St Mikes

After driving for three hours through the middle of nowhere Vermont, we made it to Sleepy Hollow ski area in Huntington.  The course was slightly different from what I remember when I raced at Sleepy Hollow five years ago.  They took out some significant climbs, to the dismay of some of our more climbing inclined skiers.  The trails are still fairly narrow, which I suppose is why we opted to have both race days on classic skis.  Though, as it turns out, a couple racers brought skate skis for Friday's race and ended up double poling the entire 10k.  It was pretty impressive to watch.

Another snow storm rolled through late Thursday night and all of Friday.  So there was some pretty interesting conditions for Friday's 5/10k classic individual start races.  The waxing became kind of tricky as the new snow got skied into the tracks.  The women raced first around the 5k loop with Hannah Cole as our first finisher in 16th.  Hannah Benson raced to a 25th place, and Tsaina Mahlen was our third scorer in 29th.  The women had five in the top 31 with Heidi and Olivia finishing right behind Tsaina in 30th and 31st respectively, and Jenna ended the day in 52nd place.

Hannah Cole leads the way for the Ephs in Friday's 5k classic for 16th place.

Hannah Benson powers into the finish.

Tsaina is all smiles right before her start.

The men's team also pulled through the blizzard-like conditions for another successful day.  Eli and Vanya finished the day, both getting career bests in 5th and 8th place respectively.  Jack also skied to a career best 17th place for our third scorer.  Will made it four in the top twenty with a 20th place finish, Jordan was 41st, and Luke ended the day in 48th.

Eli gets a split from Jason that he's two seconds out of fifth place with less than half a kilometer to go - the kid has some wheels because he put the hurt on Rogan Brown to steal fifth from him.

Vanya hammers into the finish

Jack skied in the top 10 for much of the race - here he is redlining.

Trying to figure out how to work the damn thing!

On Saturday, we awoke to bluebird skies and frigid temperatures.  It turned out to be a beautiful day, and a really exciting race as we fielded three super strong mixed relay teams for the 4x3k classic relay.  The team of Hannah Benson, Vanya, Hannah Cole, and Eli skied to fifth place.  Tsaina, Luke, Jenna, and Jordan followed that up with an impressive 10th place finish, and Heidi, Will, Olivia, and Jack ended the day in 14th.  The first two teams from each school score, and Williams ended the day in fourth place overall.  We were only three points behind Dartmouth in third place.  It was a really fun and challenging weekend at the St. Mikes carnival, and the team continues to show its prowess, strength, and depth.  Everyone is excited for the whole team to be back together for the combined Dartmouth Carnival/Supertour/Eastern Cup in Craftsbury this weekend.  It's also "Carni-Crush", so expect some stories of love following the races.

Happy coach with a sweet mustache!

Perry