The event began with classic sprints on Sunday. The 2012 Junior National champion in this event, Eric's excitement for this race was barely containable. He delivered on his high energy with a 7th place finish, cutting his previous-best finish (14th) in half and scoring the first single-digit men's race for SLU since 2010.
Eric in his heat (photo by Connor Hunt '13)
Eric also skied well in his heat, ending up in 4th place there to take 17th in the massive open Eastern Cup field. Meng finally showed some excellent spark in qualification, and despite not being a strong sprinter he narrowly missed out on the open heats and was 22nd in the EISA field. Another unexpectedly solid sprint day came from Will, who placed 32nd.
In the women's race Erin once again showed her excellent sprint speed with a 15th place finish, a new career best far ahead of her 29th place in the 10k at Colby this year! She skied to 5th in her open Eastern Cup and got great practice in the same event that will be held at Junior Nationals at this venue in March.
Erin drew a tough quarterfinal with Anja Gruber (2013 NCAA Classic champ) and Rosie Brennan (recently back from the World Cup). Bowdoin's Kaitlynn Miller is also pictured here (Photo by Ian Nesbitt for EISA)
The next day was fast and fun with 5 and 10k classic races on the twisty, technical race loop. Erin had a great bib draw and was final starter in the EISA field, which made it even more impressive that she came through 4k fighting for a top-10 finish. She ended up 14th to achieve a new career-best just 24 hours removed from her prior top finish. Before the races we had talked about this weekend having the potential for two top-20 results...with back-to-back top-15's she took it one step further!
The girls success continued with Kate taking her first NCAA points in 31st (with points for 28th, as Laval skiers do not count for NCAA purposes). Kate is getting stronger with every weekend, and as a whole I believe all the girls had their best placing yet.
The men's race was exciting as well, with Meng posting 12th and getting back more and more snap with his skiing. With two Laval skiers in front of him he picked up NCAA points for 10th and is starting to climb up the ranking list.
Eric started smooth and had a great second lap to finish 24th, while the most impressive race of the day may have been from Kyle. Last year Kyle had great success in slop, mashed potatoes and other conditions that required grit and stamina. Fast, squirrely conditions were a difficult situation.
Kyle's balance work pays off to earn him his first top-30 (Photo by Connor Hunt '13)
This year, lots of work on the Bosu ball and with various ankle-strengthening boards and gadgets (they all seemed like trivial and silly exercises this fall...but who's laughing now?) gave way to a big change. Even though this course was technical and fast, with super slippery and unpredictable snow, Kyle mastered the conditions and finished in 25th place for his first top-30 result. Placing 3 men in the top-25 was a big step forward and the momentum is only building!
On a sadder note, it was clear that everyone involved with the races this weekend felt the loss of Dartmouth skier Torin Tucker on Saturday. All of our thoughts go out to the Dartmouth team, along with the friends and family of Torin. Losing someone so involved with the sport at any level is difficult to accept, especially in the midst of a weekend of racing. An event that will not be forgotten soon.
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