The sprint took place on a course that, while supposedly FIS legal, can only be described as "track-like," in that it featured only two significant turns (both to the right) and a gradual profile that led to all the men and just about all the women double poling the entire thing. What this meant in practice terms was the the coaches didn't need to worry too much about waxing for kick, and could focus on putting us on fast skis. They were successful, and six bobcats qualified for the heats (top 30 in the qualifying round). All three senior women qualified, with Sadie James in 22nd, Laurel Fiddler in 23rd, and Haile Lange in 24th. Squeezing into the top 30 was first-year Kaelyn Woods, in 29th. On the men's side Forrest Hamilton had a ripper of a qualifier and finished 8th, while Wade Rosko skied to 28th. The day continued with Forrest making it out of the quarterfinals and into the semis, where he skied to an incredible 8th place in his EISA debut! All in all, it was a good day to be a bobcat.
Day two of the SLU Carnival was a 5/10k skate interval start on the tough Olympic Women's loop. Conditions were warm with a side of humidity, and the snow was a grease/dirt mixture that I'm sure took years off the lives of my race skis. I don't know what we waxed with, but I'm sure it was both toxic and labeled in a mix of Norwegian and Russian. The women had another solid day, with a standout 14th place from Laurel. Rounding out our scoring crew was Sadie in 29th, and Kaelyn in 36th. Parker McDonald, Max Millslagle, and first-year Graham Houtsma all scored for the men, in 20th, 28th, and 51st places respectively.
The next week found us battling dwindling snow levels and training venue closures, and so we ended up doing intervals on some spin bikes we found. I have a newfound respect for those who frequent spin classes, because my legs hurt after that.
The highlight of spinning was when U of Michigan retweeted this photo
Fortunately, our trials were shortlived, because on Thursday we were off to Jackson for the UNH carnival, which consisted of a 5/10k classic interval start and a 15/20k skate mass start. The University of Utah brought several athletes to the carnival to preview it before NCAAs in March. Needless to say, they skied rather fast. Both days were warm, with the classic race consisting of klister waxed skis for a rather hilly course. Friday was a rather rough one for the guys, with our first finisher Parker in 35th for the collegiate results, followed by Forrest and Graham in 40th and 45th respectively. The women continued their trend of solid results, with Laurel skiing to 16th, Kaelyn to 26th, and Haile to 27th.
Day two of UNH had us racing longer distance mass starts, one of the more interesting collegiate race formats we do. There's nothing quite like being one of a hundred starters all gunning for the same space of course to get the blood pumping. Steve Fuller was in attendance, and so we have a bunch of pictures, more of which can be found at flyingpointroad.com
Parker and Graham at the start, Parker finished 18th and Graham 42nd
Graham leading a pack with fellow Bobcat Max (19th) in the back
Forrest charging at the front of a group of skiers
Connor Gray lapping through the stadium
Bobcat super-fan Maddy Ekey cheering/ giving feeds
Coach Upham juicing skis
Laurel Fiddler on her way to 11th. When asked about her recent success, she attributed it to eating her food ripped into tiny pieces.
Haile Lange skiing into 30th place
Kaelyn Woods showing off her bobtat en route to a 35th place
First-year Annie, fresh off a cruising classic day (54th), crushing the mass start
That's all from the last few weeks, this weekend we brave freezing temperatures to travel to Stowe, VT and race the UVM carnival!
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