Alpine Race Report by Coach Mitchell

Harvard Alpine had a tough go of it this weekend at UNH, as did many of the teams, with mother nature dumping 4-6″ of heavy snow/ice on the race hill before Friday’s GS race.  After extensive course work and side slipping, the conditions were deemed unsafe and the event was unfortunately cancelled.  This meant that the results from Saturday’s slalom race would be doubled for the carnival result.  With every team still in the hunt for the win going into day two, high-risk aggressive skiing was the order of the day as everyone was within striking distance.  The conditions on the race hill were better than the previous day, but still soft and inconsistent in places, and the men’s course was a rodeo ride to say the least.  The Harvard men battled hard, but with this year’s deeper field, a second run qualification eluded the trio.  Both Kevin McNamara and Ian Anderson had promising runs going, but a tough side-hill combination tripped them both up near the finish, and Andrew Spielvogel charged from the back to miss the second run by only two spots.  On the women’s side, Catherine Sheils put down a strong first run and was in 10th place after the first run, but was caught out by some soft snow entering a hairpin entering the top of the main pitch on the hill.  Quick reflexes had her make a great recovery, but lose several seconds, but still mamage to slavage a solid 16th place result on the day.  Becca Nadler put down two solid runs on the very direct first run course, and extrememly grinding turny second run course to score a 21st place result.  Caroline McHugh made a good move forward with a strong first run to move from a start position outside of the top-60 to qualify for a second run.  She was charging in her second run but a bobble on the tight second run course forced her to miss a gate; realizing the need to score points for the team she scrambled back onto the course and rounded out the team scoring in 41st.

The team also competed in some non-collegiate races on Sunday.  Ian Anderson, Andrew Spielvogel, and Caroline McHugh raced the Macomber GS at Waterville Valley, while Kevin McNamara, Liz Strong, Cate Kistler, Becca Nadler, and Catherine Sheils took to the hill at Cranmore for a FIS Eastern Cup SL.  Caroline McHugh decimated the field at Waterville with some inspired GS skiing, taking the win by over two seconds.  Ian Anderson also made some great moves in finishing 7th place from a start position outside the top seed.  At Cranmore, Kevin McNamara linked together two clean runs under very challenging snow conditions on two difficult course sets to move from 64th to 39th on the day.  The ladies were led by Catherine Sheils who overcame some mistakes in the first run to put down a good second run on a course that proved one of the most difficult of the season to finish 11th on the day.  Cate Kistler also put together two strong runs to score a 16th place, signaling that she is certainly on her way back to form after a serious knee injury sidelined her from racing for nearly two years.

Racing resumes this weekend at Stowe, VT, for the UVM carnival on Friday and Saturday, followed by non-collegiate FIS slalom races on Sunday at Middlebury SnowBowl for the ladies and Suicide Six and Pico for the men.

Nordic Race Report by Coach City

Sprint days are always chaotic: from the opening prologue through (hopefully) the final rounds of heats, it’s nonstop for athletes and coaches alike.  On Friday the weather added another layer of challenge.  We received about 6 inches of new snow overnight, but by 6:30 a.m. it was already starting to change over to sleet, then rain.  We chased the wax from hard wax through nearly every warm klister in our box and landed on a couple of combinations that worked well and were faster than the non-wax options for most of our skiers.  (In precipitation around 32 degrees, many skiers now rely on “zeros” – skis with rubberized patches in the kick zone that approximate the “hairies” of old.)

Three of our athletes advanced from the prologue to the heats.  In the quarterfinals, Esther Kennedy double-poled past two women in the last 200 meters of the 1.2km course to advance to the semis.  She ultimately made it to the B final, where she finished 6th (12th overall for the day).  Alena Tofte was knocked out in the quarters after nearly coming back from a tangle on the course that put her at the back of her heat.  She finished 16th on the day.  Emily Rogers had a very good sprint prologue in her first classic race of the year to round out our scoring.

The performance of the day came from Chris Stock, who powered through to the A final against three Dartmouth skiers, a UVM skier and a US Ski Team member.  Chris led the pack coming out of the woods at 1 km but was just out double-poled over the last 200 meters of the course and finished fourth.  It’s hard to describe how exciting it was to see a Harvard skier at the front of the race.  Akeo Maifeld-Carucci and Tanner Wiegand were close but just outside of qualifying for the heats.

By Saturday morning the snow had largely dried out leaving sugary uphills and rocket-fast downs.  Alena went out with the lead pack but a tangle on an early hill put her into the first chase pack – in sight of the leaders, but not quite able to bridge to them.  She skied to a team-leading 11th place.  Esther (30th) and Clare Miller (42nd) also had very solid races.  In the men’s race, Akeo Maifeld-Carucci (38th) also skied in the first chase pack for much of the race.  He was on pace for a top-30 finish before a multi-skier crash on the last downhill split his ski in half.   Chris (52nd) and Tor O’Brien (58th) rounded out the scoring for us.

We’re lucky to have skiing available to us at Weston… it’s clear from talking with other coaches that many teams have had to travel a long way or forgo on-snow time during the week as a result of this unusually warm and dry winter.

Many thanks to David Rand ’79 for hosting us at the incomparable Drifters Ski Club in Jackson and to David, Jim Stock (P’14) and Marty Miller (P’12) and his brother John for helping with setup and waxing in very tricky conditions this weekend.

Alpine Race Report by Coach Mitchell

Harvard alpine took to the hill this weekend for the first collegiate race of the season at Sunday River.  Snow conditions were great, although some new fallen snow and strong winds made visibility difficult at times.  The women’s team got off to a strong start with a 4th place finish in Friday’s GS, led by some stellar skiing by Rebeca Nadler in 6th position.  Catherine Sheils and Caroline McHugh rounded out the scoring spots for the team with very strong results in 21st and 30th respectively.  This represents some of the best GS skiing we’ve seen from the ladies this year.  Freshmen Cate Kistler and Liz Strong both ran into trouble in the first run, but only after putting down some great turns on the challenging upper section of the course.   With the addition of several new teams to the league has come a new rule cutting the field down to the top 60 after the first run.  The men had a tough go of it and narrowly missed the cut-off in the GS.

In Saturday’s slalom, the women were poised for another strong result after the first run, but a few hiccups in the second run had the women end up in 8th position.  Scoring was again led by Rebecca Nadler, who took advantage of a great second run start position, putting down one of the faster runs of the afternoon for a 10th place result, her best collegiate slalom result.  Catherine Sheils was on the verge of a top-10 result after a fast first run, but was caught out by a tight flush-gate in the second run, costing her a bunch of time, but a heads-up move by her in skiing the combination gate backwards saved some time and saved some team points in the process.  She ended up 14th on the day.  Caroline McHugh had a solid first run, but was forced out of the course after getting her pole stuck in the second run, ripping her pole and glove off of her hand completely.  Cate Kistler had a very solid top section of the first run going, but was caught out on the side hill section and Liz Strong diced the hardest part of the pitch and posted a split time that would have had her threatening the top-10, but hit a rut funny a few gates before the finish, costing her a chance at the second run.

The men put down some better skiing on Saturday, with Kevin McNamara and Andrew Spilevogel both skiing runs that would have qualified them for the second run, but both ran into trouble at the transition coming off the steep pitch.  Ian Anderson was linking together a fast run, but a straddle took him out of contention.  All in all, there were some great things to come out of the weekend, but the team is primed to take it up a notch for next weekend’s UNH carnival.

Nordic Race Report by Coach City

New snow – 6-8″ of it – fell as light dry powder in Rumford on Thursday night.  Winter, finally!  The new snow altered the course from the hard and fast manmade snow we’ve been skiing on since early December to something more familiar to the West.  The 5km skate used a variation of the national championship course with well-spaced climbs and very skiable downhills.  Alena Tofte led the team with a career-best 7th place finish.  Clare Miller and Esther Kennedy were neck-and-neck in the mid-30s.  The men skied 10km, which meant

3 trips up the fabled “High School Hill.”  Chris Stock rallied in the third lap to move from the mid-20s up into 19th.  Akeo Maifeld-Carucci, Tanner Wiegand and Tor O’Brien also moved up in the standings as the race progressed, which indicates good fitness.

The mass start classic races went off on Saturday under lightly falling new snow.  Alena and Esther skied near each other for most of the race and led the team with 22nd and 28th place finishes respectively.  It was Esther’s best finish since her freshman year.  Jen Rolfes rounded out the scoring in 43rd.  With a relatively short race distance, a deep field, and a mass start, the men’s race skied in a series of pulsing charges that alternately slimmed the pack and let it re-constitute.  Chris, Akeo and Tanner were all in the main pack for most of the race.  Chris repeated his 19th place finish with another late-race charge.  With Tanner and Akeo also finishing in the top 40 (about 40 seconds behind Chris), the men’s team placed 7th for the day, up from 9th in the skate race.

Junior Tony Ryerson suffered a season-ending broken arm after falling in practice on Tuesday.  He had surgery to repair it on Friday and was in our thoughts throughout the weekend.  We wish him a quick recovery!

Alpine Thanksgiving Camp Report – Liz Strong ’15

Thanksgiving break was the Harvard alpine ski team’s first on-snow training camp this season. Using my family’s house in Frisco as our home base, we trained at Loveland, Copper, and Vail. Beginning the camp with five consecutive days of giant slalom training, we rested on Thanksgiving.

My teammates battled illnesses ranging from influenza to appendicitis to come together and have a great Thanksgiving dinner. [Coach's Note: yes, one of our athletes had to have his appendix out during camp! He recovered well and is back to schoolwork and will be training again soon.] We spent the last three days of the camp training slalom at the U.S. Ski Team’s arena at Copper. Sunny skies and warm temperatures made it hard for us to leave Colorado Sunday afternoon, but we are looking forward to a short camp at Sunday River this weekend.

Senior captain Caroline McHugh posted a fantastic first-person video of a day on snow with the team on our Facebook page.

Nordic Thanksgiving Camp Report – Akeo Maifeld-Carucci ’15

This year marked the beginning of what looks like will become an great new Thanksgiving camp tradition for Harvard’s nordic ski team. This year we went to Craftsbury, VT instead of making the customary Thanksgiving break trek to Canada. In Vermont we stayed at the local outdoor center in an olympic-village like setting, with skiing out the door, weight facilities, and an excellent dining lodge. Our first day was spent dry land training, but thanks to a large snow that night we were able to ski twice a day for the rest of the week. It was such an amazing time being back on snow after the long summer months, and spending so much time bonding together as a team. Our first few days on snow were dedicated to easy distance skiing, with lots of technique work to transition and adapt all our hard work from roller skiing to snow skiing. The week built in intensity culminating in a 4.5km skate race.  This was a great opportunity for everyone to push themselves and get a in a really good hard effort.

Off the trails we also had a fantastic time. After a few months of Harvard dining hall food it was a nice change to have home-style cooking. We also had a suite with a nice common room where we were able to spend lots of time together studying, watching movies, talking about skiing and baking pies and cookies! Everyone was sad to leave after such a fun camp, but with only a few more weeks before local skiing, spirits are still high and the air is filled with excitement for the upcoming races.

Thanksgiving snow!

Nordic Team at Thanksgiving

Alpine

Andrew Spielvogel

Caroline McHugh

Nordic

Clare Miller

Tor O'Brien

NCAA Championships Alpine Report by Coach Mitchell

Catherine

Harvard Alpine had two representatives competing this past week at the NCAA Skiing Championships, held on the Main Street trail on Spruce Peak at Stowe, VT.  Warm weather and snow/rain made the conditions less than ideal as racers were greeted by foot-deep craters next to each gate, or difficult chemical-hardened snow in some spots.  Many teams fell victim to the quirky conditions and in the end, finishing two solid, clean runs is what it took to be competitive.  In the Giant Slalom, both Rebecca Nadler and Catherine Sheils went down in their first runs, Rebecca a victim of soft, peely snow, and Catherine falling prey to one of the ski-eating holes on the course.  Both got back up and battled hard, ending up 32nd and 35th respectively.

Becca

In the Slalom, the difficult conditions continued and took out Catherine Sheils, who was having a blazing-fast first run, certainly on her way to a top-ten result.  Rebecca Nadler overcame a tough start number and out-skied everyone that started near her, moving into 18th place after the first run.  In the second run, Rebecca was laying it on the line and got shot out of a rut and went way off line, but recovered well and finished 20th on the day, while Catherine Sheils fought through the ruts for 28th place on the day.  Thanks for following Harvard Skiing this winter. We’re already excited about next year and are looking to build on the progress of this year!

NCAA Championships and Junior Olympics Report by Coach City

Alena

Alena Tofte represented our nordic squad at NCAAs, which consisted of a 5km individual start skate race and a 15km mass start classic race.  The skate race was held in wonderfully sunny weather and fantastic snow conditions at Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe.  The groomers managed to pack 2 feet of fresh snow into a really solid race surface that held up well the whole day.  Alena had an early bib placing (2nd), so it was difficult to assess her race as she was skiing.   Her early time held up, however, and she finished 31st, beating (among others) several EISA skiers who qualified for NCAAs ahead of her and two skiers from perennial powerhouse Denver University.  She was just six seconds out of the top 25.  Trapp’s is not the hardest course in the East, but there are a couple of solid climbs including a challenging final uphill where a number of skiers withered and where many finishes were decided.  Alena was putting time into a lot of people on that part of the course.

The conditions for the classic mass start race on Friday were more challenging.  Stowe received several inches of new snow on Thursday followed by warm temperatures overnight.  There was a steady rain – sometimes very heavy – during the women’s race.  The wax tents flooded with several inches of ice water.  Most of the East teams went with klister, while many of the West teams chose to use a form of waxless ski called “zeros.”   In our pre-race testing, the waxed skis performed better than waxless, but there didn’t seem to be a distinct advantage to either in the race itself.  Indeed, Colorado skiers won both races with the same pair of zeros.  I ended up a touch thick with her klister and while she had excellent kick, her skis proved draggy compared to the skiers around her.  It was a very long and tiring race for everyone and a number of the top racers fell when the skied-in new snow met uncompacted portions of the course.  Alena (35th) held on well and it was a solid result for her in a very strong field.  Her time compared well with other skiers from the East she’s been skiing against all year.  I’m proud of the way Alena performed in her first NCAA Championships.

Jen Rolfes and Chris Stock were in Minneapolis last week representing New England with multiple top-10 finishes in the Junior Olympics.  (For those of you who may not be familiar, the Junior Olympics are the national championship for skiers aged 19 and younger.)  In the skate sprint, Jen and Chris placed 7th and 11th respectively in qualifying. Both made the B final and finished 9th overall.  In the classic mass start on Wednesday, Chris took his first podium spot at a JO’s, finishing 3rd in the 15km race and Jen was not far off the podium with an excellent 6th place finish.  Neither Chris (16th) nor Jen (20th) had a great day in the skate Friday, but both bounced back to contribute some of the fastest relay legs of the day to their respective teams on Saturday.  Both Jen and Chris earned All-American honors for their finishes at JOs.

The nordic races will be held at Trapp Family Lodge on Wednesday (5/10km individual start skate) and Friday (15/20km mass start classic).  Alpine races will be at Stowe on Thursday (GS) and Saturday (SL).  We hope to see you out there, but you can also follow the races through a live webcast here.

Alpine Race Report by Coach Mitchell

The Crimson Alpine squad contested the Bates carnival ski races, which also doubled as the NCAA regional championships this past weekend at Sunday River, Maine.  Conditions were ideal both days, with hard snow and consistent surfaces.  It was an expanded collegiate field this weekend with teams from several other divisions competing for a berth to NCAA nationals as well.  The men’s  team continued with their recent run of consistency, putting down predominantly error-free runs.  Kevin McNamara led the way with a 37th in SL and 36th in GS.  In the GS he was backed up by Andrew Spielvogel in 41st and Ian Anderson as the third point scorer in 45th.  In SL, the Crimson men stacked 4 skiers within 5 places, with Ian Anderson in 45th, Brad Alvarez 47th, Alec Boardman 48th, and Sam Harrison 49th.  The women’s alpine team had a bit more trouble finding the finish cleanly, but still rallied some impressive results with Catherine Sheils 14th in SL and 22nd in GS, Caroline McHugh 24th in GS, and Meghan Luck 42nd in SL and 43rd in GS.  Wish us luck at nationals!

Nordic Race Report by Coach City

Esther and Cara (background) lap through the stadium in the 15k

We returned to Rumford, Maine, this past week for the first time since the US Cross Country Championships in early January.   Fortunately, a lot of snow had fallen in Rumford since then, including about a foot during our cautious drive north.  The new snow allowed us to ski the usual courses in Rumford (rather than the 2km of snowmaking and shoveled snow at nationals) and made the already difficult climbs there even slower and harder.   Jen Rolfes led the way for us in the 5km skate with her career-best 21st place finish.  It’s a very encouraging result for her leading into the Junior Olympics next week on her home course in Minneapolis.  Jen was followed by Esther Kennedy (43rd) and Clare Miller (50th).  Alena Tofte (15th) finished her regular season with a very solid and smoothly skied 15km classic.  Esther (34th) had her best classic result of the season just off the front of a pack that included Cara Sprague (37th) and Jen (38th).

Kevin, Sara and Tor cheering on the women

The men were felled by a bug that worked its way through the team over the weekend. Chris Stock (31st) led the men while healthy, followed by Tor O’Brien (48th, second-best career finish) and Tony Ryerson (49th).  We sat Chris for the 20km classic race on Sunday to rest for JO’s.  Kevin Sprague (43rd) took the lead spot for us on a day when soft, slow conditions pushed a number of skiers to quit.  Kevin was followed by Tanner Wiegand (46th with a strong second half) and Tony (47th and visibly under the weather).

It was the final pair of races for captain and senior Cara Sprague ’11.  Cara, who was The Crimson’s Comeback Athlete of the Year in 2010, fought back from injury valiantly for the second year in a row.  Even as she was she was working herself back into shape after several weeks on crutches this fall, she was also balancing thesis work and medical school applications.  Amid all of that, she managed to notch top-30 performances this winter at Dartmouth and UVM.  We’ll miss Cara’s dedication to skiing and her love of the team, and we wish her the best as she moves toward graduation!

All-Academic Team

Eleven of our skiers were named to the US Collegiate Ski Coaches Association All-Academic Team.  Our All-Academic team for 2011 included: Alec, Andrew, Cara, Caroline, Catherine, Chris, Clare, Esther, Jen, Kevin M., and Margie Thorp.  We were third in the league (just behind Dartmouth and Williams) in the total number of All-Academic team members.  Our skiers averaged a 3.75 GPA in the fall semester in fields ranging from Molecular and Cellular Biology to Computer Science, Engineering and Sociology.

Alpine Race Report by Coach Mitchell

Caroline McHugh's second run in the W's GS

Harvard alpine raced the Middlebury Carnival this past weekend at the Middlebury College Snowbowl on the historic Ross and Allen trails.    Conditions changed dramatically from Friday’s warm, rainy, slushy SL, to Saturday’s freezing cold, wind-whipped GS.  The men put in a solid showing both days, with all six members finding the finish line both days.  Kevin McNamara led the way with a 31st in GS and 27th in SL.  Ian Anderson tallied more points for the team with a 47th in GS and 40th in SL.  Brad Alvarez and Andrew Spilevogel both chipped in to help the team score with 49th in GS & 47th in SL and 52nd in GS & 46th in SL respectively.  Alec Boardman and Sam Harrison rounded things out with 50th in GS & 48th in SL and 53rd in GS & 50th in SL respectively.  The women struggled a bit with crashes and DNF’s, but Catherine Sheils and Caroline McHugh continued their steady assault on the EISA circuit.  Sheils scored an impressive 11th in SL and a career-best 13th in GS, with Caroline McHugh notching a 29th in GS and halving her start number to finish 24th in SL.

Nordic Race Report by Coach City

It was an unusual double skate weekend for us at Middlebury.  On Friday, both men and women skied a 10km individual start race on Middlebury’s newly homologated course.  The course held up remarkably well given race-time temperatures that reached into the high 40s.  We gave our guys early seeds (Tony Ryerson was bib 1) in hopes of having a faster course for them.  Indeed, Tony set a fast time that held up well and he finished 27th, just 15 seconds out of 20th.  Kevin Sprague continued his late season resurgence, finishing just 20 seconds behind Tony in 35th, followed by Chris Stock (40th).  Tor O’Brien (47th) had his best career race: he was just 1 minute behind Tony and beat all but one Bates skier.  Alena Tofte (15th) continued to lead the women while Esther Kennedy (29th) had one of her best skate races of the season.  Jen Rolfes (36th) completed our scoring.

en Rolfes and Cara Sprague (background) in the scramble leg of the relay

On Saturday, the format was a sprint relay: each skier raced 1km before handing off to a teammate; each team consisted of three skiers who did the 1km loop 3 times.  Fortunately, we skied this relay much better as a team than we did at the Colby carnival last month.  The course was in an open field (across from the usual trails at Breadloaf) which allowed spectators to see the entire course.  The weather was a complete change from Friday: temperatures in the teens with horizontal windblown snow squalls that made skiers going uphill into the wind come nearly to a stop. The women repeated their 5th place finish in this event from last year.  Jen skied aggressive scramble legs; Esther held us close; and Alena put teams into the rearview mirror.  Our B team (Cara Sprague, Clare Miller and Addie Byrne) was just one place behind Williams A, and ahead of Bowdoin A.  The men’s A team (Tony, Kevin and Chris) placed 8th in the relay, 6 seconds out of 7th.   After the end of our races, we went over to the Snowbowl to cheer on the alpiners.  We saw the women’s second run of the GS before cold temps and impending homework assignments pushed us back into the vans for the ride home.

Addie Byrne anchoring the B team to the finish

For the first time in memory we have had four skiers – Alena, Jen, Tanner Wiegand and Chris – named to the New England team for the Junior Olympics.  The JO’s will be held on Jen’s home course (Wirth Park) in Minneapolis from March 4-13.  Congrats to Alena, Jen, Tanner and Chris!

Alpine Race Report by Coach Mitchell

Harvard Alpine contested the Dartmouth carnival races this past weekend at the Dartmouth Skiway in Lyme, NH.  Racing conditions were excellent with hard snow and a consitent surface both days, although Frida’s GS started off brutally cold.  The men’s team was led by Kevin McNamara in 35th, a solid GS result which illustrates his improving form and consistency.  Andrew Spielvogel scored points for the team in 44th, with Ian Anderson, Sam Harrison, Alec Boardman, and Brad Alvarez securing 47th-50th placings respectively.  Ian Anderson led the way in the slalom, linking two clean runs for a 41st place finish.  Alec Boardman also put together two solid runs for the team’s second best result in 44th.  Andrew Spielvoel, Sam Harrison, and Brad Alvarez went 45th, 48th, 52nd respectively to round things out on the day.

In the GS, the women’s alpine team was led by Rebecca Nadler, returning from World University Games only a few days prior, in 16th.  Caroline McHugh put down a scorching second run and punched in a 21st place result, a fantastic result as she has been steadily climbing the results sheet this year.  Meghan Luck also scored points for the team in 25th place, her best result of the season; and Catherine Sheils was just behind her in 29th.  The women ended up 7th place in the team standings on the day.  Catherine Sheils turned it up a notch in the slalom, leading the Crimson women to an 11th place finish, and again Caroline McHugh put down two solid runs to be the team’s second finisher in 31st.  Rebecca Nadler and Meghan Luck rounded things out for the women in 42nd and 43rd, placing the women 8th on the day.

Several members of the team competed in a FIS Eastern Cup slalom race on Sunday, which was highlighted by Kevin McNamara’s 22nd place finish from a start number in the 60′s despite very difficult conditions and a stacked field.  Look for Kevin to roll this success into this coming weekend’s Middlebury Carnival races and the NCAA Eastern Regional Championships the following weekend hosted by Bates at Sunday River!

Nordic Race Report by Coach City

Oak Hill had some of the best conditions I can remember ever seeing there.  The track was firm packed-powder throughout and held up beautifully through two days of racing.  Even the infamous S-turns were in good shape.  Friday was a 5/10km individual start skate race on the lower portion of the trail system in frigid conditions (it was -12F when we arrived at the stadium, nearly 40 degrees colder than when we’d inspected the course on Thursday afternoon!).  Alena Tofte (16th) led the team, with solid other finishes by Esther Kennedy (33rd) and Jen Rolfes (40th).  On the men’s side, Chris Stock (32nd) was just at the back of a tightly-packed group that stretched well into the 20s.   Tony Ryerson (44th) tried to hold off the eventual 3rd place finisher and while this worked for a few km, he ran out of gas short of the finish line.  Tanner Wiegand (52nd) finished the scoring for us, placing us 11th for the men, 8th for the women.

After finishing their own races, Alena, Esther, Clare and Esther cheer Tony Ryerson into the finish of the 20km Mass Start Classic

Temperatures remained below forecast on Saturday, but at least were in the single digits when we arrived at the stadium.  Saturday’s course included the climb up Oak Hill to the upper trails.  Although finding a kick wax for the day wasn’t hard, we did debate over the appropriate binder for ensuring kick survived climbing up – and as importantly, skidding down – Oak Hill.   Eventually we went (somewhat conservatively) with a thin klister binder that held up well and gave our skiers kick to the end of the race.  (This strategy paid off when some other teams found themselves without kick on the second lap.)  Alena had an excellent classic race and her second 16th place finish in a row.  Cara (28th) was not far behind her.  Alena and Cara both out-sprinted competing skiers in the stadium.  Jen Rolfes (39th) demonstrated her growing comfort at 15km races by scoring our third team spot.  Esther Kennedy (40th) was just a few seconds behind her.  Addie Byrne has had the misfortune of arriving as a natural skater in a year in which all the long races are classic; but even so she’s demonstrating better classic form with each race.  The women moved up to 7th on Saturday; not quite where we want to be, but a solid result.  On the men’s side, Tony (31st) had one of his better races this season while his Mather House roommate, Kevin Sprague (42nd), had his best race of the season and hopefully a breakout result.  Kevin even out double-poled a Bowdoin skier at the line to ensure what turned out to be a tie with Bowdoin for 8th team place.  Tanner Wiegand (41st) was sandwiched between them after skiing his second very efficient 20km race in two weeks.  A big thank you to Anna McLoon ’04 for her help with waxing for the mass start races on Saturday!

Alena, Esther, Jen, Clare and Addie giving out Valentines during the annual Carni Crush festivities