Spring in the Town

I hope everyone is having a good spring break whether it's on the beach or the trails. Things are still thawing beautifully here in Williamstown, and spring is definitely coming. There's still plenty of snow as you head up into the hills though. There has been beautiful t-shirt skiing at Prospect all week and Perry and I got in a sweet ski to the top of Mt. Greylock this morning. I'm looking forward to cashing in our endless snow with everyone when we get back from break.

Perry charging like a savage

too easy

What A Finish!

A few weeks ago, Jason came up with a great idea: Let's have our end of the year banquet/awards at Prospect, the week after NCAA's.  We knew there would be plenty of snow, it would be nice having it right after NCAA's for a fitting end to the season, and alpiner's and nordies would be able to get on snow together.  Not to mention, Steve and Kent would be able to whip-up some delicious lasagna for us!

So, last Thursday, the nerds put their books and study-guides away for a few hours, the nordies outfitted the 'piners with skinny skis, and the entire Williams Ski Team headed to Prospect to closeout the season.  

Alpiner's skate up the stadium hill

What a view!

Building a jump!

Ladies! - Nordic and Alpine!

Watching the show!

Charlie Harrison at lift-off!

Nordies! - Olivia, Ben, Eli, Vanya, Jordan, Josh

Spread Eagle!

Vanya, Eli, and Jack at the top of Prospect

Victor hucks tha flip!

Alpiner Sarah Cottrill receives the Women's Alum award from Coach K

The Seniors receive their gifts from Coach J - Will, Vanya, Kristin, Ben, Jenna, Missing: Sarah A.

Vanya receives the Ralph Townsend award

One of the new trails that Will helped design gets his name on it

Parking lot sunset as we head back to campus!

Thanks for a great season!  Couldn't have asked for a better crew to share it with!

See ya around campus!!!

Perry

P.S. The skiing at Prospect is still awesome!

Oh Yeah...

You should probably watch this:

https://youtu.be/chX1U_ApTuc

P

NCAA's Recap

A week ago today, I woke up with a pretty big "check-list" of things to get done before departing for Lake Placid.  Jason was planning on driving the wax truck with all of our skis that morning, so I met him early to pack everything up and run a few errands before he took off.  With Jason on the road, I finalized my packing before grabbing Hannah, Eli, and Will at 4pm.  The excitement was high.

We awoke Tuesday morning to warm temperatures, and perfect Spring skiing at Mt. Van Hoevenberg.  I'm sitting in my office typing this, and wishing I could go back to that day when it was 45 degrees F, blue-bird skies, and perfect skiing.  After testing some skis, Jason and I enjoyed our lunch in the sun.  It was glorious!

Over the entire season, there wasn't a single day where I slept through my 6am alarm.  Until one of the most important day's of the season - Wednesday's 5/10K individual start skate race.  I already knew why my phone was ringing at 6:42am.  I sprinted out of bed, as Jason asked me over the phone if I was coming to breakfast.  I literally choked down my eggs and home fries.  I think waking up late was good though.  My adrenaline was cruising, and I was pretty jacked-up as we tested and waxed skis.

After testing 14 different glide options (including HF's, powders, blocks, liquids, and structure), Jason and I proceeded to apply layers upon layers of wax into Will, Eli, and Hannah's skis.  As we handed them their boards, we warned them that they might fall on their butts out of the start because their skis were so fast.  Luckily, they didn't fall on their butts, but they did confirm after the race that their skis were like rocket ships.

The men raced first on Wednesday, ascending the (basically) 3.5K of climb on the "Ladies 5K" twice.  Both Eli and Will skied great races!  Will finished the day in 18th place, and Eli in 22nd.  Will was the 6th Easterner, and Eli the 8th.

Will kicking some butt in the 10k Skate!

Eli skied a solid race for 22nd!

The Western women dominated the 5k skate race, but Hannah Cole skied one of her best skate races to finish 24th.  She was the 6th Easterner.  Hannah made it three Eph's in the top twenty-five  on the first day of racing.

Hannah skiing to 24th place!

Eli, Will, and Jason are pretty stoked after the skate race.

With the first alpine race on Thursday, the nordies kept it pretty relaxed with just an easy ski.  It got pretty cold Wednesday night and into Thursday, which turned the tracks a bit icy.  So Coach and I did quite a bit of testing for Friday's 15/20K mass start classic race.

The women raced first on Friday, and Hannah Cole skied out of her mind!  Hannah was bib 33/40, so she was in the very back of the mass start.  By the end of her first lap, she was in 21st.  By the end of her second lap she was 12th, and she held that through the finish.  She was only 13 seconds out of tenth place and an All-American finish.  Hannah was the fourth Easterner.

The girl can FLY!

Talking to Coach at the finish.

Hannah Cole cheering squad!

It was another exciting one on the men's side as well.  Like Hannah, both Will and Eli started towards the back of the pack.  By the end of the first lap, all 40 men were still together, but Eli and Will looked poised to keep moving up.  Unfortunately, someone thought it would be a good idea to ski over Will's skis on the second lap, crashing him as the field started to break up.  Will was able to gather himself, and still ski a great race to finish in the points for 24th.  Eli skied one of his best classic races of the season finishing in 18th place.  Eli was the 6th Easterner and Will the 10th.

Eli skiing an amazing race!

Will skiing to 24th place for the Eph's 6th result in the top 24!

Eli and Coach!

Luke, Will, and Eli

Seems a little aggressive Eli and Will...

Coach's with the speedy Hannah!

Why do I have a pot??

Congratulations to Hannah, Will, and Eli on an impressive week at NCAA's.  They all skied really well, and had some of their best races of the season.

Thanks again to everyone that supported us throughout the season, including all the parents that helped with the food table.

Sounds like there's still good skiing at Prospect!!

Perry

Banquet/Skate Race

East Nordic Women

HANNAH COLE!!!!! (First from left).

East Nordic Men - Will (third from left) and Eli (Fifth from left).

The best looking team at the banquet!!  Left to right: Coach Jason, Coach Perry, Eli Hoenig, Hannah Cole, Christoph Lentz, Will Wicherski, Coach Zach, Coach Kelsey.

The office

Post race exhaustion.

Happy Coach after day 1 of NCAA's in Lake Placid!

Will, Eli, and Hannah all skied great races on Wednesday!  15/20K mass start classic tomorrow.  Women start first at 10am, and men follow at noon.

Perry

NCAA 5/10K Skate

Will, Eli and Hannah had great performances today finishing 18th, 22nd and 24th in a stacked field!! They were 6th, 8th and 6th for the eastern skiers and brought some impressive focus and energy to the race. It was awesome to see them ripping around the race course against the country's best!!

Here is a link to the pre-NCAA write up:

http://ephsports.williams.edu/sports/skiing/2014-15/releases/20150309ud3xl5

Today's men's results:

http://www.barttiming.com/eisa/Results15/EISA/ncaa2015-4.pdf

Today's women's results:

http://www.barttiming.com/eisa/Results15/EISA/ncaa2015-3.pdf

Will, Eli and Hannah put Williams in 10th overall and we are the 3rd ranking EISA school. Team scores:

http://www.barttiming.com/eisa/Results15/EISA/ncaa2015tm.pdf

Lake Placid NCAA's and Mathias Bartels Race

We're in Lake Placid for NCAAs and ready to race tomorrow! 10K Men's Freestyle at 10am and 5K Women's Freestyle at noon. Will, Eli and Hannah C. are fired up and ready to go. You can watch live at http://eisaskiing.blogspot.com/2015/03/ncaa-championships-on-ncaa-live.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EisaSkiing+%28EISA+Skiing%29&utm_content=FaceBook
It was a beautiful day at the venue today with temps rising into the 40s. It felt really nice after a season of single digit racing temps!

Perry and Will in the Stadium

Ears exposed for the first time
this season!

Not a bad spot for lunch and all set
up for spectators in the
stadium

Our home away from home
in the wax truck
making some FAST BOARDS!

Eli, Hannah and Will looking
SHARP at the NCAA banquet tonight

Perry may have forgotten to wear
his respirator when we were
waxing today

 WISH US LUCK ROCKING THE COW TOMORROW!

Also.....

On Sunday after returning from the EISA Regional Championships in Lake Placid Vanya, Ben, Josh, Luke, Olivia and Eliza race the Mathias J. Bartels Nordic Ski Scholarship Race at Greylock High School. The event has really grown over the years and it was great to have hundreds of racers out there racing the 6k classic for a great cause! Vanya had always wanted to double pole a classic race on skate skis, so he did and WON! Josh also double poled on skate skis, while the rest of the crew decided to go with kick wax. Olivia won the women's race. Everyone had a great time! Here are some pics from my phone:

Lots of comments on the wax truck

Olivia and Hannah Smith
Cow suits - new and old!

Purple Cow Cheering Squad!

Luke ripping by

Ben's right arm

Josh Double Poling on Skate Skis

Olivia passing the large group of
young Eph fans

Hannah Smith striding away