First practice!

There are nine new skiers arriving in Cambridge this week.  They have a range of interests, from political science to engineering to biology, and come from as close as Vermont and as far as Alaska.  We look forward to welcoming them, and hope the ski team will be as important a part of their Harvard experience as it has been for so many others.

Alpine

Meghan Luck (Green Mountain Valley School, Waitsfield, VT) has an extensive FIS racing background and has competed and placed in some of the top Eastern and Canadian events as well as several European FIS races.  Tenley Malmquist (Holderness School, Plymouth, NH) comes to us from the tutleage of former US Ski Team coach Georg Capaul; rock solid fundamentals and strong top-10 results at National Junior FIS races at Waterville Valley last season will be her building blocks to make the leap to the next level.  Catherine Sheils (Burke Mountain Academy, East Burke, VT) comes to Harvard bringing an extremely deep and varied competitive background.  Last season saw her participate in US Ski Team development projects, compete well in regional FIS and Nor-Am races and have 12th, 14th, and 16th place finishes at the Finnish National Championships.   Andrew Spielvogel (Green Mountain Valley School, Waitsfield, VT) spent most of last season battling back from a knee injury.  He finished the season strong with some good results in New England and Quebec in February and March as he looks to regain his dominant form from two years ago.  Look for our Freshmen to be immediately cracking the top-30 in the EISA circuit and putting up a serious challenge for top-seed placings.

Nordic

Esther Kennedy (Anchorage, AK) skied for Robert Service High School, Alaska Winter Stars, and represented Alaska at Junior Nationals in 2008 and 2009.  She also competed at senior Nationals in Anchorage.  Tony Ryerson (Vail, CO) skied for Vail Mountain Academy and Ski and Snowboard Club Vail, represented the Rocky Mountain division at Junior Nationals in 2007, 2008 and 2009, and raced at senior nationals in 2008 and 2009.  Kevin Sprague (Queensbury, NY) skied for Queensbury High School and represented the Mid-Atlantic team at Junior Nationals.  He also runs cross-country, and is the brother of one of our women’s team members, Cara Sprague.  Alena Tofte (Duluth, MN) skied for Duluth East High School, finished 9th in the Minnesota State Championships, and was named to the Midwest team for Junior Nationals in 2007.  Anika Petach (Boulder, CO) skied for the Boulder Valley School District (Nederland Nordic Team) and has been a JO alternate for the Rocky Mountain division.  Anika is the sister of men’s captain, Trevor Petach.  In addition, Addie Byrne, a member of the women’s US Junior Biathlon team, will be joining us in the fall of 2010.

Thank you to assistant coach Sara Cushman ‘97, who recently started a Friends of Harvard Skiing page on Facebook for us.  We hope that this site will be a portal for Friends to keep in touch with each other, share their skiing adventures, and be a “fan” of the team.

[From GoCrimson.com] Eight Harvard skiers were among the 88 student-athletes named to the All-Academic Intercollegiate Ski Team Presented by the United States Collegiate Ski Coaches Association.

Six members of the Nordic team and two members of the Alpine team represented Harvard and were announced at the NCAA Championships Banquet in March.  There are two selection criteria for this award.  Students must have a 3.5 grade point average or higher in the fall semester and must have competed at the regional championships.

Anna Schulz, David McCahill, Trevor Petach, Joe Tofte, Shannon Mulshine and Meri Burruss were named from the Nordic team while Caroline McHugh and Kevin McNamara were named from Alpine.  See http://www.gocrimson.com/sports/skiing/index.

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 17^th 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 27^th place finish in the women’s mass start 10km race.  Alyssa Devlin (34^th) and Audrey Mangan (37^th) moved up throughout the race and finished close behind Cara.  Also finishing well were Anna Schulz (52^nd), Shannon Mulshine (53^rd) and Clare Miller (59^th in her first collegiate classic race).  In the men’s 10km classic, David McCahill (51^st) led the team from wire to wire, followed by Trevor Petach (53^rd) and Tor O’Brien (58^th).  Men and women raced a 3×5km relay on Saturday.  The men’s team (David, Trevor and Tor) skied to a 19^th 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 12^th, ahead of second teams from Williams, UNH, St. Lawrence and Colby.  The second team (Shannon, Anna and Clare) came in 18^th, 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 21^st place finish.  Alyssa (30^th) and Shannon (45^th, less than 1 minute back from Alyssa) also had strong finishes.  Our other contributors were Audrey (49^th), Anna (54^th), and Meri Burruss (57^th).  David reported perfect skis in the men’s race and posted his career best classic finish (43^rd , 1 minute out of 30^th) in the men’s 10km.  He was followed by Trevor (50^th), Joe Tofte (58^th) and Tor (60^th).    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 (27^th).  Cara was tangled up in the start but managed to climb back to 37^thplace; Audrey was 44^th, and Anna was not far behind (51^st ). She was followed by Shannon (54^th) and Meri (56^th).  David again led the men’s team with a 46^th place finish in the 20km skate.  He was followed by Trevor (51^st), Joe (56^th), and Tor (57^th).

From Coach Mitchell:  The Dartmouth Carnival saw an upturn in the results for the Alpine squad.  Chris Kinner skied to 23rd place in the GS and was 13th on the second run, just over 1 second out on the run despite a few minor mistakes.  Freshman Kevin McNamara anchored the team in the Slalom with a 37th place result (which was top-30 for collegiate athletes).  Brad Alvarez and Alec Boardman made huge strides in their skiing this weekend, as they were both able to transfer much of what they have been working on in training to a race situation for the first time, a HUGE step for sure! The Alpine squad had a more difficult go of things at the UVM carnival at Stowe.  The weekend was marred by bad luck and very difficult course conditions.  The team battled valiantly, but broken skis and a few untimely binding releases somewhat derailed the team’s performance this weekend.  On the bright side, Caroline McHugh put down a fantastic first run of Giant Slalom, just over 1 second behind the leader; while skiing a very aggressive second run, Caroline hooked her arm on a GS gate and crashed out only a few turns from the finish and what surely would have been a top-15 result.  With the Dartmouth results, however, it appears things are starting to pick up, and after a great day of Slalom training at Pat’s Peak on Sunday, the team is anxious to get back in the gate this weekend for the Middlebury carnival!

From Coach City:  Last week’s warm rain and subsequent cooling led to icy and fast conditions over the weekend at Oak Hill.  We saw quick times and relatively little separation between places.  Both men and women skied well, including the downhills, and with a few more seconds here or there and we could have picked up a number of places.  Cara Sprague posted a second-straight top-25 finish in the classic 5km on Friday.  She was followed by Alyssa Devlin (41); Audrey Mangan (48); Anna Schulz (55); Shannon Mulshine (57); and Meri Burruss (65) in an expanded field of 68 racers.  Saturday was a mass-start 10km race for the women.  Cara placed 35th to lead the team; she was followed by Alyssa (43); Audrey (50); Shannon (52); Anna (55); and Meri (60).  On the men’s side, the men were just on the back edge of a tightly-packed group of finishers in Friday’s 10km classic.  Trevor Petach led the team in 56^th place; he was followed by David McCahill in 57^th, Joe Tofte in 59^th and Tor O’Brien in 60^th.  The guys moved up a few spots in Saturday’s 15km skate, which took them all over the Oak Hill trail system.  David (50^th) edged out Trevor (51^st), followed by Joe (57^th) and Tor (58^th).

The highlight of the UVM carnival was our best women’s team placing in at least 20 years.  The weather for the classic race was unbelievable: when we arrived it was sleeting, and this quickly changed over to snow, 40mph gusts of wind, and even thunder.  About half-way through the race, the clouds cleared and the sun came out.  Scott and Sara found some wax that worked fairly well for the women.  Even so, two of our skiers competed on racing waxless skis.  The women focused on the race rather than the conditions, and the result was a 19th (Cara); a 21st (Anna); and a 31st (Audrey), and a team finish of 8^th – one point behind Williams.  The snow continued to change through the guys race, and their finish positions don’t indicate much except that they can double-pole for 9 miles.   I’m proud of the determination and effort the entire team showed under very difficult conditions.

Many thanks to the parents and friends who have come out to cheer over the past few weekends.  We’ve enjoyed great post-race lunches the past two weeks provided by the Devlins, Schulzes, Burrusses, Mulshines, and Spragues!

Share