Junior Nationals Report #2

Just a quick update with some photos from the classic sprint!

Erin and her New England teammates getting down to business in the heats

Erin qualified in 7th position and was put into a stacked quarterfinal heat. Kind of cool that all three of the New England racers in her quarter also happened to be from New Hampshire...I don't know if they planned it or not, but right from the gun Erin, Maddy and Hannah broke away from the rest of the heat and made it a 3-person race up front. Erin hung in there for third and I was 90% sure she would nab a lucky-loser spot. Unfortunately she was just outside but still ended up 13th place! Another great result!

Everett (bib #7) rocking his quarterfinal

Mid-A had a solid day, with a good deal of athletes qualifying for the heats. The big result of the day came from NYSEF racer Everett Sapp, who used great tactics to advance through the rounds. Being one of the smaller guys in the heats, Everett would just hang near the back of the pack and not concern himself with getting into trouble on the downhills. Then, he just hammered that last big climb and pulled away from the rest. He ended up making it all the way to the final and getting 5th overall!

Marge and Jason, the ones who call all the shots!

Special appearance by Duncan Douglas aka "JackedUpOldMan" (in Toko jacket). For those that are unaware Duncan is a top biathlete and yes, his pole is being used as a rifle in this photo

Some EISA racing action...Gavin Hess (Mid-A/UNH) and Sam Merrens (NE/Dartmouth) in a quarterfinal together

Start of a women's heat...the combination of sun and snow made for some cool lighting up in the mountains

Junior Nationals Report #1

Busy week already here at Junior Nationals in Stowe! Team #SLUEngland is off to a great start, with some top results in the 5/10k classic race.

Erin racing to 17th in the 5k classic

All three SLU skiers were in the top 20 on an awesome classic race day: blue skies, hard tracks and blue kick wax! Calvin posted a 20th place finish, with Erin in 17th. The biggest race of the day, however, came from Blaine in 10th place. One race down and already our first SLUEngland All-American result! Blaine's take on his race? "I don't know, I just did what I always did but yeah it was sick." You can't ask for a better race mentality! Another highlight of a great season.

I am a wax tech for the Mid-A team this week, which has been equally cool. Something is always needing to be done so there hasn't been a ton of time for pictures, but I captured a few for atmosphere:

Hannah Barnes (Mid-A/Harvard) followed by Riley Douglas (Mid-A/HF-L). There are a few EISA skiers racing for Mid-A this week, and it is kind of cool to wax skis for people we are usually racing AGAINST during the regular season. Other EISA skiers along with Hannah include Maile Sapp (HAR), Gavin Hess (UNH), Adam Luban (MID)

All teams are given a mobile-home style waxing trailer to work in, but Edgewise definitely upped the style

Speaking of trailer-life...pretty much the only time we get to sit down is during lunch, when we prop ourselves up on whatever box or bin we can find to enjoy a sandwich or two. Can you tell this crew is putting in a lot of wax time?

I'll try to keep updates coming throughout the week...tomorrow is a big day of classic sprinting and conditions continue to look great. I have a feeling there will be more top-10 results for the #SLUEngland crowd...