By: Caleb Horsch
After an unscheduled 'bye week,' the EISA season restarted with the University of New Hampshire carnival. While the race would usually have taken place at Mittersill, a lack of snow forced the race to be moved an hour north to Burke Mountain. Burke, the host of Men's Nor-Ams and Eastern Cups earlier in the season, sports a challenging hill and almost always fantastic conditions, making it the perfect place for stop two of the EISA circuit.
A few inches of snow overnight greeted racers as they unstrapped their skis in the morning, but a solid surface existed underneath, and it promised to be a good race. Alex Norden from Boston College got the drill for the first run setting a rhythmical 27-meter set down the steep and unrelenting Training Hill. It was clear from inspection that fall-line, charging skiing would be rewarded.
The women got first dibs, and Helene Kristofferson from Saint Michael's set the early mark. Allie Resnick from Dartmouth, the GS leader after her win at Sunday River, laid down a solid run that left her only one tenth of a second behind Kristofferson. A little behind her was Alexandra Cossette from Middlebury, Carly Elsinger from Dartmouth, and rounding out the top 5 was Ella Spear from Colby. The five were separated by just seven-tenths of a second. The biggest move up of the run went to Freshmen Audrey Higgins-Lopez from St. Lawrence, who moved up from bib 57 to 12th.
Helene Kristofferson (Saint Michael's) - flyingpoint.com
After the women, the men got their turn. The jury decided to move gates about six inches out to escape a shelf that had developed, but the snow remained good from top to bottom. Jagge Lindstoel from the University of Vermont continued the speed he had last year despite missing the Bates Carnival. He was dominant on his first run, winning by over half a second over his teammate Mathias Tefre. Peder Nersnaes from UNH sat in third, also in the mix. However, a difficult first run from GS leader Eirik Kveno saw him sit in tenth place, 1.64 off the leader; he would have to charge to hold onto his lead in the GS standings.
The second run set was from Brian Blank of the host's UNH. His set to the skier left of the first run set incorporated the side hill present on that side. The snow remained fantastic, and a few athletes took advantage of getting in the flip and their early bib number to make big move-ups.
Amongst the questions on the women's side was if Allie Resnick would be denied her second GS victory. The answer was a resounding no, as her strong second run saw her pass Kristofferson to win the race by six-tenths of a second. Despite being overtaken by Resnick, Kristofferson held on to second place for her second podium result in GS. Tindra Bergstrand from Plymouth State rounded out the podium after finishing fourth two weeks ago.
Lindstoel could have held back on the second run, harboring a significant lead, but he charged top to bottom, winning the second run and the race by nine-tenths of a second. Tefre had a solid second run of his own to hold onto second, and Peder Nersnaes held onto third. Kveno moved up from a disappointing first run to finish in fifth and hold onto his leader's bib.
Reflecting on the day, Lindstoel remarked, "I am really happy with the way our boys stepped it up. Mathias [Tefre] coming in second, showing that he is not only a Slalom skier." The victory was made even sweeter for Lindstoel who was held out of the Bates carnival with a back injury. "I could not [have] dreamed of a better way to come back". The UVM men finished first on the day and, as a team, sat in the lead 29 points clear of hosts UNH.
Mathias Tefre (University of Vermont) - flyingpoint.com
There will be little rest as the UNH carnival continues tomorrow with a long Slalom race that will be sure to test the racer's fitness. The race can be followed live at https://livetiming.usskiandsnowboard.org.
Comments