US Nationals Recap

After a week of little snow, thin coverage, and a lot of laps, US Nationals came to a close yesterday in Rumford. The organizers and volunteers up there did a tremendous job of pulling off the races, including the men's and women's 30/20 km skate races on Thursday. The courses held up well, and the Bates Nordic crew threw down some impressive results. We started off the week strong last Sunday with some good classic sprinting.
The first distance race was postponed a day until Wednesday to allow for more time to work on the courses. We had 14 people race in the Classic distance, a 10 km for women, and a 15 km for men. The Bobcats skied well on the 2.72 km loop, with Nat leading the way for the women. She was followed closely by Megan, Beth, and Kir. On the men's side, Jordan was the first finisher, followed by Alex and Jimmy.
On Thursday, we had people skiing in all the races. The format for the long races was changed to individual start due to the short loop, and narrow trails. Jimmy skied a great 30 km skate race, a total of 11 laps on the course. He was our only guy in the long race, and skied to a solid finish. In the women's 20 km, Kirsten led the way with a 23rd place finish, and Beth and Megan ended up in 33rd and 34th, respectively. It was great to see all three of them so high up in the results. The day of racing wrapped up with Alex, Pete, Nate, Danny, and Sam competing in the junior races.
On Saturday, we had the skate sprint. A small crew raced, with Gretchen and Jordan making the top-30, and Kir qualifying for the U23 heats. Gretchen qualified 21st, and ended up in a heat with the eventual champion Jessie Diggins, and 2010 Olympian/USST member Liz Stephen. She skied a great heat, ending up fourth. Her finish was enough to bump her up to 17th in the final results.

Gretch following Diggins out of the stadium.

Kir skied through her heats well, ultimately taking 3rd in the U23 B-Final, putting her in 9th.

On the men's side, Jordan qualified 29th, ending up in a tough heat. He skied a smart heat, coming back into the stadium tied for 1st with Leif Zimmerman. He ended up getting beat to the line by both Leif and Dakota Blackhorse von Jess, but his third place finish was good enough to move him up to 15th on the day.

Jordan in his quarterfinal.

We're taking it easy for a couple of days, and will be back to our normal routine on Tuesday. The college season kicks-off next weekend with a joint SuperTour and St. Lawrence Carnival event in Lake Placid. It was exciting to see the team mix it up with the best skiers in the country last week. The team is entering the season in a perfect spot, and poised to have some great results over the next few weeks. Stay tuned!