Dramatic weather swings these last couple weeks have made for some interesting racing! The continued warm weather leading up to the Williams Carnival had us worried, but somehow Prospect was able to pull off a full 5k loop. On Day 1 it rained steadily, and the course was riddled with dirt patches and puddles. One of the messiest races I've been part of for a while. It wasn't pretty, but the snow held up and the race happened! Our skiers gave it a brave fight and managed respectable finishes - Carson 22, Adam 25 (a personal best!) and Zach 26 for men, and Emma 19, Jori 22, and Aggie 28. It was a real grind, but the skiers had great attitudes - afterward they all said they'd had fun out there skiing through the rain and fog. Definitely a different experience - not the kind of thing you'd want to do every race, but also a cool thing to have been part of. Day 2 was strikingly different - it froze up overnight, and somehow they managed to groom the remaining snow into a beautiful fast (slightly icy) surface that made for great skate racing. Times for both races were super fast and super tight. Carson skied brilliantly and was on his way to a top 10 finish before falling on the final downhill and breaking a binding - he was able to get a replacement quickly, but the damage was done and he ended up in 21st. A top 10 finish would have put him in a really secure place for NCAA qualifying, but instead he ended up getting passed on the points list by another skier - just a heartbreaking reversal of fortune. Zach (26) and Adam (30) were solid to complete the scoring. The women finished in a tight little cluster - Jori 25, Emma 26, and Aggie 27. We had 7 women in this race, and all of them finished in the top 43 - a great display of depth. As a team we were 6th in the nordic scoring.
While all this was happening, our non-carnival crew went over to the Eastern Cup Finals at Dublin. In the Day 1 skate sprint, Mia qualified for the open heats in 17th and skied a strong quarterfinal to move up to 15th in the final standings. Francie and Grace E ended up in the U18/U20 bracket and advanced to the finals, finishing 4th and 5th, respectively. I joined them on my way home from Prospect, and we all stayed at Francie's house for the night - huge thanks to Melissa and Steve Trafton for hosting and taking such good care of our group! The Day 2 classic was a beautiful sunny day featuring yet more klister. Michael got us started with his best classic race of the year, a solid 54th place finish. He's worked hard and has learned a ton this year, and it was fun to see him skiing competitively in the middle of a strong junior field. On the women's side, Emma provided the big fireworks by taking the win! First ever Eastern Cup win by a Bowdoin skier, so that was exciting. Grace (17) and Francie (22) skied strong races as well, both holding their technique together nicely - so good to see the progress they've made since we first got on snow at Thanksgiving! Overall a fun day to close out a busy weekend.
In just a few short days, it was time to pack up for Regionals in Lake Placid. We were able to get permission to leave a day early to beat the storm coming in on Wednesday night, which was a real blessing - it's a long drive to Placid, and it was really nice to be safe and sound when the snow really started falling. The skiing at Mt. Van Hoevenberg was fantastic, and we were all suitably impressed by the new course - might be the hilliest course I've ever seen. That was great news for Morgan - she absolutely crushed the skate race, finishing 14th (just 15 seconds from 4th!). Emma in 22nd, Kira 26th, and Jori 28th gave us four women in the top 30 - another great display of our depth. For the men, Carson finished 25th, Adam 29th, and Ayden 30th - his first time ever scoring for the team! The next day's 20k classic was a long, cold slog - single digit temps and a lot of time grinding up and down those huge hills. Skis were hit or miss for the women - Morgan (24) and Jori (25) really battled out there, and Kira was her usual consistent self in 35th to complete the scoring. The men came out with good fire - Zach skied a wonderfully relaxed and focused race to finish 20th. Carson started out strong, faded in the middle of the race, and then rallied to gain a bunch of places to end in 25th - a nice display of perseverance. James was the star of the day, though - he settled in right around the top 30 and skied incredibly smoothly to hold his position. On the final lap a group of guys were chasing hard, but he outlasted them to lock up his first ever 30th place finish - what a race! James has been close to the top 30 several times this year, and it was so special to see him finally get it on the final day of the carnival season - a well-earned accomplishment. We were 7th for the weekend, just one point behind Harvard. Big thanks to Luke, who supported the team as a wax tech and student coach these last couple carnivals - he did a brilliant job of testing and waxing, and made a real difference in our ability to get competitive skis for our racers. It was so nice to have him with us for the final carnivals of his college career - just a great person and a true team player.
And just like that, the carnival season is over - always such an abrupt ending after several frantic weeks! It's been a great season for our team - an impressive start for our newcomers, steady improvements by our veterans, and an overall sense that this group really skied as well as we possibly could have hoped when the year started. The future is bright!
One last fun note for the weekend - while most of the team was doing an easy recovery ski on Sunday, a few folks raced the Nonstop Nordic relay at Pineland. Team M&M (Mia and Michael) won a hotly contested race in the mixed category, while Yee Haw?? (Francie and Grace E) were narrowly edged out by Erin Hatton '12 and her sister Dana in the women's race. Super fun stuff and a great way to get sharp for the most important race of the year - the Chummy Broomhall Cup on Saturday!
