The fifth Carnival of the season was hosted by Middlebury College at Rikert Outdoor Center.
The weekend started off with a classic sprint, providing many rounds of exciting head-to-head competition. Dartmouth skier John Steel Hagenbuch commented on the day saying, “that was a sweet day of racing. It was fast and furious on a great course, and there was an awesome atmosphere that only EISA can create.” As seen on the map below, skiers started in the stadium and almost immediately descended a small downhill before beginning the climb of “second loop.” (Be sure to thank Josh Kerr if you see him tomorrow for the great course maps). Colby skier Jack Young “loved the course” saying, “It was in great shape and I think it was an adequately hard and very fair classic sprint course.”
Course Map
Men
The men’s qualifier started at 10:00am with Sage Grossi as the first EISA starter. The qualifier was won by Colby Skier Jack Young with a time of 3:17.33. Young gave his coaches kudos stating, “my skis were great. They had just enough kick to run and were very fast.” After placing fifth in the qualifier, Dartmouth skier John Steel Hagenbuch came away with the win today. When asked about his strategy for the heats, Johnny said it “was to stride well up the main hill and hopefully move up - and then to finish really strong in the absolute grind of a finish stretch. I was really happy to execute on all parts of that plan through the heats” Johnny added, “I elected to go on pretty kicky skis to prioritize skiing up the hill easily and well, as I knew that the fairly technical downhill would make drafting less important. I wasn’t that worried about sacrificing glide in the finish either, as I was increasingly confident in my sprint finish as the day got longer. It was awesome to see my teammate Luke Allan continue his form with yet another podium performance, and I’m excited for another great day of racing on a super fun distance course tomorrow!”
After winning the qualifier, Jack Young placed 2nd on the day. When asked about his race, Young commented, “my strategy for all of my heats was to go to the front, relax, and control the race. This played out perfectly in the quarter and the semi, but I wasn’t able to lead into the stadium for the final.” Rounding off the podium was Dartmouth skier Luke Allan, who helped the Dartmouth men come away with the win today.
Williams skier Keelan Durham continued his fantastic season with a fifth place finish today. Durham “felt really good today” and thought “this was a really fun course!” He also commented that “the hill into the finish meant everything was to play for at the end which made for some exciting racing!” Middlebury skier Mason Wheeler finished sixth on the day commenting, “It was amazing to race on the home course on a beautiful day in front of the home crowd. It was an incredibly humbling and amazing experience to get to race such a stacked final of amazing skiers.” He also chose not to double pole, saying “I feel like my striding is one place where I can really put time into people and I wanted to press that advantage.”
Women
The women’s qualifier started at 10:30am with St. Lawrence skier Sammy Legate starting first. Dartmouth skier Ava Thurston won the qualifier with a time of 3:55.02 and came away with the win on the day. When asked about her strategy, Thurston commented, “In the final I wanted to be in the pack over the top of the hill and then worked on moving up on the downhill and flat section. I knew it was going to come down to a final sprint so my goal was to stride the finish as fast as I could.” Finishing just behind Thurston and earning another podium this season was Bowdoin skier Emma Crum. When asked about her race, Crum commented, “I felt really good today, better than I felt at sprints earlier this year. Sprinting is not always my favorite and the pre-stress of it sometimes gets to me so it felt nice to be more relaxed and have fun.”
Rounding off the podium was UNH skier Jasmine Lyons. When asked about her race, Lyons said, “my strategy for the heats was to go out as chill as I could and stay relaxed until the finish to save energy. I really liked the course - I found the uphill to be a nice grade and the downhill was exciting. I felt strong and excited to race with all my friends. My kick was great - our coaches did a really good job of adjusting to the weather and giving us super competitive skis.”
Today we saw moves being made at many places on the course and the race wasn’t over until it was over. Middlebury skier Quincy Massey-Bierman (5th place) spoke about this noting that, “today was very different from the first sprint this season. There was more than one place to make moves, and people made moves in places you wouldn't necessarily expect.” The first sprint this season was at the Bates Carnival in Rumford, ME. It was a skate race on a narrower course meaning that securing your position earlier in the race was more important than it was today. Quincy also said, “you weren’t going to win by being in first the whole time, but you could lose by letting your guard down, you had to stay vigilant.” This made for an exciting day of racing that really came down to the finishing sprint in most of the heats.
Team Scores
Middlebury has the lead after Day 1 and looks to hold on for the win at their home Carnival.
Come back tomorrow for Day 2 of the Middlebury Carnival, which will be combined with the Eastern Cup!
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