St. Michael's Carnival Nordic Day 1

EISA racing resumed today with day one of the St. Michael's carnival after the off weekend. Racers competed in a two lap 10k at Sleepy Hollow, on a tough course with little rest. I think Middlebury skier Logan Moore put it well saying, “especially out here on a course like this, everyone’s gonna be suffering, it’s really hard so it’s just a matter of who can suffer the most. It’s more a mental race than it is a physical race.”

Course Map

Men

The weekend kicked off at 10:00am with St. Michael's senior Declan Hutchinson starting first. Separated by 30 second intervals, 80 skiers toed the line today at Sleepy Hollow. Dartmouth took the first two podium spots today. John Steel Hagenbuch got the win by over one minute and had the two fastest laps of the day. When asked about his race, Johnny commented, “The course was super fun, it’s roller-coaster-like in the sense that it’s gradual uphill rolling and then gradual rolling downhill. So I think it really rewards people who are good on the transitions, and can keep their technique together. The snow was a little bit slower than I was anticipating based on testing, so it was pretty hard on the second lap.” Luke Allan came in second today and commented, “I felt alright, the legs were feeling good. As Johnny said, it was really a working course, a lot of downhills where it’s on the slope between where you wanna tuck and where you wanna skate. You really had to push the tuck skate and keep the legs moving throughout the whole race. The course rewarded consistent work throughout the whole thing.” Allan also hyped up his team saying, “shoutout to my roomate Wally, he had a top 30 today, what a beast.” Middlebury skier Logan Moore rounded off the podium today, just seven seconds back from Allan. Moore commented, “I felt really good, I was a little nervous going into this race because it’s a really hard course with not a lot of rest, and I wasn’t feeling super well today during the warmup. But I got out there and gave it my all.” He also mentioned that “it’s a testament to the fact that you can race well when tired and not letting your warmup define your race.” The Colby team is really excited to have Jack Young back from Europe where he was racing on the World Cup. When asked how his first carnival went, Young replied, “I’m a little jet lagged, but overjoyed to be back. It’s so much fun, I’ve been racing on this course since high school. I had one of my best results here freshman year, a 10k skate. So I’m really happy to be back at Sleepy Hollow and be back with all my friends, it’s a lot of fun.” Young’s teammates Andrew Defor and Ben Lewis had notable performances, both earning a top 10 result. 

Skiers ascending a long climb on the course

Skiers ascending a long climb on the course

Skiers ascending a long climb on the course

Women

UVM skier Annie McColgan topped the podium today, earning her first Carnival win! When asked about her race, McColgan commented, “It was all about taking shots today.” She said, “I just wanted to say this quote, which was said by Libby Tuttle, when she was quoting Molly Moening, who was quoting Wayne Gretzky– ‘you miss 100 shots that you don’t take, percentage wise, so you should take lots of shots to make sure that you’re making them.’” McColgan’s teammate Molly Moening chimed in saying, “she took the shot and she made it.” When asked about her strategy, McColgan commented, “I wanted to go out relatively fast today. My thinking was to really push from the bottom all the way to the top, the middle section of the course. I thought that was going to be the most important.” Molly Moening skied a fantastic race as well, placing 7th on the day. She “tried to push the first half really hard, and focused on staying smooth up the long uphill on the back section of the course. Moening also pointed out that the UVM team “knows this course pretty well, just because we ski it so much – this definitely helped knowing little spots where you could gain more time.” Bowdoin skier Emma Crum came in second, earning another podium for the season. When asked about her race, Crum commented, “it felt hard. When I got to a downhill, I just had to keep skiing hard so there wasn’t a lot of rest. My strategy was when it started really hurting, I just had to remind myself that everyone was in just as much pain as I was because I knew it was a hard course.” Dartmouth skier Amelia Tucker came in 6th commenting, “it was really fun out there today, the snow was great. It did slow down a lot, so I was definitely a little more conservative on the first lap. Mostly it was just fun to ski with my friends and hear everyone cheering on course.”

Cheering squads out for the women's race

Be sure to come back because the excitement continues tomorrow with a 3x5k relay!