thaw - super warm temps all week leading up to the carnival.  Friday brought blazing sun and temps in the 50s for the 5/10k classic race.  The men's race was first - sadly, it just wasn't their day.  Most of our guys were a little off, and it didn't help that the skis dragged a bit.  Very disappointing after a season full of great classic performances.  The women were sharper and their skis ran well, and they put up some strong results.  Hannah posted her best distance result ever in 5th - one of Bowdoin Nordic's very best performances ever!  Lily also tied her distance PR, finishing 39th.  This race also served as the Chummy Broomhall Cup, or the Maine State Championship.  We finished 3rd - Lily and Sean earned Second Team All-State honors, while Hannah made the First Team.  Congratulations to Bates for a great showing to win the Cup, highlighted by an impressive victory in the overall carnival by Sadie James (sister of Bowdoin Nordic legend Emma James '13)!  UMPI also had an amazing day - their men came out of nowhere to finish 3rd overall and 1st for the Maine teams.  Obviously we're disappointed that we weren't able to put up a better showing in a race that's been a major target for us all season, but at the same time we're happy for all of these guys.  It's good for the league when new teams and individuals rise to the top - plus, all of us Maine teams have to stick together!

Clouds and rain replaced the sun the next morning, and the track was wet and slushy for the 15/20k skate.  The men's race featured a pileup right out of the gate - someone caught a ski in the slush and went down, and several skiers got tangled up, including Christian and Sam.  They both recovered nicely and skied calmly to make up for lost time.  Christian was able to catch up to the pack remarkably quickly, and pretty soon he, Jake, Mac, and Orion were skiing together, with Sean slightly ahead.  This has been the standard pattern for our men in the mass start races this year, and as usual they moved up gradually as the race went on.  Going into the final lap, Jake found an extra gear and surged ahead - Christian went with him and they picked off several more skiers before finishing in 23rd and 27th, respectively, with Mac and Sean close behind.  This was a PR for Jake - a strong and encouraging performance to finish the carnival season.  The start of the women's race was much cleaner - no major mishaps except for one unlucky person who lost a basket when her pole got stepped on.  Sadly for us, that person was Hannah.  She had just passed a crowd of people with replacement poles and was about to head into the woods, so she actually had to stop and ski backward for a couple strides.  Fortunately, Middlebury coach Andrew Johnson made a heroic effort to throw her a new pole, and she was able to get back on track.  Amazingly, she made up a ton of ground in a hurry - by the time I saw her at 3 1/2 k, she had moved to the front of the chase pack and was close behind the leaders.  By the start of the second lap, she had bridged the gap and was skiing in the top 10!  As the lead pack dwindled, she stayed right with them until it was down to 5.  They finally dropped her going up High School Hill for the third and final time, but she was able to stay clear of the chasing skiers and lock up another 5th place finish to put the cap on a fantastic weekend.  Meanwhile, the rest of the women were skiing strongly as well.  Apparently Lily fell 3 times and managed to take Fiona out during one of those falls, so that wasn't amazing, but she made up for it with an incredible third lap - she made such a huge jump that I almost missed her coming through on her final lap much earlier than I'd expected.  She finished 43rd - definitely her best 15k of the year.  Katja also skied a nice steady race, starting conservatively and skiing smoothly to pick up several places and finish in 54th - her best performance of the season.  Overall, it was a good day to end on.  Hannah's stellar finishes clinched an NCAA berth, so she's headed to Jackson next week for one last blaze of glory before her college careers winds up.  Mac has skied his final college race, sadly - "out to pasture", as he puts it.  These two have been such an integral part of our team over the last 4 years - they both played a huge role into shaping the team into what it is today, and they'll be impossible to replace.  We'll miss them both so much!

Many thanks to all of the team parents for their hard work and support all year long.  We had a great turnout of supporters for this carnival - family members, friends, alumni, and teammates showed up in great numbers and gave the whole weekend a fun and friendly feel.  In particular, thanks to Deb Miller, Meg Groves, Jim Ahearne, and Steve Fuller of Flying Point Road for the great photos in this post!