NCAAs 2018

Back home after a successful NCAA Championships - what a week!  Turns out that Steamboat is really far away from Maine - getting out there was no easy task.  We originally planned to fly out Friday after classes, but the "bomb cyclone" that swept through the Northeast put a wrench in our plans - all flights cancelled, so we had to wait until Sunday afternoon.  Sad face emoji.  We made the best of our situation with a couple nice workouts at Quarry Road and a relaxing weekend on campus.  Still windy on Sunday, but we made it off the ground.  We got delayed again during our connection, and for a moment I had visions of being trapped in Baltimore breathing sea level air for a couple more days - fortunately, our flight finally took off and we made it to Denver late Sunday night.  Phew!  Next morning, we loaded up our beautiful red rental pickup (aka, Big Roj) and rolled out of Denver amid howling winds and blinding dust.  Denver to Steamboat is about 3 1/2 hours - just a quick trip by Western standards, but after all the delays it felt like it took forever.  Our spirits soared after a fine lunch at Jimmy John's - we weren't at all daunted by the creative and not at all accurate interpretations of our order, nor the disgruntled customer who stormed out of the building in a blaze of profanity.  Our first ski in Steamboat that afternoon went well - the course was in great shape, and we were just excited to finally get out there.

For the next few days, we kept it pretty low-key.  Some highlights:  wandering around Steamboat talking in bad Australian and British accents; seeing a couple moose ambling through the race venue; representing "Bow-doyne" College at the pep rally; taking a gondola ride to the top of Mt. Werner for the championship banquet; studying a lot (with varying levels of enthusiasm); and skiing just a bit each day.  The skiing stayed fantastic despite warm temps and blazing sun, but our breathing ability did not.  Testing wax got harder and harder, and after a couple days I was gasping for breath just lying in bed.  Going from 50 feet above sea level to 6700 feet is not super fun, folks.  Not much we could do, though - we just drank a ton of water and tried to rest as much as we could between workouts.

Thursday dawned nice and cold, but the sun was bright, and temps warmed quickly as race time approached.  As the women tested skis, we had some concern that our thin klister binder was dragging, but as things continued to warm and we continued to adjust, the skis started running well and the race was on.  Both of the women went out pretty hot - maybe not the best strategy for a race at 6700 feet, but it takes some time and experience to learn how to adjust your racing style at altitude, and we were short on both.  Even so, they hung in there and were able to post pretty competitive results - Gabby 28th, Renae 34th.  Elliot paced his race much more conservatively, but he just didn't have much pop - he'd had a slight cold all week, and this combined with the altitude really sapped his energy.  He hung in there to finish 39th, close behind a bunch of strong skiers.  It wasn't the day we were hoping for, and the skiers were a bit disappointed, but I still felt like it was a solid showing.  We were the second to last team to arrive, and it showed - we were clearly not acclimated.  The age gap was also pretty striking - our three skiers didn't really stand out in the EISA circuit, but out here it was very apparent that they were three of the youngest competitors at the championships.  So not an amazing day, but certainly nothing to hang our heads about!

Over the next couple days, we slowly started to acclimate.  Skiing on Friday, I got to the top of a big climb and felt almost not terrible - progress!  By the time Saturday rolled around, we were at least on the right side of the acclimation process.  The men's race went out super slow, and Elliot was able to hang out at the back of the train.  I could tell that he was still not feeling great, but he kept skiing smoothly even as the pace quickened and the pack splintered.  Entering the final lap, he was 38th with two skiers within sight.  It would have been easy to accept his fate and cruise it in, but instead he kept fighting and gradually reeled them in.  He dropped one and then narrowly lost a sprint finish with the other to finish 37th.  For the women, we tested wax up until the last minute and sent them sprinting off to the start with skis in hand (Colby coach Tracey Cote actually jumped in to help us apply fluoros to their skis - thanks Tracey!).  They'd obviously learned their lesson from Thursday, because they went out easy and hung around the back of the pack for the first few kilometers.  At the start of the second lap, they began steadily moving up, working together to leapfrog from one skier to another, and I knew it was going to be a good day.  Gabby had an unfortunate crash on a hidden icy patch at the end of the second lap, and she lost contact with Renae, but both of them kept fighting hard and passing people.  They kept it up until the end for a fast finish, with Renae in 28th and Gabby 33rd - easily the best skate races of the season for both of them.  I'm super proud of all three of these guys for coming back strong after not feeling great on Thursday.  They kept their heads up, paced their races well, and fought hard until the end - a fitting end to an amazing season.  It's hard to believe that these guys are only first-years - they're so far ahead of schedule!  Going into the season, if you'd told me that one of these guys would pop a single top-10 finish I would have been overjoyed.  To have all three of them qualifying for NCAAs is so far beyond my wildest hopes I can't even process it.  What's possible for the next three years?  I can't wait to find out!  When the excitement and euphoria died down, we packed up and enjoyed a nice post-race barbecue.  Then we drove out of town and cleared our heads with a nice walk up to a beautiful frozen waterfall just outside of town before hitting the road for Denver and closing the books on a fantastic week.

Thanks to Jackie Schneider for the beautiful race photos!

One last note about the championships:  It was fantastic to reconnect with some Bowdoin Nordic alumni this week!  Jackson Bloch '15 has been around the circuit all season as Colby's assistant coach - he's loving the job and doing great work with their team.  Alaska-Fairbanks head coach Nick Crawford '09 had a strong week - his program is thriving despite the threat of cuts just a couple years ago.  On our way back, we also stopped for a short visit with former Bowdoin Nordic skier Matt Klick '98 and his wife Lalida Crawford - it was great to catch up with these guys, and our kids got a nice dog/puppy fix.  Lastly, former Bowdoin Nordic assistant Adam St. Pierre was a huge help to us, lending us a ton of equipment that would have been incredibly inconvenient to lug through the airport.  Much thanks to all of these guys for their help, hospitality, and camaraderie all week!

Things are quiet now - coaches are back in Maine and the athletes are scattered for Spring Break.  Brunswick got a ton of snow last week and we're getting a full-on blizzard today - just in time for the season to be over.  There's one final chapter to write, though - Jake is competing at the Paralympics in Pyeongchang.  Can't wait to see how it goes!  I'll post an update soon.