Video from the Middlebury Carnival: Men's 15K Classic

More to come! [Loud cheering by Alice & Liz]

The Mass Start


5K mark


Halfway (7.5K into the race)


10K mark

Middlebury Madness! And: Nelson and Johnson qualify for NCAA's in Bozeman

Keith Kantack and Evan Deithier: hard-fought races, with rewarding results.

Two full days of snow and sunshine, four races, one banquet, and a sprint exhibition as an exciting finale . . .
Friday, a cold morning with light snowfall, brought with it the start of the end of the 2007-08 Eastern Carnival circuit.
At the start of the weekend: cold toes, jangled nerves, and intense focus.
By the end of the weekend: smiles, suntanned cheeks, and the best day of combined nordic results of the year!
Not satisfied with the overall results of Friday’s 5 and 10km skate races, the team decided to refocus and gear up for the next morning’s mass start 10 and 15km classic races. Mild temps, blue skies, and a little fresh powder softening out the icy tracks made for fantastic conditions.

Alice Nelson (Kirsten Johnson left, in background) rounds a corner during the mass start classic race.

The ladies were the first to race, and they set a phenomenally fast tone for the rest of the day. Despite two crashes the ladies scored a season’s best third place finish, just ONE point away from second place, Middlebury!! Alice Nelson headed up the women’s pack in 5th, with Kirsten Johnson and Fiona Worcester marking their season-best classic finishes in 7th and 25th.

Kirsten Johnson powers her way toward a 7th place finish, enough to earn her an NCAA spot.

The men’s race was no less exciting: seeded next-to-last in the mass start, Mark Johnson scraped and shoved and sprinted his way past 30 places in front of him by the 3km mark in order to catch up to his teammates Evan Deithier, Keith Kantack, and Alex Taylor whom had positioned their pack in the middle of the whole field.

Mark Johnson leads Keith Kantack and Evan Dethier into the second loop of the men's 15km classic, and into the top third of the field.

With each lap into the stadium the pack of three, including Mark, Evan, and Keith closed the gap and passed a number of skiers, catapulting their group of three into the mid-twenties. The race for places lasted all the way to the finish line, as Evan and Mark battled it out with two skiers from SLU and MID colleges to place 18th and 20th, respectively. Close behind, Keith Kantack, finished in 27th. With three in the top 30 the men were able to place 6th overall. Combined with the women’s score and men and women alpine scores, this bumped our total team score into 6th place, a very solid result and a great finish to the season.

L: Sam Kapala in a pack R: Jack Nelson yells instructions at Keith Kantack.

Ah, but the day wasn’t over yet!! After scarfing Marianne Lucy’s famous pumpkin bread, Deb Nelson’s baked sweet potatoes, and Lucia’s hearty veggie chile, we packed up the vans and headed to the alpine slopes to watch the end of the alpine races.

The team at the alpine chalet: Ali Demarchis, Nattie Joffe, Liz Kantack, Evan Dethier, Gabby Joffe, Alex Taylor.

We watched the men complete their second run, in which William’s skier Charles Christianson snagged 1st. Then it was onto the Nordic exposition sprints: one man and one woman from each team, three laps each from pole to pole over a stretch slightly shorter than 1/2km. Alice started the sprint off and held a commanding lead over Middlebury, and Mark Johnson kept up the first place lead until his second lap when he slipped and fell, giving Mid a slight advantage that the managed to hold onto the finish line, Mark and Alice holding onto second place and showing the Eastern Ski Circuit that the Purple Cows are a team to watch out for!

Mark is cheered into the finish of the sprint by an adoring crowd.

Then the awards: Alice Nelson finished her stunning season ranked 7th on the qualification list.
And the big excitement for the day: After being bumped off the NCAA qualification list the weekend before, Kirsten Johnson’s spectacular classic finish on Saturday vaulted her back into a solid NCAA spot!!
NEXT: Alice and Kirsten gear up to travel to Bozeman, Montana next weekend for the big races at Bridger Bowl on March 5th and 7th.

Fiona Worcester: Happy garb for a happy day.

Williams Carnival: Udder Madness!

Gabby Joffe cheers on her teammate Ali Demarchis as Ali strides toward the finish line in the ladies skate sprint relay.

Left: Alice tags off to Fiona in the exchange zone. Right: Alice and Coach Fisher watch the second leg of the relay

Alex Taylor strides out of the start, Evan Dethier in camouflage as he cheers on his teammates

Parents cheer from the sidelines: Bob Kantack, Dan Nelson, Lucia Kittridge, Deb Nelson . . . .

Girls Team on Dress-Up day, Feb 14th.

Sam Kapala struttin' his stuff, Caleb Lucy showin' his speed.


What a weekend! Sunshine and plenty of snow made for great skiing at Prospect both Friday and Saturday. The Carnival weekend started off with some very creative skits performed at Opening Cermonies by the women and men's alpine and nordic teams. Friday opened with the 5 and 10km individual start skate races. The women's team placed fourth, with Alice Nelson, Kirsten Johnson, and Ali Demarchis as the top three scorers. In the men's race freshman Caleb Lucy had his best skate race, placing first for the team and 22nd overall, leading the men's team to a 7th place finish.
Saturday dawned clear and cold, but by the start of the classic sprint relay races the sun was shining and everyone's smiles got that much brighter. The men started things off at a fast and furious pace, each racing the 1.25 kilometer loop three times. The team of Evan Dethier, Keith Kantack, and Sam Kapala held their own and snagged 7th place amongst a very strong field.
In the women's sprint relay Alice Nelson started things off at a smokin' pace, and her teammates Fiona Worcester and Kirsten Johnson followed up the performance by holding onto and finishing in the 4th place spot.
There were many parents and ski team Alums in attendance, showering the team with a full-fire cheering squad during the races and a full spread of delicious goodies after the races. (thank you so much!)
It was a great weekend for the Williams Ski team: combined with alpine scores, Williams scored 5th out of 11 teams in the carnival. Yahoo!!

Williams' Alums show they've still got the Pace to Race!

From L to R: Todd Neidic, Pete Angevine, Tim Stickney, Sarah Torkelson, Peter Milliken, and Rob Norgren.

Sarah Torkelson, proud ski team alum and continuing racer, sent this pic of a group of alums who met up at the two day Canadian Ski Marathon. The marathon spans 160 km across Quebec, stopping overnight in Montebello. Sarah wrote "I think Williams was well represented with the hot pink pants and the cow tights! Needless to say, it was a LONG weekend of skiing - but definitely worth it. "

We've got Sprinters!

Gabrielle Joffe chases down a Dartmouth skier in a round of sprints.

Caleb Lucy takes fights off a UNH skier toward the finish line (photo by Gabby)

Kirsten Johnson cools down between heats

Kieth Kantack toes the line in his semifinal heat (photo by Gabby)

Evan Deithier, Keith Kantack, Alice Nelson dig into some Ben and Jerry's.

Because all you really want after a long, cold day of wind and snow is . . . . icecream?!

This weekend was a great one for Purple Cow Skiing, with both alpine and Nordic teams achieving their seasons-best results. The Nordies were at Trapps Family Lodge, outside of Stowe, VT. On Friday the first mass start of the year was held, a fast and furious 10km classic race. The madness was quelled only slightly by the unexpectedly mild conditions which led to easy binder-and-blue kick-waxing. With good kick and only several tangle-ups (luckily, none of which resulted in injury to body or skis/poles) the women tied for third place with UNH, scoring 6th (Alice Nelson) 9th (Kirsten Johnson) and 23rd (Fiona Worcester. The men took 8th, scoring 20th (Keith Kantack) 23rd (Evan Dethier), and 35th (Sam Kapala).
The next day dawned with howling winds and swirling snow, but with good spirits and a “Bring it on!” attitude, the Cows were excited to ski fast through the sprint prelims to qualify 5 men and 3 women into the quarterfinal rounds (only one other school, Colby, qualified as many men as Williams).
The rest of the day was filled with sprint rounds, as the Ephs sprinted their way into qualification after qualification. The ladies took fifth as a team: Alice qualified in 13th and ended placing in 6th; Kirsten Johnson went from 21st qualifier to 16th overall, and Ali qualified in 27th and raced into 17th.
The boys had their best team score for the season, taking 4th: Sam Kapala had the top prelim result at 17th, but the three scorers after final rounds were: Evan Dethier in 11th, Alex Taylor in 12th, Keith Kantack in 18th. Also making final rounds was Caleb Lucy, who qualified and finished in 23rd.
Combined with the Alpine team, our overall weekend score for Williams skiing was 5th place! We were psyched with this score, but are still hungry to move up the list!

Next up: we will head back to Trapps Family Lodge this weekend, for the Dartmouth Carnival.