An Update on the 2020-2021 Racing Season

Hi there!

I’m sure you loyal followers of the blog have been dying to know the answer to the one question we’ve been asking since NCAAs (half of it!) last spring: Race? Here at SLU we’ve been asking ourselves the same. The constantly changing world of a pandemic makes for a constantly changing upcoming race season. For now, here is an update on what the EISA racing circuit will likely look like for SLU.

PLEASE NOTE: this is unofficial! We are just athletes reading league updates around the circuit and speculating what we’ll be able to safely do while abiding by local, state, and national COVID guidelines. The information in this blog post is likely to change throughout the coming weeks and months. 

New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC)

On October 8th, the NESCAC announced they are cancelling all winter season sports competitions. This announcement still allows for practices and individual institutions to organize outside competition at their discretion. What this means for Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, Middlebury, and Williams skiing remains dependent on their institutional, local, and state guidelines on travel and competition. That being said, with almost half of the EISA schools’ other sports not competing, a traditional EISA carnival season is already not looking promising. 

Ivy League

Similarly, the Ivy League (governing Dartmouth and Harvard) announced they are cancelling all intercollegiate winter sports competitions. Based on the announcement, it appears that athletics practices would be permitted, but travel for races seems to be out of the question for these schools. If the EISA is able to put together races (even unofficially), it seems Dartmouth and Harvard would be sitting these out for the year.

Liberty League

On November 9th, the Liberty League (in which most St. Lawrence University athletics competes) cancelled all winter sports competition and championship events. While this announcement does not specifically cancel the nordic ski season (as we compete in an outside league, the EISA), it does mean that holding athletic events will require stricter guidelines. Also important to note in this announcement is that smaller scale and unofficial events are not prohibited by the Liberty League so long as they are sufficiently safe. Within University guidelines, staying overnight for races will likely pose too much of a COVID exposure risk. For SLU Skiing, we will likely be limited to racing within realistic day driving distance (New York State and Vermont).

Vermont State

With a recent rise in COVID cases, the state of Vermont is implementing stricter guidelines that prohibit all recreational sports activities, likely impacting UVM, Middlebury, and St. Mike’s ability to practice or race for the foreseeable future. A stricter 7-14 day quarantine rule will also prevent out of state schools from travelling into Vermont to race and prevent UVM, Middlebury, or St. Mike’s from travelling out of state to race. Looks like we will have to get by without Craftsbury or Rikert this year :(

New York State

New York State recently relaxed travel restrictions regarding entering and exiting the state. Now, travelers from contiguous states (Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania) are exempt from quarantine and testing rules according to Forward NY guidelines. In theory, this would allow schools from these states to come to New York to race. However, as we’ve already mentioned, these schools are under restrictions of their own to prevent this from happening.

Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA)

With all that said, the EISA has yet to make an official decision regarding this season’s races. As of now, the EISA plans to hold five single-day races starting later in the winter season. These races are scheduled for Fridays to avoid some of the weekend-warrior crowds. Based on what we have discussed, there are some clear quarantine and travel issues given current guidelines, but the current EISA schedule is as follows:

1/29, St. Michael’s/Sleepy Hollow, VT: 5k/10k classic

2/5, Colby/Quarry Road, ME: 10k/15k skate

2/12, St. Lawrence/Lake Placid, NY: 5k/10k classic

2/19, UNH/Jackson, NH: 15k/20k skate

2/26, UVM/Sleepy Hollow, VT: 5k/10k classic

3/10-3/13, NCAA Championships/Jackson, NH

National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA)

The NCAA has yet to make a formal decision on winter sports. NCAA national championships are still on, with UNH picking up the bid to host at Jackson (as Middlebury, by new Vermont restrictions, will be unable to host at Rikert). Given the current COVID-19 climate, it will certainly be a smaller affair, with talk about how to qualify (with most schools unable to participate in standard EISA races) still underway. Saying anything more than this feels like gambling, so I’ll stop. See the NCAA’s Covid page for more resources and information.

“Final” Verdict

So, where does all this leave us? For SLU, with other winter sports teams on hold for competition, and many EISA schools looking at limited participation, it is looking like local racing is most likely. For the beginning of the season, we will likely be doing some local time trials at Higley Flow. It is our hope to be able to race/time trial with Clarkson University and Paul Smith's College ski teams during the early season, or travel to Mt. Van Hoevenberg for other open race opportunities should they arise. In the late season, we hope to follow the currently scheduled EISA and NCAA races during late January, February, and March should travel restrictions and institutional guidelines allow it. Within the coming weeks this prediction may change drastically. Regardless, as we said when we arrived in the fall, we’re going to keep crushing hard workouts and preparing for racing, if only to be thankful to participate in this sport we all know and love so well.

That’s all for now. For more reading on collegiate skiing across the country, see this great article written by Minnesota man Luke Brown. Thanks for tuning in and we will talk again soon!

Until then, keep those hips forward,

Charlie Reinhardt ‘23

COVID Thanksgiving 2020

Hello Again!

It’s been quite a while since our last blog post. We have been busy training, doing schoolwork, and sanitizing our hands since we last talked. For Thanksgiving break this year (last week), SLU students were allowed to either go home for break and stay home to finish the remainder of classes online from home, or stay strictly on campus and finish online classes from campus (no on-snow thanksgiving camps allowed). Many of our athletes flocked home for warm home-cooked meals and warmer hugs from family, so here is a small update on how each of our athletes is doing from across the country!

On campus squad post HARD L4 workout

Kai Oakley ‘23, Cam Brochu ‘23, Charlie Reinhardt ‘23, Lizi Barsness ‘24; Canton, NY: The on-campus squad, staying in Canton to finish out the semester until after finals. Managed to get on a mix of snow, dirt, and asphalt at Higley Flow State Park once last week. Still waiting for more snow, so we’ll be patiently logging hours running on the trails, roller skiing on the roads, and studying in the library!

Jada Balmer ‘24, Honeoye Falls, NY: Weather has been relatively warm-ish, so I’ve been sticking to roller skiing and running. Hoping to get some snow soon!

Amanda Vansant ‘24, Holderness, NH: Been frolicking around in the Whites and spending lots of quality time with my parents:) I’m patiently waiting for some white stuff on the ground so I can ditch the rollers for some real skinny skis! Ate some yummy pie on thanksgiving and hoping everyone else did too!

Gabby Wangler ‘21, Rochester, NY: Currently training and finishing out the rest of the semester at home. I've been enjoying our spicy late fall weather of 40's and rain, but rolling along until the snow starts flying. Can't wait for winter snow and racing to start!

Tim Cunningham '21 during his mountain OD run

Tim Cunningham ‘21, Springfield, NH: (Summary from a separate blog post worth reading, Changes, by David Bowie) Things are going well in Tim Land. I’m healthy, glad to have been around people who can make going to school during a pandemic fun, and getting totally fired up to destroy, erm, compete passionately with some Clarkson skiers every weekend this winter. 

Sydney Peterson ‘24, Cable, WI: I have been living up at the cabin, entertaining myself by skiing around a 1.3 Km snow loop. It’s been fun seeing family and especially the dog again!

Graham Branch ‘22, last spotted in Sedona, AZ: Living the road trip life from my new van (with a sick Ghostbusters sticker). Enjoying the warm weather and spending time on the mountain bike, looking sexy in the cowboy hat and Hawaiian shirt.

Brian Beyerbach ‘22, Bozeman, MT: Absolutely chilling in Bozeman after a brief trip to Truckee, CA. Training and racing with BSF college/pro team for the winter (taking the year off from SLU). Lots of on snow time so far which I am super thankful for. Looking forward to coming home for the holidays!

Kai Frantz '24 and his brothers at Mt. Van Hoevenberg

Kai Frantz ‘24, Lake Placid, NY: Had the chance to get on snow for a few days at Mt. Van Hoevenberg until my knee started acting up again (semi-injured from running this fall). Resting the knee up by spending quality time with family and getting jacked doing strength workouts through Volt by Gatorade!

Ben Carnahan ‘21, Williston, VT: Returned home for break. I have been running and mountain biking because I refuse to rollerski past Thanksgiving. I’ve been spending most of my time training and applying for grad school. I appreciated eating an unhealthy amount of stuffing on Thanksgiving.

Sammie Nolan ‘24, Richmond, VT: Thanksgiving break for me was refreshing, seeing my family for the first time in a while and having a couple days of no school work was great! The day before Thanksgiving I got to go on my first ski of the season and I saw so many friendly faces from my old team. On Thanksgiving day, I made lots of pies and had a very nice time with my family.

Robyn McIntosh ‘22, Chelsea, QC: I have been doing some training, some studying, and a whole lot of chilling since I’ve been home, which has been really nice! Luckily, we have snow up in the great white north, so I have been able to ski!! Can't wait to be back with the team for some fun racing/training!

Team JEPH in West Yellowstone

TEAM JEPH (Jordan Schuster ‘21 and Steph Nicols ‘22), Bozeman, MT: (Summary from a separate blog post update worth reading, The Chronicles of Team Jeph) Rather than returning to SLU for the fall, we decided to take the semester off (online school for Steph, ski bummin’ for Jordan) and spend the fall in Bozeman, MT. While the snow hasn’t been plentiful in Bozeman, we’re lucky to be a mere 2-hour drive from the world-class Rendezvous Ski Trails in West Yellowstone. We’ve logged many hours in the car, but they’re well-worth the mid-winter ski conditions. Last week we got to spend a couple nights in West for a mini Thanksgiving camp (complete with a 20lb turkey), and even donned a race bib for a time trial with the other college skiers.

Jaden Phillips ‘23, Evergreen, CO: I’m on snow in Frisco and Breckenridge enjoying beautiful skis with my dog and family. I will be out in Vermont soon and excited to be back and training with the team! 

Claire Wagner ‘24, Edina, MN: At home, currently skiing in 1.3km circles at Elm Creek and seriously procrastinating studying. Hoping for some cold weather and bigger circles soon!

Colton Martin ‘24, Erie, PA: Recently I have been roller skiing from home. There has not been enough snow to ski on quite yet. So In my free time I have been fly fishing for steelhead!

Coach Dana Hatton, ‘18, M’21: As I write this on Monday 11/30, I am currently in Lake Placid, NY quarantining after a potential exposure to Covid for another few days, but I am healthy and will be back in Canton to finish the semester with the four skiers we have still on campus..that is if we are allowed to have practices resume. It’s been a very uncertain journey this fall, but our skiers have handled it all so graciously and I couldn’t be more lucky to be working with such an easy-going group of student-athletes. We are all patiently waiting for the snow; it would certainly bring us some joy!

The Chronicles of Team Jeph

 Greetings all,

 

Team Jeph reporting from Bozeman on the past 6 months of travels, training, and Montucky shenanigans.

After spending a long spring cooped up at home and tired of self-motivating to train, Jordan ’21 and Steph ’22 decided to join recent grad Lucy Hoch ’20 and Ingrid Thyr (Williams College skiing ’20) in Bozeman for the summer. Little did we know, the Bozone would quickly become our home away from home. Although Graham (’22) talks about his Montana hometown far too much, his exaggerations aren’t too far off—Bozeman is pretty rad. 

 

We joined Montana Endurance Academy (MEA) with several other skiers from the EISA. Bozeman drew quite the crowd; about 50 eastern skiers made the cross-country pilgrimage out west to log some high-altitude hours in the mountains, split between 3 major training groups. Thankfully ski training is a COVID-friendly activity, and we were able to get some seriously good fresh-air training in on rollerskis, mountain bikes, and running shoes. 

 

Unfortunately, our rent at the Ranch (Lucy, Ingrid, and our house) expired along with our gorgeous tans, and before we knew it Jordan was dropping Steph off at the airport with tears in her eyes and packing up the car for the drive back home to Minnesota mid-August. Team Jeph went their separate ways. Fate couldn’t keep us apart for too long, but Bozeman’s housing crisis certainly tried. 

 

Rather than returning to SLU for the fall, we decided to take the semester off (online school for Steph, ski bummin’ for Jordan) and try to get back to the Bozone ASAP. Thankfully our lovely Crosscut Elite athletes Lucy and Ingrid had room at their new home, the Chalet, for two. After spending an epic week visiting teammate Jaden ’23 at her home in Colorado, Steph and Jordan were back in action in Bozeman. While the snow hasn’t been plentiful in Bozeman, we’re lucky to be a mere 2-hour drive from the world-class Rendezvous Ski Trails in West Yellowstone. We’ve logged many hours in the car, but they’re well-worth the mid-winter ski conditions. Last week we got to spend a couple nights in West for a mini Thanksgiving camp (complete with a 20lb turkey), and even donned a race bib for a time trial with the other college skiers.

 

Instead of continuing to bore you all with words, we’ll keep this update rolling with a captioned photo essay. Everyone knows a picture is worth a thousand words.

Steph and Lucy severely oxygen-deprived on first long distance run at altitude

MEA girls squad, L to R: Steph, Jordan, Meredith (Bowdoin), Anna and Luci (UNH)

Choose-your-own-adventure day: Team Jeph takes on theMiddle Cottonwood trail

A classic MEA jumping picture taken by our coach Lina Hultin 

(look closely and you'll find Graham)

Jordan trying not to die while mountain biking at Copper City 

(biking tips greatly appreciated)

Jaden takes on Bozeman with the crew

Team Jeph recovers at the Ranch after a long day at the office

Steph on our rollerski in Frisco, CO with Jaden!

Steph, Jaden, and Jordan conquer a Colorado 14er, Quandary Peak elev. 14,217ft

Back on snow and soaking up the rays in West Yellowstone, timer selfies a plenty

What Lucy sees in the rearview mirror on our drives home from West

Best skiing ever?

A Team Jeph personality pic

            Alrighty folks, that's it for us. Thanks for tuning in, and we hope to see you on the trails soon!

Over and out,

Team Jeph

Changes, by David Bowie

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Turn and face the strange

Ch-ch-changes

Don't want to be a richer one

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Turn and face the strange

Ch-ch-changes

Just gonna have to be a different one

Time may change me

But I can't trace time

- DAVID BOWIE, vibes inspiring this Thanksgiving update from Tim Cunningham

Hello Saints and extended Saint units!

I’m still Tim, and its been a bit since I‘ve had the chance to shake anyone’s hand. These Covid era introductions have had me practicing the chicken dance to get better at shaking elbows with people, but alas, some things just aren’t the same anymore. Take for example that I’m currently sitting at the kitchen table in my home in NH while my cute cowlick of a dog, Rusty, licks my elbow to try and get attention while I procrastinate doing homework by writing a blog post. And for those nonbelievers, yes, I can feel the licking with my elbow; he’s not subtle.

In any case I digress, the point of this blog is to give you an update on how things are going in Tim Land (population: 1 very optimistic senior). So that is what will happen. I returned home after some bittersweet goodbyes at the Powerhouse (a theme house on campus full of people whose biggest personality traits are using their legs to go really far distances at o-dark butt 30 in the morning), on Tuesday the 24th. I’ve missed being home, and having the few days off from school because of Thanksgiving has been a huge relief. Getting to see my family during the big feast for the first time in three years was really special. (We usually miss break with family because the team goes to Canada for this week, but we were spared the “massive inconvenience” that is skiing on snow this year because of the global pandemic). There is no snow here yet, but this morning I went for a beautiful spri… winter run OD up a local mountain. While this isn’t what usually happens in late November in the state of NH, it was still a blast.

Without getting too deep, the run this morning gave my mind the space it needed to think. Google keeps showing us all photos of “this day last year,” photos I’ve seen and, to be fully honest, felt cheated looking at. Those photos are of the old normal, if you’ll allow me to be dramatic, a document of history telling of a time we won’t see again for a bit. If ever. But it raises an interesting opportunity, this rapid change all around us. As athletes we all wake up every day to make ourselves uncomfortable doing intervals in the rain, or roller skiing for 30 miles into a seemingly endless headwind. We push to grow our bodies so that they can do the hard work better, longer, faster. Dealing with Covid carries much more risk with it than ski training does, the danger of accidentally transmitting the virus to our family weighs heavy on everyone. So, I hope you’re all doing well as you read this!

Risks aside though, the changes to every part of this senior fall semester have made me challenge my mind, forcing me to adapt and grow as a human with character to better be able to live through hard times better, longer, and hopefully not faster. The point remains, I’ve taken my time at home to refocus myself and take a look at all the hard work I’ve put into growing as a skier, which is carrying over to growing me as a person who can wade in turbulent waters and be sure I’m still moving the way I want to be: forward.

To surmise: things are going well in Tim Land. I’m healthy, glad to have been around people who can make going to school during a pandemic fun, and getting totally fired up to destroy, erm, compete passionately with some Clarkson skiers every weekend this winter. That's all for me. Smash that email blog notification button and go check out the whole team update coming to the blog soon.

Tim Cunningham ‘21

A Letter from Lizi!

Howdy, all!

My name is Lizi Barsness, and I am from Glenwood Springs, Colorado. I am a freshman at St. Lawrence University, and I am so excited to experience the winters out here. It will definitely be a novel experience! In high school, I was a part of the mountain bike team, ran track, and of course, nordic skiing! I am thrilled to be a part of this team and community, and can't wait to race at some point in the hopefully near future. Outside of skiing, some of my favorite pastimes are river surfing, traveling, making bad puns and jokes, backcountry skiing, drawing, and I am currently trying to learn how to skateboard! So stoked to ski you all out on the trails!

Lizi Barsness

Maximum Wattage

Hi everyone,

This past week the team completed a volume week following our testing week. The hours ranged from 14-16 and we have been taking advantage of the nice weather while we still can! (We're past peak foliage up here, however the winter constellations are starting to appear on these chilly mornings!)

On Tuesday we had an OYO early morning run, and then a 90 min-2 hour double pole specific classic ski in the afternoon on Plains and Selleck Roads. We did drills going up Coon Road, working on getting our hips up, crunching down fast, and putting together a powerful double pole. The rest of the ski was double pole distance out on Selleck Road, which has pretty nice pavement.

Due to COVID restrictions in the gym, we have to reserve time in the Varsity room gym for 8 athletes to workout at the same time. This recently got changed to 12 athletes! We got a 6:30-8:00 AM block Wednesday morning and had a small crew for an early morning Volt workout with athletes cycling in and out. For a lot of the team that weren't able to access gyms this summer and during quarantine, this was a nice change of pace to have a somewhat normal strength session. Here's a photo of us in the gym- masks required of course!

  In the afternoon, the team did a two hour distance skate ski with speeds at Higley Flow. These speeds weren't your everyday average speeds! The coaches set up a nice course in the parking lot at Higley where we weaved in and out of cones, hopping and testing our abilities around corners. It made the speeds much more interesting!

On Thursday, some members of the team headed out to Downerville State Forest to go mountain biking for practice, while others stayed behind to do a two hour distance run around Canton. I was part of the running group, and we made a nice loop starting on the Kip/Saddlemire trails, out to the cemetery in town, over and around the Remington loop, and back to campus in exactly two hours. 

On Friday, we did the infamous classic intervals at Whites Hill in Parishville. It was rainy and chilly when we first started, but cleared up by the end. The intervals were ten minutes long total, which meant that ETown and Dana drove us down to the base once we reached the top, so we could finish out the interval sets using the uphill. I love these intervals because they end up being fun, long grind sessions, but our "pit crew" is always just around the corner to take you back down, so you can do it again. Thank you Dana and ETown!

On Saturday, we did an over-distance skate ski starting from school and skiing out towards West Potsdam and finishing near Hannawa Falls. It was sunny, but chilly when we first started; it warmed up quickly when we got moving. Most people on the team finished around three hours, but the week wasn't over just yet!

On Sunday, the team went to Higley to do L4 bounding intervals on the Raquette River Loop, which is behind the campsites on the end of the far right of the campground. ETown and Dana set up four sets of cones throughout the loop, indicating the L4 zones, and a recovery in-between (our heart rates were around L3 in the "offs" as most bounding workouts tend to go). This was a fun way to end the week, and really hammer out any energy still left in our legs. In the afternoon, between homework sessions, there was an optional OYO recovery session for the team to tack on more time for the week.

The team did a great job this week, and we're all looking forward to our upcoming recovery week! Starting today, we'll be doing an easy classic rollerski!

Until next time,

Gabby '21

Testing Week!

Hello again!

Coming up for our next installment of SLUSKI blog fun is an update on testing week! This past week has been filled with lifting, skiing, and running HARD. We are feeling very tired (happy and fuzzy tired, of course) after a tough week. Here’s an update on how everything went:

3k Run TT

Add caption

Timmy C '21 and Charlie R '23 going for it!

Tuesday morning brought us the 3k run TT on the SLU track! One of my favorite tests, getting to watch a bunch of skiers run super duper fast. We were lucky with some pleasant 50 degree weather and a beautiful sunrise bright and early. To fit within current COVID guidelines, we split the women’s and men’s start, sending the Saints off at 7:15am and 7:30am respectively. It always hurts a lot, but the Saints had a blast going for it and running their guts out on the old oval.

Men: 

Tim Cunningham ‘21: 9:51

Charlie Reinhardt ‘23: 9:58

Ben Carnahan ‘21: 11:00

Cam Brochu ‘23: 11:02

Women:

Claire Wagner ‘24: 11:22

Gabby Wangler ‘21: 11:24

Jada Balmer ‘24: 11:58

Robyn McIntosh ‘22: 12:18

Elizabeth Barsness ‘24: 12:37

Sydney Peterson ‘23: 13:00

Sammie Nolan ‘24: 13:18

Tuesday afternoon brought us some chill classic skiing at Raquette River Road, previewing our 7.5k/10k TT course for later in the week. Check out the wicked cool golden hour pictures.

Canadian Strength Test

On Wednesday afternoon, we had the standard Canadian Strength test. A grueling 10 minute long test, the Canadian Strength test always kicks some butt. One minute of pull ups, sit ups, push ups, box jumps and bench dips respectively with one minute of recovery in between each mode. To maintain proper social distancing, we split the team into groups of four that came into the team ski room to do the strength test at intervals of 30 mins apart. Always a blast to yell at each other to lift harder and faster.

NAME	score
G. Wangler '21	217
J. Balmer '24	175
S. Peterson '24	173
C. Wagner '24	162
A. Vansant '24	160
E. Barsness '24	158
R. McIntosh '22	151
S. Nolan '24	144
C. Reinhardt '23	273
C. Brochu '23	260
K. Richter '23	252
B. Carnahan '21	228

Thursday afternoon brought us some on your own strength throughout the day and an easy trail run. Nothing fancy, just putting in the time!

Double Pole and No Pole Tests

Friday afternoon brought our beloved Double Pole and No Pole tests by Brown’s Bridge. A double whammy day: one 7-10 min uphill bout of double pole only, a brief ski back to the bottom as recovery, one 7-10 min uphill bout of legs only skate skiing. Pleasant weather and a bit of a tailwind brought us some fast times. On the men’s side, congratulations to Tim for setting a new DP record and Charlie for setting a new no pole record. On the women’s side, congratulations to both Robyn and Sydney for both setting new no pole records. When we say records, we mean SLUSki history records, not just personal records!

Double Pole:

Men			Women
T. Cunningham	6:59:00		J. Balmer	9:31:00
K. Richter	7:23:00		G. Wangler	9:54:00
C. Reinhardt	8:01:00		S. Nolan	9:54:00
B. Carnahan	8:18:00		C. Wagner	10:08:00
C. Brochu	8:59:00		R. McIntosh	10:09:00
			E. Barsness	11:01:00
			S. Peterson	11:10:00

No Pole:

Women			Men
R. McIntosh*	9:31		C. Reinhardt*	7:55
S. Peterson*	9:33		C. Brochu	9:35
E. Barsness	9:57		B. Carnahan	9:45
G. Wangler	10:16
C. Wagner	10:18
S. Nolan	11:00
J. Balmer	11:11

St. Regis Uphill Run

Early Saturday morning, the team hopped into the vans to head to St. Regis for our uphill run test. Pleasant weather convinced a number of our athletes to shed the tarps. The nice weather made it a popular hike for locals and we had lots of cheering hikers during the run. We even met a St. Lawrence Alum! After a tough 30-40 minutes of uphill running through roots, rocks, and water, our athletes were greeted by a cheering Coach Dana Hatton and beautiful views on top of St. Regis. 

Men				Women
T. Cunningham	31:57:00			G. Wangler	39:10:00
C. Reinhardt	34:09:00			E. Barsness	41:23:00
C. Brochu	34:33:00			J. Balmer	43:11:00
B. Carnahan	37:10:00			S. Nolan	44:44:00
				S. Peterson	44:49:00

Saturday didn’t end there: upon getting back on campus, the team headed to Make a Difference Day! A wonderful all-day event, SLU Volunteer Services organized shifts throughout the day for groups (teams, clubs, groups of friends) to get into the community and do some volunteer work. SLUSkiing grabbed some rakes and headed to a local community member’s house to rake and bag leaves in the yard. While the weather was a bit less than ideal (a lotta bit windy and a lotta bit rainy) the Saints put in some L5 raking to get the job done. Huge thanks to Volunteer Services for organizing a great event!

On Sunday morning, after our morning Dana hype train sponsored by the lovely dining service ladies (shout out to my faves Penny, Cindy, and Bailey!), we headed to Raquette River Road for the 7.5k/10k skate roller ski time trial. While it was chilly at the start, the sun came out during the warm up and made for perfect roller ski racing temperatures. 

Men 10k						Women 7.5k
1	C. Reinhardt	27:52:00				1	S. Peterson	25:35:00
2	T. Cunningham	27:53:00				2	S. Nolan	25:52:00
3	C. Brochu	30:18:00				3	G. Wangler	26:37:00
4	B. Carnahan	30:28:00				4	E. Barsness	27:39:00

And on Sunday afternoon, the Saints hit the books. Homework grinding all day after a week of trying to survive the large amount of intensity training by getting more sleep than most college students can afford to get. 

Thus concludes our testing week! It was exhausting, but super rewarding to see all the smiling faces day in and day out for a long week of training. Thanks for checking in and we will see you next time.

Until then, keep those hips forward,

Charlie Reinhardt ‘23

P.S. pictures going caption-less today because your's truly has royally messed up the formatting. Still getting the hang of this blog thing, much to learn!