And so it begins again! The 2018-2019 EISA season is here, and hosting the first carnival of the new year is St. Lawrence University at Mt. Van Hoevenberg in Lake Placid, New York on Saturday and Sunday, January 12th and 13th. As many members of EISA teams head back from racing in the US Nordic Skiing Nationals at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center in Craftsbury, Vermont (January 3rd-8th), skiers are prepped and practiced for the first Carnival race in northern New York.
On Saturday the women will be racing a 5k Freestyle course with individual starts beginning at 10:00 am, and the men's 10k Freestyle race with individual starts will kick off at 11:30 am, followed by awards at 1:00 pm. With a low of -11º F on Friday night, Saturday will get started with a 7:29 am sunrise and a partly cloudy high of 8º F, and Sunday will be a sunny high of 12º with light winds. This sudden drop in temperatures and recent gift of a few inches of snow in New England has each and every EISA skier pumped to compete in New York in just two days.
As displayed at the NCAA Skiing Championships, EISA skiers gave competitors a run for their money! The championships which took place in Steamboat Springs, Colorado allowed a few athletes to shine through despite racing against so many new faces.
Katharine Odgen strolled in to first place in the NCAA Championships with 45 seconds separating her and the second place skier from University of Colorado, making her a stand-out skier to keep an eye on. Odgen's teammate Lydia Blanchet also placed well, finishing in 9th place just 1:10 behind Ogden. Alayna Sonnesyn claimed 15th place overall and 3rd for EISA skiers, representing the University of Vermont. Her teammate Lina Sutro should also do well this season, as she won the time-trial in Foret Montmorency and even passed fellow UVM skier Alayna Sonnesyn. Dartmouth's Lauren Jortberg was 4th in last year's overall women's rankings and is one to watch for. Middlebury freshman skier Alexandra Lawson is another notable athlete.
Dartmouth's junior Callan DeLine should perform well after he finished in 6th place for the men's 10k at NCAA's. Colby's Zane Fields has performed well throughout this year already, placing 14th in NCAA's, with Braden Becker (WIL) and Sam Wood (MID) taking places 15th and 16th just behind him. Adam Glueck has also proved to be a strong skier for Dartmouth's already skilled team, Elliot Ketchel also showing his strength representing the Bowdoin team.
With such an exciting and versatile line up for each team, this season should be neck and neck with some very talented athletes. SLU Captains Erin Waters and George-Henry Werowinski will lead Saint Lawrence out on Saturday for the first Carnival race. As the SLU Head Chair wrote,"performances are certainly trending in the right direction" and he is "excited to see how everyone will perform this coming weekend at our home carnival."
And with that... let the racing commence!
For results of the SLU Carnival check out BART timing for day-of times.