It's Not Even Valentines Day! - Dartmouth Carnival/Carni Crush

Unfortunately, the one year that Hanover, NH actually has a lot of snow, Dartmouth still has their Carnival in Craftsbury.  Given that Craftsbury is in the middle-of-nowhere, Vermont, the team opted to stay in Stowe where the accommodations are much more accommodating.  And by that I mean there's actually places to stay other than the always booked Craftsbury Outdoor Center.  So!  Thursday, we made the trek to Stowe where we made a quick pitstop at the Halvorsen's for a beautiful afternoon ski on their amazing trails.  Jason and I were so excited, we hammered along the trails for an hour, never dropping below L3.

After our lovely ski, the team headed to our home-away-from-home: The Hob Knob.  Luckily, my van was one of the first ones there because the last time we stayed at the Hob Knob, some of the boys thought it would be a good idea to put lotion all over every single doorknob in my room, as well as short-sheet my bed.  And they wonder why their skis are so slow...

Friday's race was a combined Carnival and Supertour skate sprint.  The top thirty overall in the qualifier move on to the heats.  Hannah Benson qualified in 23rd place among some of the elite women in the nation.  She finished the day in 19th overall, which was good enough for a 9th place finish among college skiers.  Heidi and Hannah Cole were our two other scorers for the day, finishing in 22nd and 30th in the college field.

Heidi during the qualifier on Friday

Benson (Second from right) at the start of her quarterfinal, which turned out to be of all collegiate women.

Sarah Abramson during the qualifier

Rebecca during her qualifier - 46th for College

On the men's side we had Jack qualifying in 24th and Will in 29th overall.  They both moved onto the next round with some of the nations best where they ended the day in 23rd and 24th, which was good enough for 9th and 10th place among college skiers.  Luke Costley was our third scorer for the day in 20th place.

Ben during the qualifier.

Hans just barely missed qualifying and ended the day in 39th overall.

Luke cruises to his first top 20 collegiate race in 20th place.

Friday's skate sprint was really fun and exciting, but I think most people were more excited about Saturday's 10k skate race and their Carni-Crushes.  But before Carni-Crush ensued, both Williams men and women had a huge day.  On the men's side, Will skied to a 7th place finish as he pulled Eli to an 11th place finish.  Jack skied to a career best 12th place finish.

Will and Eli skied most of the race together

Jordan skied a great race to finish 17th

Jack skis to a career best 12th

Josh V2's over the top of a climb.

Vanya skies to 27th place for college skiers

The women's team, likewise had a great day!  Skiing through a tough field of Supertour and Eastern Cup racers, Hannah Cole stole 10th place for college skiers, with Hannah Benson not far behind in 12th.  Tsaina skied to a career best 14th place finish.  The women's team finished sixth for the day, but were only three points away from beating UVM and Bates for fourth place.

Sarah Becker skied an awesome race Saturday!

Benson skis to 12th place.

Eliza powers up one of the climbs at Craftsbury

Hannah Cole skis to another top 10

Olivia skis to 37th place in the Carnival

Tsaina skies to a career best 14th

After the races, all the skiers gathered into a big crowd to present their Carni-crushes with poems, pictures, and valentines of love, lust, and longing.  That's the "PG" version of that sentence, and as lightly as I could put it.  Meanwhile, Jason and I packed up the truck and waited in the vans for the team to secede from the onslaught of vulgar poems and pictures.

Can't tell if they're getting ready for their race, studying, preparing for Carni-crush, just relaxing, or all of the above...

I'm pretty jacked up on all these good vibes from the the team right now!  Four down, two to go.  This weekend is at Middlebury.  Many thanks to all the parents!  So much support, help, food, cheering, and love!

SNOW!!!!

Perry