Chris Kinner
From Coach Mitchell: The alpine team took to the soft snow of the Snow Bowl to contest the Middlebury Winter Carnival alpine events. On Friday morning the racers were met by the sight of groomers working on the race hill as we pulled into the parking lot, never a good sign… Overnight snow accumulation forced a major delay in the schedule and racing didn’t get underway until late morning. The course crew did a fantastic job given the fresh snow, and we had exceptional conditions given the circumstance. Our skiers attacked the rolling, undulating slalom piste amidst a difficult course set and large ruts. Caroline McHugh battled tough course conditions from a tough starting spot to move up to 52nd, while Chris Kinner overcame a back-of-the-pack start with a solid first run and and inspired 2nd run to finish the day 32nd. Both Kevin McNamara and Alec Boardman put down two solid runs, moving up 15-20 spots over their start positions to give us 3 solid finishers. Caroline was again consistent and solid, skiing to a top-40 GS result, and Chris found the gas pedal, scorching his 2nd run to end up 17th on the day and turning some heads in the process. Kevin, Brad Alvarez, and Alec all put down solid runs, improving their start spots.
For the first time in recent memory, the EISA Championships were not hosted by Middlebury. Instead, the team wrapped up the season at Sugarloaf, Maine. To sum up the weather this weekend at “The Loaf”: If you don’t like the weather, wait a minute… it’ll get worse! Impending rain and high wind caused a modification in the schedule, running the SL first. Very soft snow caused problems throughout the day, as the courses became consistently more chewed-up and slower with each racer. It was a rough day for Harvard Alpine, with the exception of Chris Kinner, battling out of a start spot in the 50′s with ruts and course conditions that made his run look more like a rodeo-style bull ride than a ski race. Kinner pulled off his best “disco moves” and launched himself into the top-30, securing a start spot of 3rd for the second run; this was PERFECT, with a clean course winning the second run was a distinct possibility! Unfortunately mother nature did not agree, deciding to increase wind speeds to 60+ mph, forcing the lifts to be shut down and with the wind and the fact that it was now raining sideways, the 2nd run was canceled and final results were tabulated off of the first run result. Bummer… Overnight cold weather and calming conditions should have made for phenomenal conditions for the GS race; alas, the snow did not cooperate. It froze into golf ball-sized chunks rather than a smooth consistent surface. Because it was impossible to race given the snow conditions, the race was pushed back until Sunday. The change in schedule meant 3 of our athletes had to head home for academic commitments, leaving Kevin McNamara and Chris Kinner to do battle with the rest of the EISA. Kevin put together two consistent runs on a difficult hill, finishing 36th on the day, one of his best results of the season. Chris skied into the top-30 on the first run and was going “full-gas” on the second run, taking a risky line trying to carry speed through the critical transition from the Headwall to the flatter portion of the course; a mistake at this point slowed Chris, but he hung on for a very solid 24th place finish.
From Coach City: The unusual weather conditions that marked this season persisted at the Middlebury and Colby carnivals. An unexpectedly intense snowstorm on the Thursday night prior to the Middlebury Carnival transformed Breadloaf from a sheet of ice to a wonderland of fresh powder. The tracks held up beautifully and Friday was a great day for racing under bluebird skies. Cara Sprague once again led the team with a 27th place finish in the women’s mass start 10km race. Alyssa Devlin (34th) and Audrey Mangan (37th) moved up throughout the race and finished close behind Cara. Also finishing well were Anna Schulz (52nd), Shannon Mulshine (53rd) and Clare Miller (59th in her first collegiate classic race). In the men’s 10km classic, David McCahill (51st) led the team from wire to wire, followed by Trevor Petach (53rd) and Tor O’Brien (58th). Men and women raced a 3x5km relay on Saturday. The men’s team (David, Trevor and Tor) skied to a 19th place finish, within a minute of teams from Bowdoin, St. Michael’s and St. Lawrence. The women’s first team (Alyssa, Audrey and Cara) finished 12th, ahead of second teams from Williams, UNH, St. Lawrence and Colby. The second team (Shannon, Anna and Clare) came in 18th, where they battled with the first and second teams from Bowdoin.
At Colby the weather weirdness continued. Friday started cold, but then the temperature warmed rapidly and unevenly, causing lower sections of the course to turn to slush while upper regions remained powdery. We worked systematically through nearly the entire temperature range in the wax box – from blue hard wax to red klister covered with red hard wax- as the morning progressed. Cara went out early in the women’s individual 5km race and set down an excellent time that was good for a 21st place finish. Alyssa (30th) and Shannon (45th, less than 1 minute back from Alyssa) also had strong finishes. Our other contributors were Audrey (49th), Anna (54th), and Meri Burruss (57th). David reported perfect skis in the men’s race and posted his career best classic finish (43rd , 1 minute out of 30th) in the men’s 10km. He was followed by Trevor (50th), Joe Tofte (58th) and Tor (60th). Heavy rain and winds set in shortly after the race ended, and by Saturday morning the mass start area had flooded and the rest of the course had changed from snow to ice. Alyssa made the most of the quick conditions, grabbing on to a fast pack in the 15km mass start skate and racing to her season best finish (27th). Cara was tangled up in the start but managed to climb back to 37thplace; Audrey was 44th, and Anna was not far behind (51st ). She was followed by Shannon (54th) and Meri (56th). David again led the men’s team with a 46th place finish in the 20km skate. He was followed by Trevor (51st), Joe (56th), and Tor (57th).
