SLU Carnival

Carnival season is over already!  Every single year it goes by quickly, so it shouldn't be a surprise at this point, but somehow it always seems that the season ends right after it's begun.  Fortunately, we went out on a good note with a really fun weekend at the SLU Carnival in Lake Placid.  Once again, we had cold temps, but the wind stayed low and the sun stayed out and we had two perfect days of racing.  In Friday's 5/10k skate, Jackson led the men in 36th, with Hannah Miller in 21st for the women despite feeling the effects of a lingering cold.  Ellie and Louisa scored PRs, and H. Marshall had her best race of the season as well.  A very good day overall, especially for the women's team.  That night, we had the long-delayed conclusion to Maine vs. World.  Clutch performances by the seniors gave Team Maine a victory in the trivia competition and its first win in the overall since 2009.

Saturday brought perfect conditions for a classic race - sunny and cold (but not too cold).  We've really been incredibly lucky with the conditions this year!  The seniors all skied well - Tyler scored one more top-30 finish to lead the men, with Jackson right behind in 32nd, while Shelby chased down 3 skiers in the final lap to go out on a high note.  Our younger skiers were pretty scrappy as well - good solid races for August and Ellie, and Rachel skied with good fire to post her best race of the year.  Jake and Sam were in a crash at the start and left the stadium well behind the pack.  Jake made up a tremendous amount of ground to ski his way back into the thick of things - definitely the best classic skiing we've seen from him so far.  Sam also showed a lot of grit, skiing with Jake to get back into contact before his ski, which had been damaged in the crash, finally fell apart.  Even so, he was able to get a replacement and pick up a few more spots before the finish - a great display of perseverance.  After the races, we celebrated with a cake for the seniors, courtesy of Deb and Ron Aseltine.  As always, the parents have been fantastic this year - we'll miss the parents of our seniors!  Overall, it was a fun and happy day for our team and a fine way to end the carnival season.

Of course, the season's not really over yet.  Hannah Miller qualified for NCAAs - our third straight year with an NCAA qualifier!  This is really a remarkable achievement, especially for a sophomore - she's made a big jump forward this year.  We're headed back to Lake Placid next week for the championships - looking forward to seeing what she can do against the best college skiers in the country!  Plenty of action for our other racers as well - Mac and Ellie are on their way to Truckee for JNs, with Sarah accompanying them as a coach for Team New England.  We also have several skiers planning marathons and other fun stuff for March, starting with the Bretton Woods Marathon this weekend.  Stay tuned for updates!

Here are some photos from the classic race from Everett Marshall:

Middlebury Carnival & Eastern Cup Finals

Another deep freeze at the Midd Carnival last weekend.  With a scary-sounding forecast (subzero temps and high winds) Friday's classic was pre-emptively delayed until early afternoon, and we went to bed wondering if we'd even get to race.  Fortunately, the winds held off, the sun came out, and we ended up with a beautiful day.  It was super cold, but the bright sun and dry air made it feel quite pleasant - almost like a bluebird day out west when you end up shedding layers and running around without gloves despite the temps.  Our races weren't as amazing as the conditions, unfortunately, but it wasn't a bad day.  H. Miller posted a solid 18th place finish to lead the team, and Shelby and Jake had strong races as well.  The team regrouped with some foolishness at the venerable Middlebury Inn that evening - hide and seek throughout the Porter Mansion and a vaguely suspicious sounding activity called Piggly Wiggly.  This must have fired everyone up, because Saturday's skate was much better.  Jake in particular looked feisty, posting a PR of 46th - good to see him skiing with fire after slogging through several low-energy weeks.  Hannah Miller showed some grit with another top-10 finish despite feeling pretty terrible - a race to be proud of.  Thanks to the team parents for coming out to cheer on a frigid weekend!  Thanks in particular to Meg & Laurie Groves, who hosted the team for a fantastic dinner on Thursday night, and to Everett Marshall for shooting some great race footage (which I will try to post soon).

Once again, there was Eastern Cup action happening alongside the carnival (not at the same venue this time, unfortunately).  After the Midd classic race, Sarah took Ellie and Mac over to NH in a final push for Junior National qualifying.  Both of them skied well - Ellie crushed the skate race. Mac had a great classic day, and both ended up earning spots on the JN team.  New England is the most competitive region in the country with regard to JN qualifying, so this was a major accomplishment.  Congratulations to Mac and Ellie for achieving a season-long goal!  Very satisfying to see hard work pay off.  They'll be headed to Truckee in early March - looking forward to seeing what they can do against the best juniors in the country.

Dartmouth Carnival

For the fourth year in a row, the Dartmouth Carnival was held at Craftsbury.  Conditions were absolutely perfect - tons of cold, fresh snow and nice wide, challenging trails.  The event was a combined carnival/SuperTour/Eastern Cup, so it was pretty chaotic and very competitive.  A skate sprint got things started on Friday.  The whole crew was pretty feisty out there, working the transitions and scrapping for every second, but in the end Hannah Miller was our only qualifier in the stacked field.  She qualified in 11th and went on to finish 3rd in her heat for a final place of 14th (7th in the college race - a career best).  Mac led the men in 34th for college skiers, a PR for him as well.  The following day was a 10/10k skate - H. Miller put up another top 10 EISA finish (8th, and 17th overall) to cap an outstanding weekend.  With several of our top skiers out, we got solid performances from our first-years, including August and Rachel, who scored for the team for the team for the first time ever.  This crew is still learning, and it'll take a lot of hard work and patience before they can be consistently competitive at the collegiate level, but this race was an encouraging sign of progress and a nice bit of payoff for their season-long efforts.

There was still one more race on the slate after the carnival had finished - a 10/15k mass start classic on Sunday.  Since this was a JN qualifier, Ellie and Mac stayed in VT with Sarah in an effort to score some good qualifying points.  Conditions were tough - steady snowfall throughout the day made both races a grind - but both Mac and Ellie had solid races and put themselves in position to have a shot at making the JN team heading into the final weekend of qualifying.

Here are some photos courtesy of Everett Marshall:

UVM & St. Mike's Carnivals

Quick catch up of our last 2 carnivals.  For the first time in years, the UVM Carnival didn't overlap with an Eastern Cup.  It's always nice to mingle with the Eastern Cup crowd and kill two birds with one stone, but I have to say that it was pretty pleasant to be racing at Trapps without the usual crowds and chaos.  Jackson was the hero of Friday's 5/10k skate with a 22nd place finish, while Hannah Miller led the women in 23rd.  The race was clouded by an injury to Marshal - he had a spectacular crash, with both skis flying into the woods, but was able to finish the race with an impressive display of resilience.  Unfortunately, he developed a headache after the race that got worse throughout the afternoon - after a trip to the hospital, we discovered that he had a concussion.  This is the first time I've ever had an athlete get a concussion from a ski crash, and it was a sobering reminder that even a "non-impact" sport like ours has its dangers.  I feel fortunate that we're much more aware of concussion symptoms and risks than even just a couple years ago - thanks to this, we knew what signs to look for with Marshal, and we knew how to respond when we found them.

After a stellar dinner at the Miller household, we awoke ready for Saturday's 10/15k mass start classic.  Shelby was the stand-out skier on this day - she was locked in right from the start and had perhaps the best race I've ever seen from her.  Louisa and Sam were solid as well, and August showed good fire by scrapping to get back into the race after missing the start.  The skis weren't amazing for some of our skiers, which kept us from having a great day, but overall a good effort.

Here are some photos courtesy of Ron Aseltine:

By the time we got to the St. Michael's Carnival, we'd survived a massive blizzard, with about 2 feet of snow falling on coastal Maine earlier in the week.  Amazingly, the skies hadn't emptied out yet, and several more inches fell throughout Friday's 5/10k classic.  Fueled by another fantastic family dinner, this time from Everett Marshall and Deb Parella, our crew gave a great effort, led by Hannah Miller's 14th and a career-best 25th for Tyler.  We had super cold temps and perfect skiing for Saturday's 4x3k mixed relay (2 women, 2 men per team).  Relays are always fun, and the mixed format was a neat novelty that added some excitement.  Our men were sufficiently moved to allow themselves to be adorned in glitter by the women's team - not a sight you see every day.  Our teams were solid on this day, although we didn't have any show-stopping results.  Overall, I felt like the team was very solid in this carnival and did a great job of nailing down the little things.  I was a little surprised that we didn't get a bigger reward for our efforts in terms of results, but sometimes that's how it goes - all the other teams are trying just as hard as we are.  Still, I'm happy with the progress I'm seeing from the team, and I'm excited to see how the second half of the season unfolds.

Here are St. Mike's photos from Ron Aseltine and Doug Hands: