Quebec City World Cup!

Ryan, Madi, Dana, Waters, Kate, Dustin, Brendan, Matt, Jordan, all went to the 2017 Nordic World Cup in Quebec City!  We had a blast. It was a great way to start our spring break. We also stayed with skier friend Lance Mckenney, and other SLU students Erika Florian, and Christine Corcoran.  Coach Liz, Erin Perryman and Phil Marshall were also there, along with the Townsend Family! Having the world cup so close by, so many fellow skiers and Americans filled the crowds! GO USA!

Most of us stayed right in the city at the Best Western Plus, in two 6 person suites. We could walk to and from the old city in about 10min or less. I do not recommend bringing your car if you don't have to. Parking is a big pain.  The races were held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and were all on one section of the streets in the old city, the same area as the world cup in 2016.

Enjoy the pictures! All taken by Dana:

Kikkan Randall!

Sophie Caldwell signing autographs on the ski trail

Julia Kern Sprint

Jessie Diggins!

Simi Hamilton warming up

Sadie Bjornsen and Jessie Diggins

Crash in Men's 15k Mass Start- It happens in the big leagues too folks!

Ben Lustgarten! His brother Eric graduated from SLU!

Klaebo, my new idol; the 20yr old won both the Sprint and the Skate Pursuit!

Jessie Diggins

Mens Mass Start Line Up

First Years Jordan and Kate enjoying the races!

Phil Marshall '16, Erin Perryman '16, Coach Liz, and Jeremy Hecker

2016-2017 Season In Review

First of all, thanks to Lucy for picking up the slack and writing the blog! I'm excited she will be able to post from her own account now, so I know next year we will still be in good hands.

For those wondering, yes, recently, I got a concussion at the last carnival of the season. Luckily, I finished the season and fortunately I was able to finish the 15k skate race that day.  I never knew that a concussion could be one of the worst things that could happen to you.  Concussions happen so frequently in college that when someone says they have a concussion, it kind of glosses over my head. Not anymore..

10 things you need to know about a concussion:

1. They suck
2. It hurts a lot; a constant headache, everyday all day
3. You feel trapped in a box that you can't get out
4. You'll have mood swings
5. You sleep a lot- who knew one could sleep so much?
6. You can't watch TV, write, read, draw, nothing.. you'll miss out on opportunities and you'll watch out your bedroom window all day
7. You realize how much you like school and exercising
8. You lay in bed all day..the first few days are fine, the next few days are boring
9. You feel tired, but you sleep all day, but when you go to bed, you want to sleep, but you are tired of sleeping..
10. You'll never ever wish it on anyone

Moving on..

The season ended on a brilliant note as mentioned before. After that, Lucy, Jackie, Kate, and Dani made their way to JN's at Lake Placid, where they had some top performances. All in all, a successful season. Many thanks for all the support along the way.

Here's a poem to recap:

lalalal...

We are finishing up classes, with one week left before Spring Break! This coming weekend, most of us are heading to Quebec City where the final World Cup races have been moved to! Lucky for us! We are so stoked and perhaps one of us will report on it when we get back. We're still in search of that snow...it's never around long enough for us nordies.

Lastly, if you haven't done so yet, check out India's videos. Not only did she make videos from every carnival, she also made videos for those going to NCAA's and video's capturing JN's- Like her on Facebook, follow her on Youtube and Instagram at Blazing Pines Productions!

Best,
SLUSKI

JN Weekend Recap

Recap of Junior Nationals at Lake Placid: March 6-11, 2017

India's JN Videos:

Monday

Wednesday

Friday

Saturday

From Lucy:

"Saturday, we finished up Junior Nationals with a relay in freezing conditions. I realize we missed a couple things along the way though, so here is a quick recap.
On Wednesday, we had a tougher day with the sprints, though Kate and Jackie had good races for their least favorite distance and technique.  Dani and I made it into the heats. We both ended our

days in the quarters, but it was good nonetheless for us to both get in more practice. They are always very crazy."

From Dana:

It was so fun to be able to watch SLU skiers represent us on the Mid-Atlantic team.  Water, India and I all came up Thursday night and stayed until Sunday morning, making a weekend get-away from it.  Many others came up Friday night and Saturday morning to cheer. It was absolutely freezing Saturday, and chilly on Friday.  I had not been in quite that cold of weather in awhile.  It was crazy to think they were racing in t-shirts two days before.

I'll leave the pictures here do the rest of the talking: (All Pics taken by Dana)

Lucy

Kate 

Dani


Dani

Lucy at the start of 5k Skate on Monday (Screenshot by Ryan from the live feed)

Jackie starting the classic sprint Wednesday (Screen shot by Dana from the live feed)

Junior Nationals Starts off on a High Note!

Well, Jackie, Dani, Kate, and me are representing the Mid-Atlantic division at Junior Nationals this week. While not really a SLU event, we are going to try to update the blog to let you know how it's going. We are doing plenty of homework too though, so don't worry!

On Friday we headed out for a very squished van ride to Lake Placid and had a very cold and icy ski at Mt. Van Hoevenberg. There were 4 ski bags, 5 duffels, 4 backpacks, 8 pairs of boots, and us!

Quite the packing job (Jackie photo)

We went to the opening ceremonies Sunday night. I was Mid-A's person to be a part of the torch handoff. I had been told to give it back to Tim Burke; however, the announcer then said something along the lines of, "Lucy Hochschartner will have the honor of lighting the torch," so that was a special opportunity. I did get a little nervous though when they told me to be careful not to burn my hair...

Me lighting the torch at the opening ceremonies (JN facebook page)

Jackie finishing a stellar race! (Jackie's dad photo)

The races were moved to the Olympic Jumping Complex due to an unfortunate rain, but the trails are in great shape! VERY HILLY :) Monday was a 5k skate, and SLU threw down some great performances. Most notably was Jackie leading the team and getting her first All-American honors! This was so special, because 5k skates are Jackie's thing, we haven't had very many of them this year, it was her home course that she has skied SO many times, and she has had this race on her goal sheet since JNs LAST year. It was killer to watch. I was also a U20 All-American, Dani had an amazing race for 16th U20, and Kate rounded us out with 32nd U20. It was awesome to see Kate and Dani crush their first national level races! Also, it was a great day for Mid-A on the whole.

Results U18 Women | U20 Women

Dani and Kate heading back for class today (Dani photo)

Thanks to everyone who is cheering us on from near and far! We race in the classic sprint tomorrow, so stay tuned!

If you are far away and have some free time on your hands, there is live Streaming of events as well!
https://livestream.com/xcountrylive/events/7098123