Rollin'

Our first weekend was the SLU Carnival so we headed west to take on the EISA circuit in Lake Placid and had a great weekend to spite the chilly temperatures!   Mt. Van Hovenberg along with NYSEF and SLU did an amazing job putting the trail system back together after the first of a few January thaws….  The course was challenging and inspired some solid Bobcat performances.

We missed our fearless leader Lucas – who was out with a minor concussion after going down in a time trial the weekend before.   He was, however, in rare form cheering on the team.  Also – in charge of feeds and such on course – good stuff.

In the 18km skate Jordan rolled through in 11^th, followed by Sean in 29^th(PR) and Corky and Filly close together in 41^st and 42^nd.  They finished the day in 5^th!

The women also started strong in the 14km skate with Hallie leading the way in 8^th (PR).  Jane and Margaret started their carnival careers with awesome grace and power in 20^th and 21^st respectively.  A newcomer to Bates but not to the circuit, Gabby had a career best in 32^nd!  Good enough together to finish 4^th on the day. 

Day 2 saw a new race added to the circuit.  A 3km freestyle prologue was put together instead of the scheduled sprint due to lack of snow depth in the stadium.  It was a BLAST!

Just coming off a 10^th place finish at the US Nationals freestyle sprint in SoHo, Jordan  skied himself into 2^nd place with a gutsy performance.   He worked hard and even had Coach a little worried when he took his time getting off the ground after the race…  but it was worth the effort!   His first collegiate podium!  The guys followed his lead with big efforts by Nick in 22^nd and Sean in 29^th good enough for 3^rd place overall.  Let the baking begin – the first cake of the season was ordered – choice is the ever popular carrot cake!

The women were not to be outdone and also whipped around the course to a team finish of 4^th  with Hallie in 8^th, Margaret in 14^th and Jane in 19^th.  Andrea was just out of scoring range but close in 27^th!  

Overall a great start to the season.  We survived two trips on the ferry and long van rides, although the Westerners on the team have no complaints about a short 7 hour van ride - whoop whoop!