We’re back in Cambridge (briefly!) after a whirlwind two weeks of training and racing that took us to Nor-Ams, the US Cross-Country Championships, the St. Lawrence Carnival, five states, three state capitals, a 1/2 dozen ski areas, and one ferry ride across Lake Champlain.  It’s snowing as we write this, adding to the nearly 2 feet of snow that fell in the Boston area last week.  After we catch our collective breath, we’ll leave this bounty of snow behind and head north for the Colby Carnival in Augusta and Sugarloaf, Maine this weekend.

Here’s what we were up to over January break:

Alpine JanCamp Report by Coach Mitchell

Harvard Alpine had a very successful JanCamp, splitting time training at Sunday River, ME and Wildcat, NH.  Training conditions were fantastic, with rock hard snow every day making for a great surface.  Every athlete had at least one race start as well. Rebecca Nadler raced the NorAms at Sunday River and had a 19th and 24th place result; very solid given the US, Canadian, and Swiss national team athletes that were racing.  Caroline McHugh notched a solid 20th place result at the Okemo Eastern Cup GS. Alec Boardman and Brad Alvarez also made huge strides with their SL skiing, both punching into the top-15 at the Cranmore Tecnica Cup SL race.

After some solid racing and training, the team headed over to Lake Placid, NY, to contest the St. Lawrence carnival on the slopes of Whiteface, home of the 1980 Olympic alpine events. The men had moments of brilliance, but inconsistency marred their performance. Andrew Spielvogel led the way with a 28th place in SL, while Ian Anderson had the team’s best GS result in 39th. Alec chipped in with a 40th in GS, along with Brad just behind in 42nd. Sam Harrison had the team’s second best SL result in 36th.  Kevin McNamara rounded things out with a 45th and 41st on the weekend.  The women’s team had their best result in at least the last 30 or 40 years, with a team result of 4th in GS, just behind Dartmouth; and 5th in SL.  Rebecca got her college ski racing career off to a great start with a 4th place in GS and 18th in SL.  Catherine Sheils punched in a very solid 14th in SL and showed some speed in GS with an 18th. Caroline was the model of consistency, notching a 26th in GS and a 29th in SL.  Meghan Luck had some great sections, especially in SL, but is playing catch-up after spending last semester in Thailand.

Great results for sure, but the team believes they’ve yet to reach their potential; look for the women to continue with their momentum and the men to pick things up this weekend at the Colby Carnival at Sugarloaf, Maine!

Nordic JanCamp Report by Coach City

Tony helps shovel snow for use on the Nationals course

The nordic JanCamp was bookended by two major races: the US Cross Country Championships at Rumford, Maine, and the St. Lawrence Carnival/Supertour in Lake Placid, NY.  Our first trip to Senior Nationals as a team in 20 years or more was a significant learning experience for all.  Nationals attracts the best juniors, collegiate, and senior skiers from across the country, many of whom stayed on in the East for the Supertour event two weeks later.  Unfortunately, Rumford (like much of the East) was hit with a serious January melt that stripped the snow from almost the entire race course.  Through last-second shoveling and snowmaking, the race organizers were able to build the course up to 2.7 km.  We did our part to shovel snow onto the course (see photo)!

Freshman Chris Stock had an outstanding week, leading the team with a 4th place finish in the junior sprint and a 10th place in the junior 10km skate.  His performances pre-qualified him for Junior Nationals in Minnesota in March.  Other notable results included Tony Ryerson’s 74th in the 15km CL and Alena Tofte’s 54th in the 10km CL.  Freshman Tanner Wiegand moved up significantly from his start seed to place 42nd in the junior 10km SK.  Cara Sprague and Tor O’Brien, who did not race at nationals, skied a 10km citizens race in Augusta, Maine on January 9.  Cara and Tor each took home age-group honors in this event.

Chris Stock racing at U.S. Nationals

We stayed in North Conway for training camp following Nationals and trained at Bretton Woods, where it seemed to be incessantly snowing.  After lots of laps around the shoveled loop at Rumford, it was wonderful to ski in mid-winter conditions for a few days.  At the St. Lawrence Carnival, Tony, Chris, and Tanner led the men’s team to a 7th place overall finish both days – our best men’s team finish in a number of years.  Tony (25th) had a career-best placing in the skate event.  Alena Tofte took 16th in the skate race, which was her best career skate result.  As a team, however, we skied a bit flat, and it showed in our overall team placing.  It’s not surprising after so much travel and racing over these two weeks.  Encouragingly, everyone skied better on the second day of racing at St. Lawrence, which suggests we have the base fitness we need for better results in the upcoming carnivals.

We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. The ski team spent the holiday getting its first hours on snow for the year in Colorado (alpine) and Quebec (nordic). The nordic squad opened its race season as well with weekend competition against several EISA and Canadian teams. Please read on for camp reports from our freshmen and the first coach’s race report of the season!

Nordic Thanksgiving Camp Report by Addie Byrne ’14

Nordic team at Thanksgiving camp

The team headed out to Quebec optimistic that there would be more snow than last year, although from what I heard that wasn’t too hard to do. Our first day was spent looking for snow, but a downpour deterred us. Luckily, most of the snow made it through the rain, and we were able to ski twice by Wednesday. It was pretty busy, as we were sharing the trails with Bowdoin, Colby, UVM, Bates, and a few other skiers. We all woke up extra early on Thursday to get in two workouts and get back in time to cook a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner. There was enough turkey and stuffing to eat ourselves sick, and enough for Chris Stock to have a repeat Thanksgiving for breakfast the next morning.

Wednesday through Friday, the coaches focused on getting some good technique work in as well as getting hours in on snow. A nasty cough seemed to be working its way through the team, but everyone was eager enough to be on snow that we all got out there for all the workouts.

We spent Friday night waxing our skis and preparing for the sprint race on Saturday. The sprint was barely 1 kilometer, with just one steep hill to define it. The two boys and five girls that raced all made it on to the second round of racing. Chris Stock finished an impressive second in the first round while Alena captured third. Kevin, Esther, Cara and I got knocked out in the next round, but Chris went all the way to the final round. Sunday’s race was conducted entirely on the sprint course. Kevin went in to the race feeling a little under the weather, but ended up finishing strong. Chris Stock also had a good race. For the ladies, Cara, Esther, Alena and Jen were healthy and ready to race. All of the ladies skied strong, with some impressive results.

The Thanksgiving camp was a welcome relief from rollerskiing and long runs. The team is looking forward to more snow and some impressive results this winter.

Alpine Thanksgiving Camp Report by Rebecca Nadler ’14

Alec and Emily

As most students headed home for a much anticipated turkey dinner, the Harvard alpine ski team eagerly made its way to the snowy peaks of Colorado for a training camp. Facing the brisk sub-zero temperatures, the team arrived at Loveland Ski Area ready to take full advantage of the excellent snow conditions.

With help from dedicated head coach, Tim Mitchell, newly appointed (awesome) assistant coach, Emily Copeland, and volunteer coach Thomas Zumbrunn, each member of the team showed remarkable improvement from one day to the next. Not even frozen toes and flat tires could keep this determined group from laying down exceptional training runs in one course after another.

After three successful days of training giant slalom, the team refueled with a delicious turkey dinner (or two) and was ready to break out the slalom skis. The sun finally emerged for the last couple days, reminding everyone just how wonderful this sport can be without frostbite, and making it all the more difficult to catch the red-eye flight back to east-coast reality.

The trip was a huge success, and was only the beginning of what is sure to be a great season!

US-CAN Cup Race Report by Coach City

Alena in the 1k sprint

At the end of Thanksgiving camp, we raced in the inaugural US-CAN Cup, an invitational collegiate event for US and Canadian universities in the East. Many of our EISA competitors were there (including Bowdoin, Bates, Colby, UVM, and St. Lawrence), and so the race was a good pre-season measuring stick for our fitness and race preparation after a long fall of training. The races consisted of a classic technique sprint on Saturday and an individual start skate race on Sunday.

Saturday’s sprint race went off in falling fresh powder and temperatures in the high 20s. The course was a 1km sprint that consisted mostly of gradual downhills and flats. At about 750 meters into the course, there was a long hill that had two steep pitches sandwiched around 10 meters of relative flat. In the heats, most of the groups reached the bottom of the hill intact; the individuals who advanced from each heat were the ones who got to the top of the hill first.

All five women who raced (freshmen Addie Byrne and Jen Rolfes, sophomores Alena Tofte and Esther Kennedy, and senior Cara Sprague) qualified for the heats. They were led by Alena, who posted the third best time (in a field of 45) in qualifying. Alena and Jen were well-positioned in their first heats and both advanced to the semi-finals; Esther was edged out on the second pitch of the uphill. Jen finished third in her semi-final and 11th overall; Alena recovered from an early spill in her semi-final and finished second (ahead of two UVM skiers) but missed making the final.

Chris at the start of the 1k sprint heats

The men’s sprint race opened with a bang as Chris Stock posted the second fastest qualifying time of 50 racers in the men’s field. Kevin Sprague was close behind in 13th. Kevin was edged out in the first round of heats, but Chris raced on all the way to the final heat. In an unfortunate misunderstanding, Chris was warming up for the final away from the course and missed the start of the final. He was credited with a fourth-place finish overall; Kevin finished 25th.

Several of the EISA schools left after the race on Saturday, but we stayed on to race Sunday against Colby, UVM and host Laval (Quebec). Sunday’s race used the same loop as the sprint. The women did 4 laps (4km) while the men did 6 laps (6km). For the women, freshman Jen Rolfes was our top finisher in 6th place; Alena was seven seconds and three places behind her. Esther Kennedy placed 13th, followed by Cara in 16th. In the men’s race, Chris finished 12th, 1:45 behind winner Scott Patterson of UVM. Patterson gapped the field by almost a minute; Chris placed in a group that finished about 45 seconds off the podium. Kevin was not feeling well but raced in order to work on some technique changes at race pace; he finished a very respectable 19th, only about 40 seconds behind Chris.

These are encouraging pre-season results. We entered these races at the end of a long training block and a tiring training camp, and yet our skiers demonstrated competitive explosiveness and speed. We matched up well against our EISA foes and I take that as a good report card on our fall training – and hopefully a harbinger of good things to come this winter!

Full results for the US-CAN Cup are here.

Ian Anderson, from Stowe, Vermont, dominated Vermont alpine high school ski racing the last few years. He won the 2010 Eastern High School Championship GS and placed 5th in the slalom. Full-time FIS racing this year should see him make major leaps forward in his skiing.

Addie Byrne, from Bovey, Minnesota, represented the United States at the 2009 World Junior Biathlon Championships, where she finished 6th in the Sprint. Addie deferred admission for a year to train and race as a member of the US Junior National Biathlon Team.

Rebecca Nadler, from Ottawa, Ontario, skied out of Mount Tremblant and Carabassett Valley Academy. A member of the Quebec provincial alpine ski team, she was the 2010 Eastern Cup Overall Champion. Rebecca had some amazing results in GS last year and started coming on strong in SL towards the end of the season.

Jen Rolfes, from Edina, Minnesota, capped her senior nordic season by representing the Midwest at Junior Nationals with an 11th place finish in the individual skate race. She also reached the quarterfinals in the sprint.

Chris Stock, from Lincoln, Massachusetts, cross-country skied for Cambridge Sports Union (our Boston-area club). He raced for New England at Junior Nationals each of the past two years; his highlights include a top-10 classic placing in 2009 and a 12th in the sprint in 2010.

Tanner Wiegand, from Bozeman, Montana, skied cross-country for Bridger Ski Foundation. Representing the Intermountain division at Junior Nationals, Tanner finished 9th in the classic race in 2010 and two top-10 finishes in 2009.

Every spring, Harvard honors its top scholar-athletes at the Senior Letterwinners’ Dinner. This year’s crew of eleven award winners featured two of our very own:

Trevor Petach took home the John P. Reardon award, which recognizes the senior varsity male athlete who best exemplifies the qualities of excellent scholarship, character, leadership and athletic ability. We’re happy that the greater Harvard athletic community recognized what we on the ski team already knew. We’ll miss Trevor’s scientific approach to skiing (not that the team seems to go lacking in this department… the coaches can recall their days on the team with lab rat Greg who talked often about the chemical properties of wax and was known to make jokes about peptides that everyone somehow found funny), but Trevor’s three rules of physics will continue to be part of our approach to encouraging aggressive downhill skiing. (Once we recall what the third rule is.)

Trevor, utilizing the physics of the pink headband

Katie Coil was the female recipient of the Francis H. Burr Scholarship, which holds the distinction of being the oldest of all the athletic awards at Harvard. It recognizes “all-around excellence,” another characterization with which we agree. We missed Katie’s enthusiasm and passion for skiing this season, but at the awards ceremony, her legendary squat prowess was highlighted among her many accomplishments and will continue to set the bar, so to speak.

Katie, with Trevor and Audrey at the awards dinner

Also during the ceremony, a dramatic and inspiring recap of the winter sports season recognized the roles that Chris Kinner and Tess Wood played in stepping up the level of Harvard Skiing in their four years and referenced Audrey Mangan‘s role in making the women’s nordic team “a national powerhouse.” Duly noted.

Chris

Tess

Audrey

Congratulations to Margie, Alec, Cara, Clare, and Tor! At last week’s end-of-the-season banquet, the team elected these five to lead the way in the 2010-11 season:

Alpine

Margie Thorp

Alec Boardman

Nordic

Cara Sprague

Clare Miller

Tor O’Brien

Thank you to this year’s captains for a great four years. We’ll miss you!

Chris, Audrey, Tess, and Trevor