Coming into last weekend’s Williams Carnival, the fifth and final weekend of racing before the EISA break week, the Saints had a number of reasons to be excited. With a change in race venue from Prospect (Woodford, VT) to Mt. Van Hoevenberg (Lake Placid, NY), the Saints had a short van ride and home course advantage. Additionally, this weekend would mix the race formats; a 10k classic individual start on Friday and a 5k skate team relay on Saturday, providing a change of pace from skate individual and classic mass starts thus far this season. St. Lawrence University also went on mid-semester break starting Thursday, which meant not missing class for the team. Last but not least, athletes of all teams had Carni Crush performances to look forward to after the races on Saturday.
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| We had some fun in the relays! (L:R- Natalie, Jordan, Steph, Kate, Robyn, Emily, Gabby, and Jackie - Michelle photo) |
On Thursday, course preview day, the excitement continued with extra time to relax in the hotel afterwards and a fancy dinner at the Crowne Plaza.
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| Relay squad!! (Kate, Robyn, and Emily - Michelle photo) |
This is a good time to give a HUGE thank you shoutout to Cris Lussi. Cris Lussi had a daughter compete with the SLU alpine team and is a SLU ski alumna herself. Her unending support of the team shined this past weekend. Cris was generous enough to cover some of the team’s lodging by welcoming the women’s team to her own house for the weekend. Cris also hosted the team for a fancy dinner at the Crowne Plaza hotel. Cris Lussi, thank you so much for your kindness this weekend and for all you do to support the SLU ski team. We appreciate you!!
On Friday, both men and women lined up for a 10k individual start classic race on the Biathlon side of Mt. Van Hoevenberg. At just about 0 degrees Fahrenheit for both men and women’s starts, it was a cold day on the trails. With the flattest course of the EISA season, the race was a fun, fast, and hard double-pole hammer-fest. Regardless of each skier’s preferred style of skiing, it was exciting to mix up the terrain.
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| Tim off to cheer without ski pants? (Cam photo) |
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| Lucy wearing glasses?! Thanks to Brian for his contribution to the cause (Cam photo) |
On the results side, the men finished in 10th place as a team. The men’s scoring team this weekend was led by Kai Richter ‘23, coming in at 43rd place for a new season’s best place. Close behind was Brian Beyerbach ‘22 (electing to double pole the course on skate skis) coming in at 48th place, and Tim Cunningham ‘21 coming in at 52nd place. The women’s team finished in 9th place as a team. The women’s scoring team was led by Lucy Hochschartner ‘20 finishing in a stellar 13th place. Rounding out the scoring team was Jackie Garso ‘20 finishing in 45th and Steph Nicols ‘22 in 57th. With the men’s team getting tired of finishing 10th and the women’s team not pumped about a 9th place, everyone was eager to reset and go for it in the 5k relay day.
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| Jordan flying by! (Cam photo) |
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| Em speeding up the hill (Cam photo) |
On Saturday, the athletes were treated to more pleasant temperatures and much hillier terrain. With three hefty climbs per 2.5k loop, the athletes would ski hard through a tough 2-lap 5k course. Each relay team had three skiers: one to scramble for position at the start, one to make up ground and set the team up for a fight, and one to anchor and sprint their guts to the line. With 28 teams starting the men’s relay and 29 teams starting the women’s relay, the races started fierce.
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| Nat looking smoooooooth as always!! (Cam photo) |
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| Gabby looking pro in the artsy shot (Cam photo) |
On the men’s side, team 1 of Kai Richter ‘23, Tim Cunningham ‘21, and Brian Beyerbach ‘22 came in with a remarkable 10th place finish, bringing SLU men to 8th in the points. As someone who was able to watch the first two legs of the relay, it was beyond exciting to see SLU fight among some of the most talented skiers in the EISA. Team 2 of Graham Branch ‘22, Ian Thompson ‘22, and Charlie Reinhardt ‘23 put in a solid effort, but just couldn’t come back after two tough crashes early in the race and finished 25th. Team 3 of Cameron Brochu ‘23, Matt Manwarning ‘21, and Ben Carnahan ‘21 finished the day in 27th.
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| Sun & Smiles w/ Jackie, Robbie, and Goob (Michelle photo) |
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| Kate hauling it up the hill! (Cam photo) |
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| Robbie cruising! (Cam photo) |
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| Dana's parents, Dana, and Charlie hard at work on the most important job, cheering! (Cam photo) |
On the women’s side, team 1 of Lucy Hochschartner ‘20, Steph Nicols ‘22, and Jackie Garso ‘20 came in at 12th place, earning the women’s team an 8th place in the points. Team 1 was not wholly satisfied with their performance, but worth mentioning is Jackie Garso’s crazy fast anchor leg, moving the team up 4 places in just her second lap alone (the last 2.5k)! Team 2 of Emily Siegel ‘20, Kate Andy ‘20, and Robyn McIntosh ‘22 came in at 23rd, while team 3 of Natalie Jelley ‘23, Jordan Schuster ‘21, and Gabby Wangler ‘21 was troubled with a collision off the start yet still fought for a 27th place.
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| Another relay squad!! (Gabby, Jordan, and Nat - Michelle photo) |
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| Steffi looking so pro and so speedy! (Cam photo) |
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| There is nothing like a Jackie on the hunt. BE SCARED. (Cam photo) |
On both sides, regardless of the results, everyone loved the excitement of the relay format and had a blast skiing their hearts out.
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| Happy roomies! (Lucy & Kate - Michelle photo) |
After the athletes had a chance to cool down and change clothes, all teams headed over to the awards ceremony to wait for the event everyone had been preparing for all season: Carni Crush. A fantastic spectacle organized by the Dartmouth Women’s team, Carni Crush saw goofily-clad skiers galavanting around and confessing their ironic and unironic love to each other with poems, songs, and performances of grand hilarity. In addition to individual Carni Crushes, each team was paired to another and asked to “do whatever it takes to make EISA hearts swoon”. The SLU men’s team had the privilege to serenade the Bates women with a beautiful rendition of Frozen’s “Love is an Open Door”, while the SLU women’s team crushed on the Harvard men with a thematic remix of Sean Kingston’s “Fire Burning” and choreographed dance. I am not at liberty to link videos of performances here, but I highly encourage you to use your connections and find yourself watching them both; I promise it will be worth the effort.
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| Matt is triumphant!! (Cam photo) |
And thus the Saints left Mt. Van Hoevenberg to return to their home of Canton, NY. Heading into a weekend of no racing, the team was eager to get off their feet and recover before putting in some last minute touch-up training before the final race of the season. We’ll see you again for Regionals at the Middlebury Carnival! Thank you to Cam and Kate's mom, Michelle, for the great photos! Since Cam was obviously busy racing, we have mostly photos of the women this week. Find Cam's complete collection here.
Until next time, keep those hips forward,
- Charlie Reinhardt ‘23
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