Collegiate Racing Recap: EISA, CCSA
Week 3! The winter doldrums may be setting in for skiers racing weekend after weekend, but rest assured, rewards will come. The challenge of series racing lies in retaining energy, continuing to build fitness, staying healthy, and maintaining mental motivation. For some, series racing is their season’s focus - to ski well each weekend. For others, the goal is end-of-season championships. How each person works toward their own equation of success is unique, but I can tell you that essential to all, is balance.
EISA: Colby Carnival (Waterville, ME)
Snowmaking continues to prove itself necessary and invaluable. The Quarry Road trails just off of Colby’s campus held up in questionable conditions thanks to snow guns and the dedication of staff and volunteers. Racers skied round and round on a 2.5k loop that still provided a variety of terrain.
Day 1, 5/10k Skate:
Under sunny skies, Ben Ogden (UVM) skied to a 45 second victory over his teammate Karl Schulz. Bill Harmeyer (UVM) made it a clean sweep for the Catamounts, placing third.
Some Midwest skiers backed up their strong performances from the last few weekends: Christian Gostout (BOW) placed 7th, Anders Sonnesyn (UNH) 11th, Will Bodewes (UNH) 17th, Peter Moore (BOW) 18th, and Mackinley FitzPatrick (HAR) placed 30th.
In the women’s 5k, Sophia Laukli (MID) continued to show impressive form, finishing 10 seconds in front of Dartmouth’s esteemed Katherine Ogden. Lina Sutro (UVM) placed third.
Likewise as with the men, a group of Midwest women showed their strength in the freestyle technique. Margie Freed (UVM) was 5th, Mara McCollor (DAR) 7th, Abby Drach (DAR) 10th, Erin Bianco (CBC) 16th, Luci Anderson (UNH) 20th, and Renae Anderson (BOW) finished 23rd.
Day 2, 10/15k Classic Individual Start:
Because of the short loop and sugary snow conditions, Sunday’s race was changed to an individual start. The distances were kept the same as planned, making for the longest individual start most of these skiers had seen.
Ben Ogden swept the weekend in standout fashion, finishing in first by 1:34 minutes. Peter Wolter (MID) finished second, and Elliot Ketchel (BOW) moved onto his first podium of the season in third.
A consistent Chrisitan Gostout (BOW) placed 7th, Will Bodewes (UNH) 9th, Anders Sonnesyn (UNH) 12th, Peter Moore (BOW) 18th, and Luc Golin (DAR) skied into the top thirty in 26th.
Bodewes’ 9th place was his best EISA finish of his career. Reflecting on his season so far, he said, “The UNH men's team has been having a great year and have consistently had 4-5 people in the top 25 and several top 10 finishes, which is a huge improvement from the our previous seasons. Our success as a team has been awesome and it has been great to be a part of that, however, personally I have felt like I could still be racing faster.”
Asked about his race execution, Bodewes said, “I often find that some of my best races are the ones in which I'm having fun and skiing relaxed and fluid, and that is what I really tried to focus on over the race. After the race was done, I didn’t check the results because I knew that I left it all out there and I was happy about how I felt.”
He continued, “It has been so great to be a part of UNH and the EISA college racing series. The amount of work and support that the people out here go through to put these races on creates a kind of energy that makes every race exciting whether you’re in first or last. Every race I think about how close my 14 year ski career is to ending and so my goal is to leave it all out there and to finish the year knowing that however I end up is the best skier I can be. To have gotten several personal bests this year is just icing on the cake!”
Enjoy that cake, Will, you’ve earned it!
In the women’s 10k, Sophia Laukli skied to her third EISA victory in a row. Katherine Ogden (DAR) was once again in second. Alex Lawson (MID) placed third.
Margie Freed (UVM) showed impressive consistency, placing 5th. Renae Anderson (BOW) placed 8th.
Anderson, like many college skiers, had been fighting sickness earlier in the week. “I was coming off norovirus this past week so my expectations weren’t super high,” Anderson said, “but a lot of my teammates had it and were fine so I was hoping to have a good day nonetheless. The race went a lot better than it felt and it was a super tough course!”
Anderson spent the fall term studying abroad at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway. Reflecting on her experience, she said, “My time in Norway was a nice break from typical busy days at Bowdoin and I loved being able to give everything to training/plan my days around it. The club team I trained with [NTNUi Langrenn] was a super fun and motivated group and kept me motivated when I was missing the Bowdoin team back home. I realized that we are really lucky to have a big college circuit (something they don’t have in Norway) and it’s really special how people don’t have to choose between competitive skiing and a thorough education.”
Mara McCollor (DAR) finished 9th, Erin Bianco (CBC) 15th, Abby Drach (DAR) 17th, Luci Anderson (UNH) 21st, and Ingrid Thyr (WIL) was 25th.
- Women Nordic: 1. MID (243), 2. UVM (222), 3. DAR (219)
- Men Nordic: 1. UVM (271), 2. BOW (205), 3. MID (195), 4. UNH (193)
- Overall (Men, Women, Nordic, and Alpine): 1. UVM (899), 2. DAR (831), 3. MID (827)
Up Next:
- Feb 7-8: Bates Carnival (Rumford, ME - Black Mtn)
- Fri: 15/20km Classic Mass Start
- Sat: 5/10k Skate Interval Start
CCSA: UWGB CCSA Qualifier (Rhinelander, Wis. - Cedric A. Vic Outdoor Center)
Day 1, 10/15k Classic Mass Start:
The mass start race in Rhinelander was moved up to Saturday because of warm weather expected to come on Sunday.
In the women’s 10k, the top four skiers broke away and finished within thirty seconds of each other but two minutes ahead of 5th place. Malin Boerjesjoe (NMU, NOR) took first by just seven seconds over Amanda Kautzer (MTU). Sarah Goble (MTU) followed in third.
Kautzer described the race: “The pack went out fairly hard, and there was a lot of shuffling and fighting for space in the track. This course only had 2 track best line, which was great for 12 of the 15k we skied, but made those first 3k fairly aggressive. Two Northern [NMU] athletes attacked on the A climb on the first lap, and luckily Sarah and I were in a position to go with them. By the top of the hill, the four of us were on our own out front. From there we skied fairly relaxed, no one wanting to lead, until the A climb on the second lap. Sarah and I had talked about attacking there, so when I saw her go, I went with. On the final lap, we attacked once more on the A climb, and fought it out for the last 2k.”
“Overall, it was a really fun race,” Kautzer continued. “I’d have to say that my eyes were rolling back in my head halfway through the second lap though! Definitely spent a lot of time in the pain cave.”
Emma Albrecht (MTU) finished 7th, Erica Meyers (STO) 15th, Cheresa Bouley (SCSU) 17th, Rana Kraftson (CSS) 19th, and Mae Barnes (CSS) 20th.
In the men’s race, Zak Ketterson took the victory. However, because of his redshirt status, he is bumped out of the official collegiate results. Ketterson is focusing on the upcoming U23 World Championships.
Mathias Rolid (NMU, NOR) broke away with his teammate Kjetil Banerud (NMU, NOR). Rolid won the sprint to the line by two seconds. Norwegian Emil Bratbak (CSS) finished in third.
Patrick Acton (MTU) finished 4th, Reid Goble (MTU) 6th, Mitch DeLong (MTU) 7th, John Schwinghammer (CSS) 8th, Matthew Bourne (NMU) 9th, Xavier Mansfield (NMU) 10th, Peter Carlen (STO) 11th, Somer Schrock (MTU) 12th, Tyler Radtke (STO) 13th, Kieran Mullen (STO) 17th, Tamer Mische-Richter (CSS) 18th, Joshua Albrecht (MTU) 19th, and Mark Ousdigian (MTU) finished 20th.
Day 2, 5/10k Skate Individual:
Skiing two laps of a 2.5k course, Malin Boerjesjoe (NMU, NOR) finished 1st, Henriette Semb (MTU, NOR) 2nd, and Hilde Eide (NMU, NOR) skied to 3rd.
Emma Albrecht (MTU) skied a strong race, finishing in 8th. She said, “I had planned on taking the first lap hard and hopefully having enough momentum and energy to keep my speed and tempo up for the second lap. I was in a very good spot after the first big uphill and honestly felt the best I had all season. I have been really struggling this season with individual start races and finding the courage to push myself to my max. I am very proud of how my race went because of how hard I pushed my body. I was pretty sick this fall and early winter so I am only hoping for more recovery and more races so that I can prove myself to be a strong competitor.”
Amanda Kautzer (MTU) finished 9th, Maria Schoening (UWGB) 13th, Mae Barnes (CSS) 14th, Stephanie Balas (STO) 15th, Cheresa Bouley (SCSU) 17th, Erica Meyers (STO) 18th, and Jamie Herridge (SCSU) was 19th.
Mathias Rolid (NMU, NOR) once again took the men’s victory. Emil Bratbak (CSS, NOR) was 2nd, followed by Kjetil Banerud (NMU, NOR) in third.
Patrick Acton (MTU) earned his fourth 4th place of the season. As Acton said on his Instagram account, “Nobody in the CCSA can ski to a fourth place quite like this guy.” Well Patrick, if consistency is king, then at least you’re royalty. I’m impressed!
Xavier Mansfield (NMU) finished 5th, Mark Ousdigian (MTU) 9th, Tyler Radtke (STO) 10th, John Schwinghammer (CSS) 11th, Mitch DeLong (MTU) 12th, Somer Schrock (MTU) 14th, Reid Goble (MTU) tied for 16th with Tamer Mische-Richter (CSS), Kieran Mullen (STO) 18th, and Tres Green (MTU) 19th.
- Women: 1. NMU (105), 2. MTU (91), 3. CSS (59)
- Men: 1. NMU (103), 2. CSS (81), 3. MTU (80)
- Overall: 1. NMU (412), 2. MTU (354), 3. CSS (282)
Up Next: A week off!
RMISA
The RMISA had a weekend off of official NCAA racing.
Up Next:
- Feb 8-9: RMISA Nordic Qualifier (Aspen, CO)
- Sat: 5/10k freestyle (Aspen Cross Country Center)
- Sun: 21k classic mass (Aspen Snowmass Nordic Trail System Owl Creek Trail)
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About the author... Luke Brown, a graduate of Minnehaha Academy and Dartmouth College, is a skier and biathlete for the Crosscut Mountain Sports Center and the US Biathlon X-Team. He enjoys running in the mountains, writing, and eating cereal with whole milk. He lives in Bozeman, MT. |