States Classic

Thanks to everybody who made the long drive up north and brought delicious goodies for us to eat and re-energize. Thanks for cheering. Thanks to Matt for some incredible waxing and Mia for helping get everyone organized and warmed up. We're looking forward to Thursday and some more great racing. 

 Here are some pictures from the classic day of the state meet.
 Mac and Adddison in the tag zone. Britta passing off to Emma in 2nd place.

Haley and Lydia trading for the final leg of the girls relay. 

 Haley waiting for the tag.  Mac waiting for his tag as the snow picked up again.

Mac and will tagging in one of the various snowstorms of the day. They were hard to predict, but everyone kept their composure really well and overcame the adverse conditions.

So, here's some quick numbers from the meet. Will was 12th overall in the state, 5th in the DII. Finished 18th in DII. Austin had a great ski and did a great job of leading out the relay team, 26th DII. Addison had a great comeback from mono, skiing to 30th DII. Kelsey, Stephen and Yib were 33rd, 36th, and 39th. The Guy's team was 4th in the relay and as a team is currently sitting 4th in DII, within striking distance of a podium. 

 Britta Was 8th overall with a podium 3rd in DII. Alia skied to 20th oveall, placing her 7th in DII (though you wouldn't have known that if you were at the awards ceremony, they'll be sending her her medal). Lydia was 28th over all and 10th in DII. Haley, Emma and Hannah were 15th, 16th, and 22nd in DII. Also a huge congratulations to Sophie, Nathalie and Kate who skied in the first state meet of their High School careers. They were 42nd, 44th and 46th in DII. Ladies relay team finished 5th overall, 2nd in the DII and is sitting in 2nd for the DII team score. 

States Team

Boys:                                                         Girls:
Will Earle                                                 Britta Clark
Mac Groves                                              Lydia Allen
Stephen Peters-Collaer                          Emma Ryan
Kelsey McGlashan                                 Haley Olson
Austin Kincaid                                        Hannah Kraus
Yib Lacey                                                Kate Dapalito
Addison Tate                                           Nathalie Ingersol
Adam Peterson                                        Sophie Ryan

TT Results from today and yesterday

Here

BKL Helpers

Hi Everbody,


We've volunteered as a team to help out with the big Bill Koch League Festival happening next weekend up at Rikert. This is a mandatory part of practice the week of break and will also be a lot of fun (maybe I should of put those in the reverse order). Here's what we need.


1) Saturday (Feb 26) and Sunday (Feb 27), Food Tent – need 4 volunteers, 2 each day from 11am-2pm.

   1. (Sat 11-2)

   2. (Sat 11-2)

   3. (Sun 11-2)

   4. (Sun 11-2)

2)  Saturday and Sunday, Bear Den Trail (little kids exploratory trail) – need 10 volunteers to help monitor and extract little kids from the snow.  Saturday, 6 to cover 2 per each per shift 8:30-11am, 11am-1:30pm, and 1:30-4pm. Sunday, 4 vols. To cover 2 per each per shift 8:30-11am and 11am-1:30pm.

  1. (Sat 8:30-11)                                         6. (Sat 1:30-4)

  2. (Sat 8:30-11)                                         6. (Sun 8:30-11)

  3. (Sat 11-1:30)    Zoe Parsons               6. (Sun 8:30-11)

  4. (Sat 11-1:30)    Hannah Kraus           6. (Sat 11-1:30)

  5. (Sat 1:30-4)                                           6. (Sat 11-1:30)

3) Saturday night banquet at MUHS – need 4 volunteers from 4:30-7pm to help with busing, cleaning up, and the silent auction.

  1.

  2.

  3.

  4.

So looks like we could really use 18 volunteers – though it’s likely that people can cover multiple shifts, etc.

If you don't see a name in a slot, that means we still need help. I'll be sending out an email, please respond to me if with your availability. 

Anders

Emma making a big move up the hill through the stadium. 

Britta on her way to 9th place. 

Kelsey making his way out on the second loop. Kelsey had a really strong skate race. 

 Mac with some forward body lean. Mac was the 16th J2 qualifier. Solid races.

Will looking really strong out of the start. Will skied a really great skate race saying really quick through both laps. He managed to keep it fresh through two races. 

Eastern High School Qualifiers

Sunday was a long day of races at Craftsbury. It was great that people got there Saturday to preview the course and get some pre-race skiing in. Everyone showed up excited and ready to go, racing both a morning classic race and an afternoon skate.

We had some really great skiing yesterday with a decent sized crew. Some exciting results and some really good efforts across the board. Highlights include, Britta finishing 11th overall, Lydia in 18th, Alia finishing 22nd in the classic and 16th in the skate, Haley and Emma both with solid races.
On the guys side, Will had some great races, especially skiing strongly in the second race of the day, Mac finished 16th for the J2's and will be heading off on that trip. Kelsey also had a great skate race, finishing just behind Mac.

Here's a link to the results. http://www.craftsbury.com/skiing/nordic_center/news/2011J2sVTQual_110213.htm you'll be excited to see that two of our skiers made it up in photos on the website. Cool. I'll try to get some posted this evening after practice.

Friday Time Trial Results will be up momentarily. Click Me

Also, I'll be looking forward to hearing how the citizen's race went for those who stuck around. Sounded like the waxing was easy and the event was fun as usual.

MT Top Results

https://spreadsheets2.google.com/ccc?hl=en&key=tOmL6DLlkPS8kVO9aSv19nQ&hl=en#gid=2

Here you go, great work yesterday. It was tough snow, slow conditions, and lots of uphill. It was a great look at the states course and a preview of 3k racing for this weekends Eastern Qualifiers. Its a hard race from start to finish, all out from the moment they say go.

Reflections from Saturday

Nathalie Ingersoll- My first varsity race. It was much better than I thought it would be.I think I got about 63 out of 80 so I feel pretty good about it!

Adam- I felt pretty good. Had an awesome wipeout.

Olivia- was in the last race, so the track was awful, had a bunch of people wipe out, including me, but, it was a great race!
Nice job today racers!
-olivia h.
Good race, got poled in the foot.. Yay- Devon z

It was pretty fun and the snow was fast. The tracks weren't really good but there wasn't too much uphill so it was okay.
-mac

My skis were slipping a bit up the hills, but I mostly made it up on the downhills. The tracks were nonexistent in some places,but it was still a really fun race, and I made up a bunch of time and almost caught the girl in front of me at the end which was exciting. Overall a good race.
Emma

Haley-so I am overall satisfied with how it went except for the fact that I felt awful...like actually. But yeah wooooooo Nordic!! Our team did pretty well considering we were missing Lydia and Britta. The hills were stellar and having to do two laps was therefore not that an issue.

Stephen
Overall the race went well, especially on the flats where I could double pole. I think that working on doubling poling in practice yesterday really helped as well. However the hardest part of the race was switching from the long . stretches of double poling to the hills where I had to stride. But all in all the race felt good.

I slipped up the last two hills but overall I did well. it was a time and a half...next time let's not leave at 7 -george

New Video

Here's the last Rutland race...

Soundtrack by Matt Truehartt. Editing by me.

PRACTICE TOMORROW

SO School is closed, and flights are canceled and everything is delayed. I think I'll go skiing unless I hear that Bread Loaf is closed or the ACTR shuttle is canceled. Right now they have canceled the shuttle to Rutland, but not the snow bowl, I'll be checking in constantly and keep you updated. Take a look at their website for the most up to date info. ACTR

Tentative plan to take the 12:55 shuttle meeting at Rikert around 1:30pm. Who knows??

Classic Photos

Devon and Yib battling up the first climb on the course.

Mac striding out through the fields.

Malcolm on the verge of crossing the finish line.



The stunning photo finish between Ronnie and George. It was quite a showdown all the way to the line.

This is my photo response to Micah, who claims that none of the skis I waxed had kick...In this photo you can clearly see that I did not actually wax any skis. I just adjusted my gloves for the entire race, so and bad skis were clearly Matt's fault.

Classic race

a cold day at the races with only some of the team. after a slip in the woods determination forced me to lunge across the line beating my teammate by inches. the failure of Haley's video skills was made up for the support of our coaches and teammates.
-george
Sooooo fun race, nice snow, first time I haven't been tripped by an MMU girl, feeling that threshold of pain as Tony says. Will describes it as complete agony. Good times

My last race of junior year, I thought it went pretty well. The second lap was far more brutal than the first, but still the hills felt okay and the flats went quick. A good race to end on.
-Will Conlon

My back hurt, and the course was brutal, but my skis were fast and the snow was finally good. Three out of five stars.
-Kelsey McGlashan

While in the grips of mono I learned about the beautiful technique of Anders waxing skills. Yet today seemed to be lacking a little. all the skiers skis he waxed always seemed to be returned to him requesting a little dab under the toe. Of course matts waxing was right on track.

my skis were waxed to perfection with great kick up all of the hills. except for the one Micah saw me slip on. Overall a great race.
Lydia and Micah

I underestimated the amount of recovery and should have treated the second lap as more of a sprint. The snow was awesome, however my kick zone felt like it was collecting snow and I had to run up some of the hills.I think the race cleared my sinuses. The group of cheering girls on one of the corners could probably see.
~Addison

It was the least lazy day as a manager ever. I also said "hup hup hup" for the first time in my life. A truly historical day. - Annie

Technique Video

Today’s technique lesson: double poling. This is the first in a series of many videos for technique; I’ll try to get everyone in so that we can all get an objective view of how we’re skiing.  Please enjoy the sound track. (I believe that some of Will’s friends from Williams came to cheer us on at the race)

First take a look at my example, there are a couple of things to note. See how high my hands come with each stroke: to the top of my head. My body is tall and extended with a noticeable forward lean. You can see the angle of my ankles (acute rather than 90 degree). As my poles strike the ground there is a noticeable compression, my knees are soft and my torso only drops to about 45 degrees.

Next, Will: Think first about the hips. There is a forward lean in the torso, but it is not carried all the way through the legs remain vertical. Thinking about throwing the hands forward as they come up will help draw the whole body into the correct position.

Britta: Thinking about getting the hands higher, to the top of your head is the first step. As you work on swinging them up higher, also think about sending them forward to bring the rest of your body into line, establishing a more forward lean from the ankles all the way up.

Emma: hands are nice and high, but the shoulders are beginning to shrug, this creates tension and closes your chest so it’s harder to breathe. At the high point of your stroke, think about pushing the hips forward so that they come into line with your body. Try to keep them forward through the entire motion so that they do not drop back behind your feet.

Hannah: Notice that you are almost sitting as you reach the bottom of your pole. Think about extending your body upward initially so that you are as tall as possible and leaning forward. That way, as you compress you will be able to keep your hips forward instead of them falling down and back. Again, think about leading with the hands, your body is tall, but it is coming from your feet, concentrate on getting your hands to the top of your head each stroke. In your skate at the end, you are not stepping which is good, and your hips are in a pretty good place, but notice what we were talking about with your foot kicking back as you push off. Try to keep those toes in line, moving directly side to side.  

Lydia: take a look at the selection of your finish; Your shoulders seem to lead your body upward rather than your hands. That means that your elbows have to come out to the sides, Try to think about keeping your elbows in close to your body and making momentum with your hands. Snapping the poles up high after each stroke. Also notice that as your poles hit the ground, the first thing that happens is that your hips drop. Try to concentrate on the abdominal crunch first and keep the hips high.

Alia: The kick double pole looks good, try to think about getting your hips a little farther forward, its not a big move, but it will change the angle of your ankle, getting your whole body a little more forward lean. Your hands could come up another inch or two, but generally look good.

Haley: Generally looks good, you could also think about driving the hips a little more forward. Your striding is very dynamic and you have a great flex in the knees. The one thing to think about there is that as you come onto your gliding ski, you are leading with that foot, it looks like you are trying to push it ahead of you. Try skiing with a little shorter stride and allowing your glide to carry you forward, rather than trying to step farther up the track. 

Paintball Biathlon

 Well, it was cold today. We had a pretty small turnout at the Paintball Biathlon down in Rutland, but Britta walked away with a 3rd place, Austin made out with a hat, Will was disqualified for having a frostbitten nose and everybody got a t-shirt.

Some pictures of Adam, Alia, Mac, Austin and Will. The picture below is just a reminder that wind-briefs aren't the only protective gear you need when racing in the single digits. A little Vaseline can go a long way.  

Some of you have doubtless seen my foray into journalism with a couple of pictures in the Addison Independent. I won't stop there, however. In an effort to delve the depth of nordic skiing culture, I have gone undercover as a ski coach to bring you this incredible footage of the mayhem that is nordic skiing. 

The long awaited video

Well, I think it highlights the fun aspects of skiing, but I'm thinking we should take some lessons from the alpine team.  Hope you don't find the music too grating. It somehow seemed appropriate....

Friday Practice

Haley's just a blur

Devon either getting really deep in his tele turns or recovering from a fall. 

Well it was kind of a crazy relay today. We set up a  course which overlapped and had a couple of slalom sections. It was fun to watch and I think a good way to get back into skiing after a week of studying. There were a couple of falls, I'll see if I can get some video up soon. After taking a bunch of pictures, I realized there aren't too many that came out well. Trying to shoot video with the left hand and pictures with the right was not the most successful thing I've ever done. I'll have to leave the multitasking to the youngsters.

Kelsey looking straight down the fall line

Rikert Race

I still can't get over the video thing. Hope the flashing lights don't seem too silly, It's called "boogie nights," I figured it went with the music. Also, it seems every movie will end with a short dance piece choreographed and performed by Matt, look forward to the next exciting installment.

Home Race

Well, we had a very successful day today. The results were good, but what made me most happy was the way that everyone skied. The focus of the team has been getting better and everyone showed it out there today. Regardless of where they finished, everyone pushed themselves and skied their best and the whole team is getting faster. We had a lot of groups finishing within a couple of seconds which shows a strength and depth in the team that lets us know that we're doing things right.

Results

I will try to get some video up later tonight and we'll aim for pictures by Monday.

And here come the utterly inadequate thanks to everyone who helped out today. First off, to the staff of Rikert who set up and groomed a truly phenomenal course. It is always a pleasure to ski these trails and on a day like today with some fresh snow falling, there is nothing better. Thanks for help with the timing and emergency ski repairs too. To all of the parents who came today, I'm sorry if I seemed a little unsure of what to do, there were so many of you that came to help I couldn't find jobs for everyone. Thanks for dealing with the timing, the bibs and protecting our children from cars. Thanks for standing out in the cold on a long day of racing, and thanks so much for being there to cheer for all of our kids.

Another big thanks to Barney Hodges and Bruce Ingersoll for their help in the wax room today. While I was running around like crazy, Matt and those guys were the ones getting all of our kids out on good skis. (Which is really important at a ski race) Thanks to Lisa and Mia for their ongoing help with the team, at practice and at races.

Cool! We've got video

IMPORTANT Info for Weekend Fun

Friday night waxing at 5:30pm at the High School, we will get everyone skis prepped for the Saturday race, meaning glide wax. You will leave your skis with me and I will bring them up to Bread Loaf and puto on base binder on Saturday morning.

After waxing:Dinner at my place on Weybridge St.Ill give you directions tonight. Here's what to bring, we're going Mexican in stead of Italian:
Freshmen: Drinks
Sophomores:Chips and Salsa (high rollers can bring Guacamole)
Juniors: Salad (I liked the bag of apples last time too...)
Seniors :Desserts

EVERYONE: We are a little shy on games, so...apples to apples, decks of cards, bananagrams, boggle. WE do have fusball.

SATURDAY Boys varsity be at Bread Loaf by 12:00 everyone else should be there by 12:30. We will be set up in the college team room, at the far end of the building, please come directly there to check in and get your skis. We will work out a group course preview so that everyone is familiar with the turns and gets a good warmup. There is an ACTR shuttle from Adirondak circle at 11:40, arriving at Bread Loaf at 12:10 that people can use if necessary.

CLASSIC Race Saturday

So , we'll be hosting our home classic race this Saturday at 1:30 pm. It will be a fun mass start so get ready for some action. 5km Varsity race will start in the field with a big double pole and head into the woods on Battell, return through the field and head out the long climb up second loop to the figure eight. We had a good test today with a time trial and it skied pretty smoothly. The 3km JV race follows the same course cutting the final climb short and turning back a good downhill return to the stadium finish.

We still need some volunteer help so bug your parents, (as will I). We're looking for a handful of people to work on setup Friday at 3:30pm (this will be laying out the start finish area, maybe a little shoveling, etc. Saturday 9 am will be another time to help with setup and final course preparations. During the race we will need registration staff, timers, bib collection and people at the road crossing. Please arrive by 12:00 to sort out the details.I can be reached at andersleemeyer@gmail[dot]com if you would like to sign up for a slot.

Photos from the Rutland Sprints

Really happy with the effort today. We had some great finishes Will Earle in a tie for 3rd place, Will Conlon, Stephen Peters-Collaer, Kelsey McGlashan and Mac Groves all finishing in a tight bunch in the top 20. Men 3rd overall.

On the ladies side, despite a tough crash, Britta came home in 8th with Lydia just behind in 10th. No surprise the dynamic trio was within 7 seconds of eachother, another good race for Haley Hannah and Emma. 4th overall.

Across the board, technique looked good today, Yib Lacey is skiing in good form, Griffin Wood is making progress. Addison Bolton and longer poles turn out to be a great combo. "Bloody nose" George Mulcahy returns to Mt Top with a vengeance and emerges unscathed this round.
Nathalie Ingersol, Olivia Cacciatore and Sophie Ryan all in their first year on the team put in some great efforts.

What can I say? So many good moments from today. I wish I could put more photos on the blog, I insist, you click on the slide show link to see more of the action from today's race. There are some phenomenal photos of all of our racers. Do these four need captions? I think so...
1. Will Conlon will continue to have his picture posted on this blog to intimidate every other team in a 300 mile radius.
2. Haley Olson (aka the masked bandit)
3. Lydia Allen posts a top 10 finish in her first individual high school race.
4. Not one to let Will Conlon take all the credit, let it be known that Hannah Kraus will also eat you if you get on her bad side.

Saturday sprint race thoughts from skiers

Olivia C. Nathalie I.- the race was really fun, it was a nice short course and the other competitors were very friendly. Even though we feel like we could have pushed a bit more, it was a great race and a great experience.

The race by Britta and will and hAley
overall it was an awesome race. We had two .9 km sprints, will finished in fourth and Britta finished 6th. This meant that for the second sprint will was in the first heat and he even tied for third. Britta ended up getting tripped in her second heAt. overall a wicked fun race...woooooo skiing!!!l

Woohooo fast snow! Warm day. Midd dominate!!!!!!!-by Kelsey

First race. Didn't suck! Awesome. -Olivia

Ha. We should do a race like this every time. Little Man.

It was like a party but with hard work and being outside... so not really a party at all. -george

Fun race. Did better the second time. -devona

Saturday

It's on. Individual Sprint race with heats. I'll explain the full details when I get the email. For now what I know and what you need to know is...Bus leaves at 11:45 from MUHS, race starts at 1:30, we'll be skating again. Even more fun than last time.

Pleaes email me ASAP if you want to race so I can put you on the start list.

Remember, the bouncers at Will's house will have the results sheet in hand, cross checking the guest list. At least come and cheer (full body tiger suit optional).

Meet Matt Truehart

Here's a little bit from our new assistant coach. We're really excited to have another teammate, and look forward to the extra support we'll be able to provide. Plus the awesome photo I get to put up for everyone to look at. Here's some motivation for you...

From Matt:

It was great to meet everyone yesterday, and I'm excited to get to know all of you during the season. Just so you know a little bit about me, here's a quick bio; obviously if you have any questions about anything always feel free to ask. I call Andover, VT home these days, though I've lived all over the place over the years. The first time I cross-country skied when I was pretty young, but I didn't start training or racing competitively until high school. Knowing you want to keep skiing in college does a nice job narrowing your options, and I went to Dartmouth and graduated this past June with a degree in earth science. I skied all four years in college and had a great time on the team there, though it was certainly a lot of hard work. I love skiing and I'm really excited to work with you guys. I'm looking forward to a great season--hopefully with lots of snow!

Team Dinner Saturday

While we're waiting to hear about the races this weekend, I'm going to lay it down for you. Something is happening Saturday. Be it a race or a team hike. Whatever the event, consider it preparation for the festivities that follow. Each class will be responsible for the following dishes.
Freshmen: Bread
Sophomores: Drinks
Juniors: Desserts
Seniors: Salads (and don't mess this one up)

So remember racing (or hiking) first, dinner second. Will's house we can go straight from activity one to activity two.