At US Nationals, mass start day was divided into four separate race categories:
- Men’s open 20km
- Women’s open 20km
- Junior Men’s 10km
- Junior Women’s 10km
MNC raced in all of them. And that doesn’t just mean the Pro Team, who was also racing and representing in the open races as their primary US Nationals competition. I’m talking about MNC club athletes in each race…and age groups from U16 right through to U23. The men’s 20km featured Abram Weil-Cooley, an MNC Collegiate summer athlete who attends Middlebury and skis for MNC and the Midd club team. The women’s 20km featured Maggie Wagner, a standout Middlebury skier who is redshirting from NCAA-eligible competition while healing from a foot injury. The Junior races featured the MNC racers who have been hard at work training and racing all winter!
But even in that Junior race, you were watching skiers in high school AND college, as a strong contingent of collegiate freshmen are all training and racing with MNC this season. We’ve got representatives from UVM, Middlebury, St Mikes, and Williams all in the mix. Silvester Williams has been living in VT all summer as a post-grad athlete, and has arrived in Vermont all the way from Utah. This is a club that is wider-ranging that ever before, and everyone involved benefits from that.
Maggie in the 20km (Photo by Charissa Roberts)
Silvester in the skate sprint qualifier (Photo by Charissa Roberts)
What is the draw? Why do so many athletes find (or seek out) MNC, and what does it mean for our organization?
LOCATION
We exist in a phenomenal space for skiing…the snowmaking and grooming prowess of Sleepy Hollow, our own indoor gym space at the MNCC, amazing dryland training at the Range (when available) and awesome trails and roads everywhere you look…it’s no wonder the Pro Team was able to kick off in a great way with an excited group of fast skiers: people want to train and live where we are!
But at the collegiate level, NCAA skiing can be quite ruthless. My take? The Junior/club field in American skiing is getting deeper and stronger than ever…but you don’t see any new NCAA teams entering the pool, and roster spots are shrinking, not expanding, due to budget cuts and organizational restructuring at the college athletics level. That leaves a lot of amazing skiers without groups that support their skill level. It’s not only MNC: both Ford Sayre and Craftsbury have college-age athletes racing and training with them this season, continuing their careers with their home club and deferring/delaying their college competition a bit. But here in Chittenden County we have a geographic triangulation of many colleges within driving distance. We are aptly positioned to support skiers from different schools, and even connect with new skiers who are not from Vermont but are now in our orbit!
Reese (Midd) and Stella (Williams) (Photo by Charissa Roberts)
FLEXIBILITY
Simply put, we are open and willing to welcome skiers of all ages and abilities. That is our mission statement after all, but I’m not sure if we’ve ever truly lived it until now. Class schedule keeping you from attending practice in the afternoon? We’ll get a group going in the morning. Going to school in a different state? We’ll get a Monday check-in call going every week, and meet up at races. Just looking for some help at the races? No problem, welcome to the scene!
The support we can provide has grown with the expansion of the club’s resources…we are present at US Nationals each year now. We have a wax trailer that makes bringing tons of gear anywhere in New England easier than ever. Our summer offerings have exploded to involve TWO college-age groups, not to mention the influence the Pro Team has on interest in our programs and abilities as a ski club. There is totally a snowball effect.
COMMUNITY
Skiing and racing is so much more engaging when it’s a group affair. While it can be important to have people of a similar ability to train with, many have achieved success “flying solo” in the past. That doesn’t mean that’s the most fun way to do it, though! Even if you’re just arriving at a race and having your skis handled by the club, there’s something to be said about knowing a club has your back that is meaningful to all.
Groups also have a tendency to expand naturally when things are healthy…a new skier gets their friend involved, and then a skier from back in their hometown sees what we’re up to or joins a training camp in the offseason, and it continues on from there…skiing is an extremely small world and it’s fun to be encompassing more and more of it.
Astrid and Clara at the finish line in Quarry Road (Daryn Slover/Staff Photographer)
Isaiah and Jorgen and Gabe off the line (Daryn Slover/Staff Photographer)
ENERGY
It feels like there’s a buzz surrounding the club right now. Big summer training groups that disperse back to lots of EISA schools in the winter. New faces and racers from all over Vermont and beyond in the winter. Strong results, strong presence at lots of races, a Pro Team doing great things on the national and international level, cool training opportunities and adventures all over the snow, lots of fun events to take part in, and exciting chances coming down the road.
There’s a lot to get involved with as a Nordic skier these days, and it feels like MNC is the place to be if you want to make the most of it!
Want to check out results from an awesome Eastern Cup in Quarry Road? Click below!
Quarry Road Eastern Cup (Bullitt Timing)
Weekend recap from NENSA
A special shoutout to Maggie (Open race Saturday), Acadia (U16 race Saturday), Astrid (Open race Sunday) and Mia (U16 race Sunday) for making it a full sweep on the women’s side: MNC skiers won every single women’s race on the weekend 🙂
It was a standout weekend for many other racers too across the board, from Silvester getting his first top-10s to Sophia competing in her first Eastern race as an MNC athlete! Breakthroughs and new benchmarks were present everywhere you looked.
MNC was the only club to have representation from U16, U18, U20, U23, AND Masters age groups…and this was the furthest race we’ll go to all year. What other group has this kind of presence and engagement level at these races? We are feeling proud!
Mia and the field (Daryn Slover/Staff Photographer)
