J2 Championships Photos - Skate Race

Nick on his way to a good result in the skate race

Raffi

Lewis, smiling his way up High School Hill and having a huge race!

Meg

Claire

Alex waiting on HS Hill to unleash her awesome cheering

Phoebe on HS Hill

Eastern Highschool Championships

Last weekend, the MA team went mudding - I mean, skiing - at the Mt Top Resort ski loop. CSU sent a very large contingent to Eastern Highschool Championships, and Rob was the head coach, with Jamie, Alex, Maddy, Doro, Gunther, and the CSU wax army all there as well. There wasn't much snow, but it was truly amazing what they were able to do with the little strip of white winding through the woods! The two road-crossings and the somewhat sketchy downhill corner just added to the excitement and the dirt in the snow. The CSU skiers made up about half the massachusetts team, and it was great to see everyone mingling happily. Good times!

The announcer got into the spirit of St Paddy's day. He was a hoot.

Friday started with a skate race, and though it was soft, it thankfully wasn't quite as soft as J2s last weekend. The girls went first, and we started out with a bang! CSU athletes swept the podium (Corey, Olivia M, Julia K), Cate was 8th, Zoe 13th, Olivia C 14th, and Rebecca in 26th. Julia S used her typical smooth technique to float her way up the hills to 43rd, followed by Catherine in 53rd. Katie C skied way above her seed, and Rosie had a really solid race. Meg and Mary skied well, if hesitant on the downhill, and Blake had a couple issues on the downhill, but resolved to nail that hill next race. Katrin and Clara both skied really well, Clara in her first EHS and Katrin as a first-year J2. Girls' freestyle results.

The boys race was led by Eli for MA and CSU, followed by Calvin in 11th! Rion and Ian powered through the slop to finish 38th and 40th, followed closely by Chris K and Greg in 49th and 50th. Toby, Ryan, and Jordan found that it's not easy to be a big guy in soft conditions - brute strength doesn't help you much! Jacob skied a solid skate race, but was clearly looking forward to the classic race. Max was looking smooth and strong, but Chris K was struggling a bit - two championship weekends in a row can be exhausting, and it showed. Boys' freestyle results.

Saturday we had a classic race in the morning, and then a skate sprint in the afternoon. The course had thankfully made it through the night, but it was visibly thinner. Eep. That didn't phase our skiers, though, and they all skied super well, yet again. I'll try to just hit some highlights, here - On the men's side, Eli showed that you don't mess with Eli Hoenig, and won looking quite comfortable. Rion looked super smooth going up the big hill, and skied to 23rd place. Greg was fighting hard, and moved up to 43rd today. Jordan had a better race today, powering up that hill, to finish just ahead of Sean. Toby, Ryan C, and Jacob finished all together in a pack, a solid race for Jacob and probably Ryan's best classic race of his career. The girls swept the podium again, this time Corey, Julia K, and Olivia. CSU put two more in the top 10, with Cate in 5th and Zoe in 7th, and Rebecca followed closely in 15th! Catherine had another super solid race, in 50th, and Blake totally conquered her fears of that downhill! Katie skied way above her seed again, very impressive. Clara showed how strong you get from a summer of good training, I was very impressed watching her double pole going past her competitors.

Boys' classic results, girls' classic results.

After the classic race, it was time for the skate sprint. The course conditions were sloppy (see above), but it was amazing they had any snow, given how warm it was. They ran the sprint as wave starts, which is the best format EVER for spectating. Our skiers skied great, and showed that they have a lot of technical abilities to stay upright through those super tricky conditions. I'll just let you guys look at the results, and post some photos of the sprint, below.

Boys' skate sprint results.

Girls' skate sprint results.

Rob showing off some moves.

Gunther giving Corey a high-five after she won all her races.

The last day was the relay. The last four years, Massachusetts has won the EHS relay, and this year, we made it five! Not only did we win the relay, but we also took the second place team. Six of the eight skiers on those relays were CSU skiers! All the skiers on all the MA relay teams skied their hearts out, and I was super proud to see them all skiing so well. Results.

Jim perched on a hump of dry ground to watch the relays.

The MA food table - it was delicious!

This season's EHS is over now. Thanks to Mountain Top for pulling off a nearly-impossible event, and thanks to all our CSU skiers and the entire MA team for skiing so well!

J2 championships

Mass start of the J2 team relay.

This is super duper late, but Jamie and i have been remiss in writing up the J2 championships. March 9-11, Maddy, Jamie and I headed back to beautiful Rumford, ME, to meet up with the rest of the coaches and 40 J2s from all over Massachusetts. Since this is the CSU blog, I am going to highlight the CSU skiers, but we were the Massachusetts team that weekend, and the skiers all appeared to be having a great time together hanging out and skiing fast!

Things were starting to soften up "nicely", as Weston ski track would say, for the skate race on Friday afternoon. The snow quickly moved beyond the "nice" stage and into the "sloppy" stage before the race, and there were definitely some body-sized pits on the corners of the downhills! Our skiers got through the tough conditions without so much as batting an eyelid, and posted some great results! I'm not going to list everyone's results - you can look them up here for boys, and girls. But I will point out some highlights!

Lewis had a break-out race on Friday's skate race, placing 7th! I think he surprised even himself. Sonya also had a great race, leading the MA team in 10th, in her first regional ski race! Very exciting. Friday night we had a dinner at the Linnell Motel, a fine establishment whose reputation sets it up to be far worse than you think upon arrival, and Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny, ready for a klisterfest! Our skiers did great again, the boys led by Chris K in 2nd, and Jacob in 21st, skiing very smoothly. Meg led the CSU ladies in 20th place, back in fighting form after some disappointing crashes the day before, and Mary also had a really solid race. Saturday afternoon we had a sprint race, and the course was pretty short and flat. This doesn't make it easy, since you have to push that much harder, but that was when we discovered that Nick Reitman can sprint like you wouldn't believe. Holy cow! 3rd place! Raffi also had a good race, showing that he can sprint really well, finishing in 12th, but Chris K went and won the thing! Very impressive CSU boys work. For the girls, Sonya had another great race, finishing 11th, and Claire and Phoebe both had break-out races as well, finishing in the top 60! I think Phoebe completely surprised herself how fast she skied!

Boys classic, girls' classic results, boy's sprint results, girls' sprint results.

Sunday was the relay, and everyone was excited for it. The weather continued to be beautiful (for spectating… not so much for skiing), and the relays were fast and furious. MA team 1 took the lead from the gun, led out by Chris K, and unfortunately, about 400m into the course, you had to make a 90 degree left hand corner, and the NH kid in second place just behind Chris crossed his skis and fell down, taking out much of the pack and all of our other teams. Wahooo mass starts!

Chris held the lead through that leg, and our other teams moved up valiantly, skiing really well. In the end, the MA first team was beaten out in a spring, by a team from CXC, so that doesn't really count, since they're not only not from the east, but their team consists of THREE states, not one! Our other teams skied great - the second MA team was 10th! and everyone out there was fighting for every place, and there is nothing that makes a coach prouder than seeing her skiers go with such gusto.

Coach Maddy looking the part. Yes, we lost our voices from all the cheering.

Jamie took a ton of photos from the weekend, so take a look, here!

CSU Girls Take Top Team

Here is a photo that Amie forwarded of the CSU girls getting their award for the top girls team at Jr. Nationals, along with Smilin Rob Bradlee.  Huzzah!!!

This is what happens when Terry McNatt has extra time on Tuesday nights with no Weston Sprint.


Weston Ski Track Dreamin
(to the way classic tune of California Dreamin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0UcQDUR-fU )

All the grass is green
On the first fairway (…on the first fairway)
Weston Ski Track Dreamin
On such a summer’s day (…such a sunny day)

I’d be skiing still
If I had my way (…snowpack here to stay)
Weston Ski Track Dreamin
On such a summer’s day (…hot’n humid day)

I stand in tee box one
Like I might play (…whack a ball all day)
Well I got down on my knees
And pretend to pray (…end global warmin today)

The Nascar rolling starts
All fade away (…slowly fade away)
Weston Ski Track Dreamin
On such a summer’s day (…such a sunny day)

The ping and whack of range balls
Instead of snowmakin spray (…when below thirtay)
Weston Ski Track Dreamin
On such a summer’s day (…hot’n humid day)

I wave a last goodbye
And I leave today (… bye bye ski countray)
Weston Ski Track Dreamin
On such a summer’s day (…such a sunny day)

Weston Ski Track Dreamin
On such a summer’s day (…hot’n humid day)

Weston Ski Track Dreamin
On such a summer’s day (…can’t wait for winter day)

Weston Ski Track Dreamin

J2 Girl's Relay at JNs

Gunther provided the following video of the final sprint of the J2 girls relay and the photos of the finish line.  Doesn't get much closer than this!

Parents Take A Break

It seems that Lucian, Amie and Peter got tired of all the ski racing, podiums by CSU and listening to Rob prattle on endlessly about ski wax, snow conditions and race strategy such that they escaped to the valley for a more refined activity seeking piscine prey....I suspect the trout may have been safe.