Lake Placid Loppet

By: Dana

A blue bird day and 18 degrees with fresh snow covering all 50k of the trails made for a beautiful Lake Placid Loppet during the first weekend of our Spring Break!  Sorry for the late post for those who like to follow us consistently!  Tim '21, Dana '18, and Eliza '21 from the SLUSki squad all made it out and raced!  Lucy '20 joined in volunteering and cheering, and previous ski team member, Anna Izzo '18 also competed. Eliza did the 25K classic race, which started at 9:30am.  Unfortunately, Tim and I (Dana) didn't catch her after our races, but she looked pretty focused when she came through the stadium! Tim and I started our 50K skate race at 10:30.  All races started with a mass start out of the stadium, self-seeded.

The race course was a 25K loop, which meant we did everything!  We skied East Mountain, Porter, Ladies 5K, and the biathlon side two times! If you can't imagine doing Porter once, than just think about doing it twice!  It's one of the most challenging Loppet courses out there, I'd say.

During my race, I didn't think, "oh man, another hill..", it got to the point where I'd just ski up them and I wasn't even aware of what I was doing. It didn't hit me until the last 10K or so, and that's when I was moaning, "oh man my legs. I can't feel them!" Neither Tim or I carried a water-bottle belt. I had my father in the stadium with a gatorade feed, which I got 4x when I came through there. I also had 2 honey packets and a goo attached to my uniform, which I took when I needed them, around every 10K or so. I also had shot blocks in my shirt, which got stuck, and I couldn't get them out, so yes, I carried them 50K without eating any..oh well. It was nice to know if I bonked real hard, I could get something to eat. I can't speak for what Tim and Eliza did, but I know they didn't have any issues and raced hard!

None the less, we all had so much fun.  Tim placed 5th overall and first in his age group with a time of 02:39:48. Dana got 18th overall and first in her age group with a time of 03:03:18. Eliza was 31st overall, second in her age group with a time of 01:54:30! 

For anyone looking to do a loppet marathon, I'd recommend the LP one. You'll be very proud of what you accomplished!

Here are the RESULTS.

Dana's First 50K

Tim and Dana after the race, both did the 50K Skate!

Junior Nationals Recap

By Emily Siegel '20

Emily (Me) with my sister and friend/fellow Middlebury skier Annika Landis at Soldier Hollow

Sorry for the late blog post from Junior nationals, but all of us have been catching up on sleep and school! Junior Nationals is where all the top juniors from U-16 to U-20 all race in one place for a week. This year it was in Soldier Hollow, which is always a fun course for me to ski (since I'm from Idaho). I have been skiing there since I first went with my middle school for SVSEF in 6th grade. It is also always fun to go back home to the west. The cool part was that my parents and sister came down to watch us on the mass start and relay day. I also got to see my old high school coaches, and my middle school coach made a surprise trip down to say hi to me. Along with myself, Dottie, Kate, Jackie, Aliya, Jordan, Eliza, and Ben all raced for Mid-Atlantic. Ryland also represented SLU but with the Far West team. Assistant Coach Kyle '16 also helped with the Mid-Atlantic team which was nice for us to have the support and a familiar face out west with us.

Ben '21 at the start of the Skate Sprint
(Screen Shot from the Live feed by Dana)

Kate '20 at the start of the Skate Sprint
(Screen Shot from the Live feed by Dana)

 The course has three hills because we did the 3.3km loop instead of the full 5km loop because of the lack of snow. We got to Utah on Saturday at about 5:30 in the afternoon, but didn’t get to our hotel until about 1:30 in the morning. We then got to our rooms and we crashed out immediately because it felt like we were still on east coast time! The next day we woke up and went over to the coaches’ house for breakfast that our two amazing chefs made and went over the plan for the day. We skied the skate sprint course, which had one huge climb that could make or break your race.

Jordan '21
(Screen Shot from the Skate Sprint Live feed by Dana)

Aliya '21
(Screen Shot from the Skate Sprint Live feed by Dana)

Ryland '21 (Far West)
(Screen Shot from the Skate Sprint Live feed by Dana)

Dottie '21
(Screen Shot from the Skate Sprint Live feed by Dana)

Emily '20
(Screen Shot from the Skate Sprint Live feed by Dana)

The day after was a training day for the classic 5km the following day. The classic 5km was the coolest day that week and it was 32 degrees! Jackie and I both raced in t-shirts and no gloves. Jackie got All-American that day and ended the day in 9th. WAHOO! The rest of us did okay, but Aliya had her best race of the year finishing 21st. Ben placed 41st and Ryland 44th.

The next day was the skate sprint with the majority of the girls making the top 30 to move into quarter finals. We had very strong races here with some of us even leading the sprint heats for a little bit. The temperature started to climb so much that we were laying in snow to cool off after the races. Jackie made All-American again getting 7th! Dottie, Emily (me), and Kate made it into the top 20. Ryland got 38th and Ben placed 42nd. The day after the sprint races, we had a day off so we went to look at the course for the 10km skate mass start.

Eliza '21
(Screen Shot from the Skate Sprint Live feed by Dana)

Jackie '21
(Screen Shot from the Skate Sprint Live feed by Dana)

Tangle Up!
(PC: SkinnySki.com)

AHHH
(PC: SkinnySki.com)
(Best Wishes to Jackie (in neon yellow t-shirt)
for a speedy recovery from a concussion)

The mass start race day was one of the more exciting days in terms of the amount of crashes involved in the race. It was a very warm day and most girls raced in t-shirts and folded up their team tights. The snow had turned from rock hard to really soft slush. The race started and one of the girls tried to move into the front right at the start of the race which is very common on this course at Soho because it goes from pretty wide to very narrow right after the start. Jackie and Dottie ended up in the crash, but both caught up by the end of the first lap to the top group. The race ended with Dottie getting 8th to get All-American (YAYY!) and Jackie and Emily got top 15! Ryland got 40th and Ben 43rd.

Emily in the middle (164) with Aliya on her right and Jordan in the top left corner
(PC: SkinnySki.com)

The last day of racing was the relay race which again was classic skiing on slush and temperatures that were higher than normal. The relay was definitely one of the slower races most of us have ever skied and we ended up having to double pole the downhills, ugh. The relay teams consisted of Dottie, Kate, and Emily and the next one was Jordan, Eliza, and Aliya.  Dottie, Kate and Emily ended up 12th and Jordan, Eliza, and Aliya ended up 15th. Ben was 16th in his relay and Ryland was 14th.

The view of the race!
(PC: SkinnySki.com)

Such an awesome venue!
(PC: SkinnySki.com)

It was a lot of fun to race on the courses I grew up on, and it was also nice to be able to get on some snow before heading back to Canton. Most of us haven’t seen that much sun in a awhile and it showed by the amount of sunburns on people’s faces. Jackie had the worst one and was burnt so much that you could see her glitter streak. All of us made it back home safe, and some of us are competing at Spring Series. We are excited for a little time to recover before starting spring training.

-Emily Siegel

Dottie followed by Emily charging up the hill
(PC: SkinnySki.com)

Return to Winter

Picking up where Gabby left off, I (Lucy) will try to fill you in on the last weekend before Spring Break for SLUSKI. The blog post is quite a bit overdue, but that last week of school was pretty packed for most of us. Anyway, Dana, ETown, and I decided to head over to Craftsbury for the MNC Skiathlon to get in one more race before break.

After a week of 50-60º weather and trips to Canada, winter decided to come back. This was good, because some of us were trying to use these post-carnival races as a way to stretch out our seasons until Spring Series (coming up this weekend, so look for a more timely blog update!) We are all very motivated, but gosh, after a long season it is tough to stay in the skiing mindset when there is no snow on campus and people are walking around in shorts. So, not only was the Craftsbury snow beautiful, but it was a good reminder that things aren't over yet!

Winter again (Dana photo)

Dana and I had a beautiful pre-race ski at Craftsbury. The snow was stuck to the trees and still coming down. It was gorgeous. We also managed to get to the Townsend's without getting lost; however, we did slide around a little bit.

Having fun :) (Dana photo)

We had a wonderful dinner with the Townsend's. The bread was amazing as always, and I am sure I ate enough of it to make up for Dana being gluten free. Thank you so much to ETown's parents for hosting us so often. 

The next day, we did the skiathlon. It was a 6 lap 2ish k course. At first, we were a bit upset that we had to do so many laps, but it actually was nice to stay off the huge hills when we were trying to stride in skate boots. Dana had an awesome start to the race and kept me in sight for a long time, but ended up getting taken out by another skier... She got up and made the best of it, still good for the U23 podium, but it was definitely disappointing for her to be doing so well until getting knocked to the ground by another skier. The course was a little crazy with people lapping people and the men only starting 10 min before the women. Aside from that, it was fun racing!

Trying to classic ski in skate boots... (Bob Townsend photo)

Dana skiing strong (Bob Townsend photo)

We both were grateful to have some fresh snow, a nice time at the Townsend's, and we even learned some coach skills by helping with kick wax on race morning. I'm just going to say that I still don't know how coaches do it... I don't really know any college racers that know how to kick wax and use flouros, but somehow all the coaches do. Who knows when or how the athlete to coach transformation happens, but if Dana and I are any indication, it definitely hasn't happened yet. For now, though, we're both still happy to be living the racer life :) Thanks to everyone who supports us for making it happen. Also, thank you to Mansfield Nordic for a great race, Craftsbury for hosting, ETown for making sure Dana and I put the right kick wax on our skis (it was great), and the Townsends for hosting us!

Women's Results

ETown crushing the coach life (Bob Townsend photo)

Thea's Race at Nakkertok

By Gabby Wangler

Sundays Are For the Girls

                   On March 4^th, the weekend after the last carnival, some of the Saints traveled back up to Ottawa to compete in Thea’s Race at the North Nakkertok Nordic Center. It was a classic team relay sprint consisting of two people, and each leg skied the 1.3 km course three times. Ironically, we brought only women to a race that was in the memory of an active skier named Thea and promoted more women to ski. It brought female (and male) skiers of all ages and ability together to have fun racing, so mission accomplished Thea!

Dana, and Lucy (black headband partners), Erin, and Gabby (white headband partners)

                  It was an early morning, but turned out to be a beautiful sunny day by the time the races started. Our teams were senior Dana Hatton with sophomore Lucy Hochschartner, and junior Erin Waters with freshman Gabby Wangler. We had a girl from every year in school!

Our lucky relay socks!

                  Lucy and Erin were the scramble legs and had some speedy starts! It was fun to tag off to partners in the chaos of others also tagging off, and the beautiful course was super fast. Unfortunately, Dana was too speedy and broke one of her classic poles during one of her legs, but that didn’t stop the dynamic duo to finish second overall for senior women! And Erin and Gabby finished 5^th for senior women! Woo!  Thanks to Nakkertok for hosting such a fun and spirited event with many different races for all ages!  We'll be back!

Race Photos HERE and HERE 

Dana and Lucy 2nd place!

                  After a lunch together, we traveled back to Canton for a productive Sunday afternoon of homework. We’d like to thank ETown for bravely facing the bitter wind and waxing our skis outside with no gloves on. (That’s true dedication!)

                Stay tuned for upcoming posts about a Junior Nationals Recap, the MNC Skiathlon, the LP Loppet, and spring series at Craftsbury this coming weekend!

Cheers,

Gabby Wangler '21