Two
Thursdays ago the Saints loaded up the vans on and made their way to Rikert
Nordic Center for the grand finale of the Carnival season: EISA Regionals at
Middlebury. Athletes would be coming in fresh after an off-weekend and pumped
for one last race of the season. Many athletes would spend the weekend
competing hard for the last few spots to qualify for NCAA championships in
Bozeman, Montana.
On
Thursday, the Saints arrived in Middlebury and were treated to fresh snow and
the familiar Rikert course. The course featured three out-and-back “fingers”,
each starting with an uphill before leading the athletes into some technical
downhills back near the stadium. After course preview, the Saints headed to the
Middlebury Inn to rest up and slip into the legendary white Middlebury Inn
bathrobes.
For
the skate individual starts on Friday, the Saints woke to cloudy weather and 25
mph gusts of wind. The women would skate one loop of the 5k course in the
morning while the men had two loops for a 10k race in store. Despite wonderful
grooming, Rikert’s technical downhill corners still forced athletes to stay
focused on working the downhills for speed while trying to stay on their feet.
On
the women’s side, the Saints’ scoring team was led by Senior Lucy Hochschartner
coming in at 13th place. The Saints’ second scorer of the day, Senior Jackie
Garso, unfortunately lost a lot of momentum in a crash on a tricky downhill yet
still managed to finish a respectable 19th place. Rounding out the women was
Senior Kate Andy finishing in 49th place. The Saints women finished the day in
8th place as a team. The scoring Saints men’s team finished in a tight pack.
Sophomore Brian Beyerbach finished in 31st, Freshman Kai Richter in 33rd, and
Junior Tim Cunningham in 36th. The three Saints were separated by only 15
seconds. The Saints men, similar to the women, also ended the day in 8th place
as a team.
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| Our seniors with their cool signs! (PC: Emily '20) |
For
the grand finale of the EISA carnival season, athletes lined up for the mass
start classic races on Saturday morning. The women trail-blazed through a bit
of fresh powder for 15k in the morning while the men raced 20k in the
afternoon. With each team only allowed to bring six men and six women to this
final carnival, there were 61 women and 63 men lining up in the starting
chevron before races began. Nonetheless, athletes were still faced with the
challenge of navigating fast and tight downhill corners in a competitive field
of races.
On
the women’s side, the Saints’ scoring squad was again led by Senior Lucy
Hochschartner, placing 14th and securing her spot for NCAAs. Following Lucy was
Sophomore Steph Nichols finishing 38th with Senior Jackie Garso close behind in
40th. For the men, the scoring team was led by Sophomore Brian Beyerbach,
earning a season’s best distance result at 22nd Place. Finishing next for the
Saints was Freshman Kai Richter coming in at 39th place with Junior Tim
Cunningham close behind in 41st place. The team symmetry continued today with
both men and women Saints placing 9th place as a team.
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| Smile, and kick! (PC: Emily '20) |
A
huge congratulations is in order to Lucy for qualifying for NCAA Championships
in Bozeman, Montana. We couldn’t be more excited for her to cap off an
incredible college racing career with an opportunity to race with the fastest
college skiers the country has to offer. Lucy will be racing on Thursday and
Saturday for a 5k skate individual start and 15k classic mass start at Crosscut
Nordic Center.
A link to live webcast action of NCAA
championships can be found here: http://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule
We’d also like to
give a huge thank you to our Seniors this year: Lucy Hochschartner, Jackie
Garso, Emily Siegel, and Kate Andy. These women have all done so much for the
team over their four years here and I don’t know where we would be this season
without them. These four women all made this season absolutely incredible and
one to remember. We will miss them dearly and we cannot wait to see where they
go with their bright futures.
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| Thank you seniors! We will miss you! (PC: Kate '20) |
Also a big thank you goes out to our parents and friends who have been supporting the team all season, bringing food and cheering from the trails. We appreciate everything you do to help us race! And as always, thank you to Coach Etown, Coach Hatton, and JT for your dedication to helping us athletes perform at the highest level. Thank you to seniors Kate and Emily for the photos!
The rest of us are
left with a bittersweet feeling. Exciting and sweet to finally put our legs up
for a little bit of recovery after so much racing, yet sad and bitter to step
off the rollercoaster of EISA racing until next season.
As
I have run out of interesting things to say, that is a wrap for the 2020 EISA
Carnival season! It has been a pleasure and we will see you intermittently for
some post-season races and random off-season updates. Keep your eyes and ears
peeled for when the Saints (next) go marching in!
Photos from Sarah Reinhardt! Thank you!
Women's 5k Skate
Men's 10k Skate
Women's 15k Classic
Men's 20k Classic
Until next time,
Charlie Reinhardt ’23
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