SLU Carnival

This past weekend the team made the trek out to Lake Placid for the college opener, the St. Lawrence Carnival. This year, the event was combined with a SuperTour event, meaning that much of the competition from US Nationals stayed east, and joined in the racing on Friday and Saturday.
Friday's race was held at the Olympic Jumping Complex, and consisted of several laps (5 for men, 3 for women) around a 2 km loop. The guys raced first, with the Freshman foursome of Jordan, Alex, Sean, and Pete all getting their first Carnival starts. It was a tight race, with Jordan leading the way in 42nd, followed by Alex and Sean as the next two scorers. Jimmy, Nate, and Danny also put together solid races. The women skied strongly as well. Nat lead the way with a 7th place showing. Again, it was a close race, the times were within seconds of each other. Megan and Beth were the next two Bobcats in 34th and 37th respectively.
On Saturday, we headed over to the Biathlon side of the cross country trails for the 10 and 15 km skate races. The women raced first, and had a really impressive showing. Kir and Beth finished 6th and 7th, respectively. Gretchen was next in 17th, and Megan had another strong race, finishing in 21st. Ingrid skied to a 36th place, while Sam and Andrea both skied well in the SuperTour race. All around an impressive showing for the women's side. For the men, Jordan once again led the way, finishing in 40th. Alex and Sean were once again the next two skiers, and Pete was just behind them. It was a solid first weekend of collegiate racing, and the team enjoyed a beautiful day of skiing yesterday at Pineland. This coming weekend is the Colby Carnival, with a 15/20 km mass start classic race, and a skate relay.
Many thanks to the McClelland family for hosting the women's team, and to Pete Phillips for letting the men stay at his house. The McClellands were also kind enough to provide dinner for the team both nights we were in Lake Placid. Also, thank you to all the families who brought food to feed our hungry racers (and coaches).
Lastly, a congrats to former Bobcat Haley Johnson, for getting back onto the Biathlon World Cup this past week, and for some strong showings at the IBU cup before that. Check her blog out at http://comeskiwithme.blogspot.com/