Skating on the Ottawa Canal

On Sunday some members of the team participated in the 2nd annual SLUSKI skating trip on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa. Canton's location places us at about a 90 minute drive from Ottawa, which makes for a nice day trip. The girls were sporting our lovely 1980s-style hats courtesy of Wally World in Bennington. Needless to say we were some of the most stylish people on the canal. We were all pretty happy campers, especially after Zach got his poutin and Sophie stood in a long line to get her delicious Beaver Tail. yum yum. Pepper and Zach also got high fives from a certain "Papa Bear", while Robin and got our pictures taken with him. Very exciting.

On another note, we have one week left in the carnival season which means one week left of my collegiate skiing career! It is all very surreal and and can't believe my 10 years of team competition will be coming to an end. But before I get really sappy I want to say that I've has a really great year with the team and am looking forward to skiing our best carnival this season at Middlebury. We have trained very hard to get to this point and the team deserves to do well to show these efforts. Everyone has worked really hard, and we've had a lot of fun on the way. So hopefully we will see a lot of parents there this weekend - Robin's mother will be making her first appearance all the way from Seattle! - and thanks to everyone for all of the food, support, and good memories.

There is always hope

Well nothing to dramatic at Williams for SLUSKI. For this season I would consider it an average weekend. Some seem to be feeling as though they are racing better even if the results aren't great still so I think there is still hope for an exciting end to the season.
As for NCAAs well that is going to be tough. For the women to get into the last quota spot right now Kalie would need a 5th or better in Freestyle or a 6th in Classic while Kristen would need an 8th in Freestyle or a 6th in Classic. For Ben an 8th or better in classic would get him into the last spot while a 3rd would put him in the second to last spot. I think these results are certainly possible but it is going to take a tremendous effort on their part. Of course this is partly what makes the final weekend so exciting as we are not the only ones still vying for those last couple of NCAA quota spots. Keep in mind what I have figured out here is what they would need so long as no one else bettered their point total.
We have some classic ski intervals on the agenda for today, conditions at Higley sound okay but not great.