On the women’s side, only Nicole Ritchie graduated last spring, and has been pursuing a professional rowing career. Captain Abby Samuelson will lead the women’s team into the winter, once she finishes up her final cross-country running season. Abby spent the summer living and training in Portland while interning for Nike marketing. After racing last season injured, Abby will be looking forward to staying healthy this winter and having a strong race season. Natalie Ruppertsberger is the only junior currently on campus and is excited to build off of her first NCAA Championships appearance as well as last season’s top-three finish at Middlebury Carnival. Kirstin Gill, Megan McClelland, and Ingrid Knowles are all currently studying abroad in France, Portugal, and New Zealand, respectively. They will all rejoin the team when they return, ready to challenge for travel team spots.
There is also a strong sophomore contingent gearing up for the season. Beth Taylor, Dayna Stimson, and Sophie Leonard are all back on campus looking to build on strong first-year performances. In addition, Kelsey Dion has been rowing with the crew team at Bates, recently winning a women’s time trial.
First-year Catherine Tuttle will also be making the switch over from rowing to skiing later this Fall. Tuttle is joined by Samantha Forrest and Gretchen Sellegren, both of whom hail from Bozeman, MT and Dragan's BSF program. Gretchen is coming off a strong year in which she was a two-time medalist at Junior Nationals in Truckee, CA. Samantha was also a member of the Intermountain Junior National team.
For the guys, five men graduated last spring, including Sam Evans-Brown and Sylvan Ellefson, both NCAA qualifiers. In addition, Connor Cushman, Tim Whiton, and Dylan Mogk are all onto the next chapters of their lives. You can follow Sylvan and Dylan on Twitter, while Sam keeps a blog of his proletarian adventures. Connor is working for the Maine Winter Sports Center and living in Portland, while Tim will continue to be a presence on the Carnival circuit, as he recently accepted the assistant coaching position at Bowdoin.
The men will be lead this year by captain Harold Poole and his fellow senior Ben Smeltzer. Harold will be looking to build off the first top-ten Carnival finish of his career at last years Regional Championships. Smeltzer will be another strong skier this season, even while working on a yearlong Physics thesis. The two seniors are joined by a strong youth contingent.
Lucas Milliken leads an incoming class of six. Lucas was a Junior National team qualifier last season and posted strong results after a solid season of racing Eastern Cups, while skiing for Burke Mountain Academy. He is joined by Danny Kuzio, Corey Hill, Dan Brodhead, Isaac Kreisman, and Nate Fuller. All six of the first-year men are New England natives. In addition, sophomore Jimmy Burnham of Carlisle, MA will be joining the team.
There will be lots more to come in the upcoming weeks, so stay tuned!
