Archive | Junior Blog

New England did it again, winning the “Alaska Cup” for a third-straight time and earning the honor of top region in the country! MNC was represented on both the athlete and coach side, and after some slight travel issues both Greg and I made it out to Wisconsin for a week of springtime racing.

JN Results Link

There was a good deal of snow upon arrival, but right away things started melting…the first classic race happened as planned, but the klister went back into the bags after that! It was all skate all the time from Wednesday onward, and with races pushed to Thursday/Friday/Saturday it was a hectic chunk of time.

Even in the heart of the Midwest you can see signs of Vermont’s mark on the ski world

An early-morning course inspection by the wax crew. Typically things started icy fast, and the key to waxing was nailing the moment the conditions changed to slush, which happened every day as the temps pushed 60 degrees!

During the first race, New England took a commanding lead. Greg finished 15th, while MNC summer crew member Conor Munns took an incredible 3rd place! Course changes forced a multi-lap skate distance race that actually ended up being 7.5km for the U16 men. A long race with two laps and two MASSIVE climbs each lap. Greg picked up his first All-American honors in this race with a 10th place finish, and I think all of New England realized that our lack of snow had reduced the long climbs we’ve been able to train on all winter…we will definitely be working on climbing and V1 efforts this summer after getting a little batted around by Alaska in that race…

Wax room pow-wow. Sprint day brought a lot of changes and rapid-fire testing/application

The sprint race was a fast and furious day. Greg won his quarterfinal but was tripped up in the semifinal. The B-Final featured 4 New England athletes, and Greg and Ben Ogden lunged together for 9th and 10th. The second All-American honor of the week! The next day things got real crazy with a “Patrol Relay Hillclimb” event. The typical relay was cancelled without adequate snow in the stadium. Instead, racers in teams of 3 started together a minute apart to climb to the summit of Mt Telemark. The teams could ski together or break up, but the times of the three racers from each team were averaged to make a scored result. Plus, there were “King and Queen of the Mountain” categories for individual times. Complicated, right?

Sprint Hillclimb Patrol Relay action

The top U16 team from New England featured Ben Ogden, Sam Hodges and Greg. These three raced to a 5th place finish, a great way to cap off the week! Temps were about 65 degrees and the norpine back down to the stadium was a nice way to end the tough races.

This trip was quite the learning experience for myself and Greg, and we’re both coming back to VT with lots to share! In no particular order, here are some very random photos from the week:

Just a sampling of the wax trailer. Skis were 2-deep on all walls…and that’s just one technique (skate or classic) at a time!

The wax job for the classic race. New England has been on klister all year and it showed, with some dominant performances!

When the races were pushed back the wax techs actually got out for a ski NOT on the testing loop! We ventured to the legendary “OO” trailhead, and I made sure to get a photo repping the MNC suit

That strip of snow was part of the skate race a day before this photo was taken…yikes

The Telemark Trails are part of an old defunct alpine hill. I am a big fan of exploring old ski sites so on one off-day Gould coach Jeremy Nellis and I spent about 2 hours exploring the old trails, broken lifts and the massive, ransacked lodge building

Parting shot: delicious cake at the final awards ceremony!

The madness is about to begin! It all kicks off with States this week, followed quickly by Junior Nationals. JNs overlap with the U16 Championships and BKL Festival, with Easterns on tap the following weekend. From there it is on to Spring Series/Distance Nationals.

There are surely big questions about the snow and whether it’ll survive. Some might also be questioning their fitness and racing shape…but don’t fret: unlike mother nature, training well leads to consistency that the weather just can’t match. MNC racers have been putting in work all year, and we are sure to see more than a few breakout performances, new personal-bests, victories, and top-5s. Now is a good time to bring back a visual of some goals the athletes put forth back in the fall:

As I shared months ago, these goals encompass all levels of racing. The Pugs are a diverse and exciting group, but everyone has definitely taken new steps to achieve their own goals and, in turn, spur the whole group to new heights. States, JNs, U16s, Easterns…all of these events will feature MNC skiers. Keep your eyes on those results as they roll in, and get ready for fast skiing.

Good luck everyone…have fun and race fast!

The Junior team just seems to be getting faster and faster, and just in time for the biggest races of the season! Today was the qualifying races for both Eastern High School Championships and U16 Championships. We had our biggest race contingent ever, including a hearty crew of U14 Devo Racers. Time to take a deep breath and recap some great results:

AM: 4.2km classic

This was a true New England doozy. It rained all day Saturday, and the groomers had to wait until 5am for the pouring to stop before they could hit the trails. Thanks to the generosity of the Solow’s allowing me to crash on their pullout couch in their suite I was able to stay on-site, test skis and spend 5+ hours in the wax room. The advance work paid off!

After the course was groomed, it began snowing on top of the slush. Then it started snowing harder. Then the sun came out. Then it snowed. Then it rained.

The track was composed of 1/4 slush, 1/4 ice, 1/4 heavy snow, and 1/4 tears of unprepared wax techs. I was loving it! We had skis that worked and racers ready to put them to good use.

Chloe finished a stellar 14th in the women’s race, easily her best race of the year, and possibly the past few years. Sneaking into the top-30 were MNC racer Eliza Thomas and U-32 racer Eliza Merrylees, who we were supporting today.

In the men’s race Greg fought into 11th, just ahead of Will who had a great result in 14th, skiing with or just ahead of Greg the whole time (they started 15 sec apart). Here’s a quick clip Sara snagged of Will and Greg crushing it together:

Charlie gave himself a shot for the afternoon with a good race while Baxter, Ben, Peter, Tim and Kai all finished right together.

Ben looking good!

After the stress of a hectic and challenging classic race, everything switched to skate. There wasn’t much downtime for the coaches! Sara, Rosemary and I spent a lot of time busting out skis and huffing fumes…but it was well worth it I think. Big thanks to those two for helping out in the ski department!

PM: 4.2km Freestyle

If the classic results were exciting, the Pugs blew the lid off in the skate race. Chloe nabbed 22nd to solidify her place on the Eastern’s Team, and Eliza had a killer race, taking 13th and also getting herself a trip to Rikert for the Championships! Eliza Merrylees is first alternate but is likely to earn her spot after the State Meet.

Eliza tearing up the skate race

Chloe powering up the hill

The men’s race featured some HUGE performances. Charlie set his crosshairs on Stratton’s Ben Ogden, who started 15 sec in front of him, and kept him in sight the whole time to take 7th place! A breakout race by all standards, as Charlie was solidly ahead of at least 4 skiers who are on the New England team for JNs.

Charlie hauling butt!

Not to be outdone, Will upped his performance by taking 11th, his best skate race by a long shot. What’s more, Will looked smooth and totally in control doing it. He again got to ski with Greg, who was out for blood after a somewhat lackluster morning race and took third overall (first U16) only 6 sec off the win. All three of these boys earned spots on the Easterns Team!

Will had two great races! 14th and 11th

Greg focused on the tight battle for the win in the men’s skate race

Timmy crushed it as well, in 15th overall. It is worth noting a breakdown of teams the top-15:

SMS: 5

MNC: 4

GMVS: 3

Frost: 1

Woodstock: 1

Craftsbury: 1

It’s been clear that this group of boys has been strong all season, and the MNC ladies had a killer effort that continued to prove that depth today. That deep strength continued with Kai, Peter, Baxter and Ben, who all had solid efforts. Ben nailed the pacing, Peter skied with more spunk than ever, and Baxter and Kai rebounded from back issues and body issues (respectively) in the morning’s races.

Peter with a combination of…joy and agony?

Baxter and Kai solidly qualified for U16 Championships alongside Tim, while Peter and Ben are setting themselves up to challenge for the States standard for earning a spot at Easterns. As Eurosport commentator David Goldstrum would say about all the MNC skiers today, they “took some notable scalps” of other strong racers in their respective fields.

The future is bright as well: Sammie, Ali, Magda, Camille, Quincy and Aidan all raced in the U14 category, which was the same race but un-scored. By my math however, all of these racers would have qualified for the U16 team despite only being U14 racers! Nice!

Awesome picture of ponytail action from Sammie

Eastern HS Championships Qualifiers:

Chloe Lemel-Hay

Eliza Thomas

Marika Massey-Bierman

Greg Burt

Will Solow

Charlie Cobb

(6 additional athletes TBD following States)

U16 Championship Qualifiers:

Tim Cobb

Kai Richter

Baxter Bishop

PLUS, summer training athlete Jared Leonard!

ALL RESULTS (thanks Max!)

PHOTO ALBUM (thanks Gary and Paul!)