It is the VanCOWver Ephlympics theme for the 2010 Winter Carnival at Williams, and despite all the activities and action around campus, the team kept their head in the game and turned in some stellar results in today's 5/10km classic races.
Thankfully the weather held steady, in the mid 20's, despite reports of an impending warm-up during racing hours. It was cloudy, with some snowfall in the morning, but finding kick wasn't too difficult and despite slower, newer snow in the tracks most of the skis were running well.
The men had the first race (sorry, I wasn't able to get pictures because I was waxing the women's skis while Bud was split-timing), which was two laps around our 5km loop. Dimitri Luthi had the fastest first lap of the field, and managed to hold onto his form enough in the second lap for his season's-best result of 4th place, just 2.5 seconds off the podium pace.
Keith Kantack made it two in the top ten, racing into 9th place. Evan Dethier rounded out the scoring with a 17th place finish and Erik Anderson was just behind him in 19th, to put 4 Williams men in the top 20. Unfortunately the field was really close, and SLU squeeked into 4th place as a team just one point ahead of the Williams men. Showdown TBD tomorrow. . . .
The women did not diminish the excitement of the morning, as they put 3 in the top 25 and placed 3rd as a team for the second race in a row (after last weekend's relay podium).
Alice Nelson crossed the line in a near photo-finish with UVM's Jennie Bender, which Alice won by .4 seconds to take 5th. Nice!!!!!!!!!! Kirsten Johnson also made the top ten, with an 8th place finish. Scoring third for our team was Alaskan freshman Christina Knapp, with her season's best finish in 25th place.
Tomorrow: 5/10km skate races. The Heat is On.
Results
Kirsten: into the finish
Christina - harringbone hill up Eph's ascent
Kirsten and Alice in the finish: two in the top-ten!
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