Fully Fischer: Caldwell Breaks Through in Oberstdorf // Fischer Athletes Top Podiums at US Nationals
It was a historic day in Oberstdorf for US Ski Team member Sophie Caldwell as she skied to a victory in the 4th stage of the Tour de Ski on Tuesday. This was her first World Cup win, although not her first time on the podium, (3rd in the 2014 Skate Sprint in Lahti) and she was incredibly pleased with the result. Despite challenging weather conditions, and a soft and slushy man-made course, Caldwell was able to stay upright on the tricky downhills and really push on the uphills, staying in the pack until the final flats where she outsprinted Heidi Weng and won by a lunge at the line. Caldwell’s win is only the 3rd World Cup victory by an American woman, and the first win in a classic sprint.
Fischer Athletes have made a great showing at US Nationals this week in Hougton, Michigan, snagging five of the twelve podium spots in the first two races of the weeklong event. Caitlin Patterson skied to a victory in the 10k Classic on Sunday, winning by over 30 seconds and sharing the podium with Chelsea Holmes who came in third. Patterson returned the next day to hammer in the skate sprint races and claim another spot on the podium in third. In the men’s Skate Sprint races, Reese Hanneman notched the fastest qualifier time and held his position throughout the day, eventually sharing the podium with Dakota Blackhorse-von Jess who finished second.
RUMFORD, Maine – After two consecutive years of hosting US Nationals on thin snow and shoveled courses, racers got to compete in a championship event last weekend that included the true competition network of trails at Black Mountain of Maine.
This year the Bates College Carnival, which doubled as the EISA Regional championships, got underway Friday with bright sun and rapidly warming temperatures. The wax of choice for most became klister as the women’s race neared. Benches and tents were set up trackside, and the pulsing buzz of blowtorches filled the warm air. The long climb to the course’s high point necessitated good kick, but too much icing from stepping outside the tracks would mean a long sticky run down into the stadium.
Friday: 5/10k Classic
Dartmouth’s Mary O’Connell on her way to her second victory in a row in the women’s 5k classic
Some splits showed Middlebury’s Annie Pokorny with a lead at the aforementioned high point, the top of a brutal hill with direct sunlight that climbed the back side of Black Mountain’s infamous “High School Hill”. By the finish of the race, however, it was Dartmouth’s Mary O’Connell who was the champion by a mere 1.7 seconds.
Third place went to Emily Blackmer, another young Dartmouth skier having an impressive season.
The men’s race featured three favorites starting one bib after another. Benjamin Lustgarten, Sam Tarling and Scott Patterson held bibs 61, 62 and 63, respectively. Despite their close proximity to each other on the start list, the three racers skied remarkably individual events. Only 8 seconds separated 1st from 3rd, as none of those three men were able to pull away or catch the skier ahead.
At the conclusion of the race it was Patterson who took the victory, ahead of Tarling and then Lustgarten. Though they are all distinctly different in stature and skiing style, these three men have consistently paced the rest of the field in classic races all season.
Cheered on by his brother Eric and his Middlebury teammates, Ben Lustgarten races to 3rd place in the 10k classic
Saturday: 10/15k Freestyle
Saturday’s mass-start freestyle races, 10k for women and 15k for men, were again warm, though the sun was not present as a dusting of snow fell atop the course throughout the morning.
The course was slightly modified from Friday, featuring the long climb up the the high point once again, before now swooping immediately downhill in order to climb straight up the main section on “High School Hill”.
“The course was absolutely brutal,” remarked Colby skier John Dixon. “There was very little rest between the A-climb and High School Hill, so by the time you hit the steepest sections you had been climbing a long way already.”
O’Connell and Gruber begin to pull away from the women’s field in the 10k freestyle
Not a problem for the skiers in this field. After winning her last two carnival races in a row, Dartmouth’s Mary O’Connell sought to break up the field once again and charge to victory. In the last freestyle race at Middlebury, it was Anja Gruber of UVM who fought to regain contact before slipping on the final lap. This time, Gruber would have none of the yo-yoing that hindered her in the previous mass start. The UVM skier stuck right on O’Connell’s heels, and together the two separated themselves from the rest of the pack.
They stayed together, in fact, until the very end. In a sprint to the line it was O’Connell who claimed her third victory in a row. UVM was able to celebrate a double-podium performance, as Linda Danvind-Malm took third.
In the men’s race, Scott Patterson did what he has done for an entire season now: gap the field by a wide margin and look calm doing it. In similar fashion to last weekend’s skate race, it was Sam Tarling and David Sinclair, both of Dartmouth, who attempted to hang with Patterson’s now-signature turn of pace. Also in similar fashion to the most recent skate race, Tarling was able to hang on long enough to secure 2nd place, while Sinclair was eventually swallowed up by the large chase pack encompassing places 3 through 13.
Taking that third spot ahead of the rest of the field was Dartmouth’s Silas Talbot. Along with Scott Lacy in 4th, the Dartmouth men went 2-3-4 in the event. Black Mountain’s long, straight finishing stretch once again lent itself to many memorable sprint finishes as skiers fought for top places in the last race of the season.
Scott Patterson and Scott Lacy lead out the start of the men’s freestyle race
In a unique post-race concept, the competitors in the men’s field waited together until the full conclusion of the event before taking to the course in a giant group. Regardless of finishing place or team affiliation, the skiers of the EISA were all out as one to celebrate the end of the season. This “mass cooldown” was a great spectacle, and a show of camaraderie that this reporter hopes will be a new final-carnival tradition for years to come.
The men’s field skis together after the conclusion of their race SaturdayThe men’s field takes a more low-key ski up “High School Hill” after their race
The NCAA Championships, hosted by Middlebury College, begin March 6th.
In a few weeks the Nordic races of the 2013 NCAA Championships will be held on recently-upgraded courses at the Rikert Touring Center in Ripton, Vermont. The site is home to the Middlebury Ski Team, whose Breadloaf Campus hosted this weekend’s EISA racing.
Competitors got a chance to test out the new 5k course, which features complete snow-making infrastructure, wide lanes and tricky corners. The snow-making system proved a worthwhile investment for Rikert this week; only a few miles down the valley, in the village of Middlebury, bright sun and warm temperatures had left the ground mostly bare.
Snowmaking equipment at Rikert
Friday: 5/10k Classic
As the warming trend continued up at the race venue, teams had their work cut out for them to produce skis for Friday’s classic race that could provide both kick and glide. The course contained bits of everything, and was rapidly changing. Conditions were mostly ice and older snow with a layer of dry powder on top: you likely needed klister to get kick, but if you stepped out of the tracks you were going to be running for the rest of the race. As the course was skied in and temperatures warmed, the loose snow in the tracks became packed down and ‘zero’ skis were getting slick.
In the end there was a mix of both skis during the races, with benefits and drawbacks to be had from each. Nobody would have perfect skis, but as always the fastest racer would win the day.
For the women’s race that meant another trip to the top of the podium for Middlebury’s Annie Pokorny, giving the home team an individual win on the day. Though she has been strong regionally, nationally and even internationally in freestyle events this season, this was Pokorny’s first classic technique win.
Annie Pokorny took the top spot in Friday’s 5k classic (photo: Cory Ransom)
Following Pokorny on Friday was Catherine Auclair of Universite Laval. The Canadian school has been making appearances at EISA races for a while now, and are welcomed to the league by all. Though the school is technically not an NCAA institution (and therefore their racers do not count for NCAA rankings, nor is the school allowed to compete at Regional Championships next weekend), Laval has proven itself a strong and competitive team within the region.
The final podium spot on Friday went to UVM’s Anja Gruber, who has thus far claimed a podium in every classic technique race of the season. With the final classic race next weekend in the same format and distance, Gruber is poised for an incredibly consistent season of stride-and-glide.
The tricky conditions continued for the men’s race. The tough waxing meant many skiers were spending more time double-poling than they would’ve liked, which is usually not something to be happy about.
Unless, of course, you are Sam Tarling.
The Dartmouth senior has proven his strength time and again, such as last year when he chose to go on skate skis during the UNH classic sprint. The course featured a climb to steep that many ruled out double-poling immediately, but Tarling took second in the qualifier there and went on to win the event.
Tarling’s grit, size and power proved a winning combination on Friday as well. Though he had the 3rd-fastest first lap (UVM’s Scott Patterson led), Tarling took over the lead by the end of the 2nd lap to win by just over 7 seconds. After a rough start, Tarling wasn’t sure how his race would fare.
“I’m very surprised,” Tarling remarked of his win, “but I’m psyched!”
Joining Tarling on the podium was Teammate Silas Talbot, who also moved up the rankings from 4th on the initial lap to take the runner-up spot.
Though he faded a bit over the second half of the race, UVM’s Scott Patterson was able to hang on for 3rd place. Though he is clearly skating on another level this season, Patterson has proven himself to be a threat for the win in either discipline. You could bet he was looking forward to Saturday.
Saturday: 15/20k Freestyle
At this point in the season, you know what to expect from Scott Patterson heading into a skate race. The UVM skier has kept his strategy relatively similar for every freestyle event, mass start of otherwise: go out ahead and pile time on everyone else.
Patterson was gracious enough to let a few others ski with him for the first lap of the men’s 20k mass start Saturday, but soon decided he’d go out for a solo cruise. As Patterson did what he does best, it was a futile fight to keep contact.
Scott Patterson breaks away from the field at around 6 kilometers. Sam Tarling gives chase
Dartmouth’s Sam Tarling and David Sinclair gave chase most aggressively, though after about a lap Sinclair found himself drifting back to a chase pack the eventually held spots 3 through 7.
Tarling, however, was able to stay within sight of Patterson for a bit longer. Though skiing alone at the front doesn’t seem to phase Patterson this year, it seemed Tarling began to feel the effects. Eventually, Patterson didn’t even need to look back to check on Tarling, though his UVM coaches Pat Weaver and Andrew Johnson continued to provide him with info about his distance and time gaps on the field.
Whether through fatigue or simply the grim realization that he would not close on Patterson, Tarling began to let the distance between the two grow.
The race for 1st and 2nd was anticlimactic, but the sprint to the line for 3rd place was more dramatic. Showing a strong return to form, Williams skier Will Wicherski led the chase pack for much of the race. Coming into the final hill, however, it was Middlebury’s Ben Lustgarten and Dartmouth’s Scott Lacy sprinting for the last podium spot. In a lunge 3rd place went to Lacy, as Dartmouth put 2 men on the podium for the second consecutive day.
The women’s race saw an early break as well, though not by a usual suspect.
Darmouth’s Mary O’Connell, who had never won an EISA race before, found herself at the front of the pack during the women’s 15k mass start. As O’Connell broke further and further away, it was UVM’s Anja Gruber and Linda Danvind-Malm who gave chase.
Anja Gruber takes over the lead of Mary O’Connell during the start of lap. O’Connell would eventually retake and hold the lead
Dandvind-Malm drifted back slightly, but Gruber closed the gap on O’Connell and took over the lead at the 5k mark. The effort to fight back up to the front of the race caught up with the Catamount, however, as O’C0nnell broke away again and skied to the line uncontested for her first victory. Gruber and Dandvind-Malm held onto 2nd and 3rd place, respectively.
Fourth place went to Annie Hart of Dartmouth, who skied a good portion of the race with a group of skiers from the Pierre Harvey Training Center based out of Mont St. Anne, Quebec. The Training Center and National Team suits of Canada were quite prevalent in both races, as skiers from up north joined the EISA racing for a weekend.
The final weekend of regular-season EISA racing occurs at Black Mountain in Rumford, Maine next week, as skiers fight for their places at NCAA Championships.
Due to low snow in Hanover, New Hampshire, the Dartmouth Carnival was moved to Craftsbury, Vermont this year. Ironically, the Craftsbury Outdoor Center, renowned as one of the top snow-making operations in the East, did not need to fire up the guns for last weekend’s races.
Thanks to a dumping of fresh snow from the Nor’easter named Nemo, racers were able to take full advantage of Craftsbury’s challenging 5-kilometer race loop. Though the loop begins on a stretch of snow all too familiar to anyone who spent last winter in New England, the trail soon leads racers into sustained climbs and fast descents, ultimately bringing racers far below the stadium before twisting brutally back uphill toward the finish.
The course was made even more challenging this weekend by the winter storm’s heavy precipitation; Friday’s classic races were held in snowing conditions, slowing the course considerably. Despite the difficulty the fresh accumulation added to waxing, pacing and even just seeing the trail ahead, most everyone in attendance seemed ecstatic just to be skiing while snow was falling from the sky.
FRIDAY: 5/10k classic
Though they were still a few hours removed from Hanover, the home team was left wanting after the very first race of the weekend. Though they placed skiers in places 4 through 6, the Dartmouth women were unable to capture a podium spot in the 5k classic race. Anja Gruber of UVM continued to impress in the classic style, taking the victory by 17 seconds ahead of Middlebury’s Annie Pokorny. Third place went to Kaitlynn Miller of Bowdoin, who had been skiing dangerously close to the podium, or perhaps in this case “Bowdium”, all season. The finish was yet another best-ever EISA result for Bowdoin College.
Though they did not place anyone on the podium, Dartmouth did place their top 3 skiers in the next 3 places. Annie Hart, Corey Stock and Mary O’Connell finished 4th, 5th and 6th, respectively. The trio’s depth at the top end of the field led Dartmouth to a victory in the team score.
The men’s race saw another UVM skier atop the podium, as Scott Patterson collected his first classic-style victory of the season. Though he has been nearly untouchable in the freestyle technique so far this year, Patterson had finished 5th and 2nd in the two earlier classic races this season at Colby and UVM.
Finishing behind Patterson were Dartmouth skiers Sam Tarling and Silas Talbot who, along with David Sinclair in 5th place, were barely able to give the Big Green the top team score, 2 points ahead of UVM.
Vermont’s Dylan Grald finished 4th, as a familiar list of schools packed the top-10. Aside from Middlebury’s Ben Lustgarten in 7th place, the top-10 consisted entirely of skiers from Dartmouth and UVM.
Saturday: 3x5k Relays
Even after the conclusion of Friday’s races, the snow continued. Though the storm let up in the early hours of the morning, racers on Saturday were greeted by thick, soft and dry powder for the 3×5 kilometer freestyle relays. Once again, the going would not be easy.
Middlebury’s Austin Cobb led the pack through the first section of the course as the men’s field settled in past Craftsbury’s large open stadium area. During the second half of the scramble leg, Dartmouth skiers Erik Fagerstrom and Scott Lacy pushed ahead to tag off to their Big Green teammates with a bit of a lead. Their effort was successful, if only briefly.
Austin Cobb (MIDD) leads out the start of the men’s 3×5 relay at the Dartmouth Carnival
On the next leg UVM’s Rogan Brown caught up to the two Dartmouth teams, while behind them Scott Patterson furiously fought (and succeeded) to also make contact with the leaders. This lead pack of four teams would be at the front for the remainder of the race.
Behind the storm of green and black suits at the front, Middlebury’s Dylan McGarthwaite skied an impressive leg to bring the Panthers up into 5th overall, which represented 3rd place in the team standings (only the top team of each school counted for team scores).
On the final lap the group of UVM and Darmouth men still held an advantage over the field. As the racers headed to the low point of the course many wondered if a sprint to the finish was imminent.
Dartmouth’s Sam Tarling put those questions to rest, putting on a big surge in the last few kilometers. Tarling created a gap large enough to allow him to cross the line smiling and waving a Dartmouth flag to the home crowd.
To give the Big Green even more to cheer about, Dartmouth’s Steve Mangan crossed the line next. UVM took places 3 and 4 in the overall standings (2nd in team scores) while Middlebury finished 5th overall to secure 3rd place in the team standings.
Steve Mangan and Sam Tarling celebrate the Dartmouth victory
The women’s relay stayed together early, as a relatively large pack was still skiing within sight of one another approaching the top of “Coaches Corner” at the 4k mark. Familiar suits were at the front, however, as UVM’s Linda Dandvind-Malm and Dartmouth’s Annie Hart towed the rest of the field in their wake.
Leg 1 of the women’s relay near 4k, with familiar suits up front
By leg 2, an order began to form that would hold for most of the race: Dartmouth in front, chased by UVM and UNH. With wider gaps between racers than the men’s relay, the women’s race was all about chasing down the team ahead of you. With the top three teams, however, there was little shuffling at the front as Dartmouth, UVM and UNH each crossed the line, in that order, with about a minute between teams.
Post-race traditions
Dartmouth skiers donned traditional garb to cheer on the racers Saturday
Aside from racing, the Dartmouth Winter Carnival is also home to a few other notable traditions. On Saturday, Dartmouth skiers and fans donned knickers and school sweaters to cheer on the racers. Dartmouth’s green suits were quite prevalent during the races, and the green sweaters and knickers were just as prevalent in the post-race festivities.
One of the more unique post-race festivities at the Dartmouth Carnival is the annual “Carni-Crush” exchange that takes place after the conclusion of racing on day 2 of the Carnival weekend. Though the Carnival did not fall on Valentines Day this year, the tradition of teams and individuals giving out valentines to other racers was not one to miss. Skiers wrote poems, sang songs, and organized dance routines to show express their love for their friends and competitors. Some were sincere, others were crude, and most were cringe-worthy, but everyone was having a blast in the relaxed post-race atmosphere.
The Middlebury women wore cheerleader outfits and held a mini pep-rally for the Williams menThe Harvard men used the P.A. system to perform a song-and-dance number/strip-tease for the SLU women
EISA Racing continues next week with the Middlebury Carnival, featuring new and updated courses at the Rikert Touring Center.
It’s one of the biggest weekends of skiing in New England, combining the region’s top racers with the some of the region’s top facilities: The UVM Carnival/Eastern Cup weekend at Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe is a perennially-huge happening in the Nordic skiing scene. The top-notch event is known to draw a massive crowd of racers and spectators alike, and this year was no different.
In what is an old story at this point in the season, warm temperatures once again forced staff and volunteers to modify the twisting and challenging “Morton’s Maze” course in order to enable fluid racing for over 400 racers throughout the weekend. With adjustments made that incorporated a section of the upper 7.5 kilometer course, a 5 kilometer loop was created that snaked through the woods and featured several long climbs and switch-backing curves.
Saturday: 5/10k Freestyle
While temperatures in Stowe were reaching over 50 degrees only a few days prior to the event, the races on both Saturday and Sunday were held in relatively cool temps and solid snow. Saturday’s skate races in particular featured hard, icy trails and conditions well-suited to large, powerful skiers. The hard snow rewarded racers who could apply a good deal of force to the snow and balance on the fast surface.
It is no surprise anymore to see UVM’s Scott Patterson atop a freestyle podium this season. In Saturday’s 10k skate race, Patterson won his fourth EISA freestyle race in a row to give the home team an individual victory on their own turf.
Scott Patterson (UVM) leads Steve Mangan (DAR) during the 10k freestyle (photo: Cory Ransom)
Back from Europe and the U23 World Championships in Liberec, Czech Republic, Dartmouth’s Sam Tarling finished just under 30 seconds behind Patterson for second place. Tarling, the 2011 NCAA champion in the 10k freestyle at this very venue, finished nearly 20 seconds ahead of Bates’ Jordan Buetow. The 3rd place showing on Saturday marked Buetow’s second freestyle podium of the season. The Bobcat skier placed 2nd in the SLU Carnival Prologue two weeks ago.
Two Darmouth skiers, Silas Talbot and Scott Lacy, finished in 4th and 5th, respectively, rounding out the top-5 and giving the Dartmouth men the victory in the team score.
The Women’s 5k skate race featured a slew of new faces near the top of the results sheet. No less than 6 EISA women were back in the States after representing the US at both U23 and World Junior Championship events. Annie Pokorny (Middlebury), Corey Stock (Dartmouth), Annie Hart (Dartmouth), Elizabeth Guiney (New Hampshire), Heather Mooney (Middlebury) and Emily Hannah (Harvard) were back in their collegiate uniforms this weekend, and all 6 finished within the top 10 places on Saturday. In fact, Pokorny, Stock, Hart and Guiney swept the top 4 places, in that order. UVM’s Anja Gruber, standout performer of the first two weekends of EISA racing, took 5th.
The win was Pokorny’s first at the EISA level, though her 4th place finish in the 10k freestyle race at this year’s National Championship gave clear signs of her potential dominance in this event.
For a video interview with Pokorny, visit the EISA Skiing Facebook page (linked below)
As the only school to place 3 skiers in the top 10, the Dartmouth women took top team honors on the day.
Sunday: 10k Classic
Sunday’s classic races began cold as well, but warming temperatures led to changing track conditions throughout the day. Double-set tracks that were initially deep and solid for J2 racers early in the morning began to change as the sun emerged from a haze and a large volume of racers continually skied around the loop. Some sections glazed, others wore down to ice, and others became sugary; finding a kick wax that would succeed along the entire course was not particularly easy, leading some teams to set up gear right next to the start area to allow for last-minute alterations to racing boards.
In the women’s 10k classic race, the new faces returning from abroad once again took 4 of the top 5 spots. Annie Hart (Dartmouth) took top honors, followed closely by Annie Pokorny in second. Annie and Annie were the only two women to stand on the podium in both of the weekend’s races.
Annie Hart (DAR), pictured here in the skate race, won Satuday’s 10k classic (photo: Cory Ransom)
Making the podium yet again in a consistently strong season so far was UVM’s Anja Gruber, who finished third. Heather Mooney (Middlebury) and Elizabeth Guiney (UNH) completed the women’s top 5, while Dartmouth set the top team score.
The men’s race was won by Dartmouth’s Sam Tarling, who improved upon his second-place finish the day prior to take his first win of the season in his first Carnival weekend this year.
With such a large field of racers due to the combined Eastern Cup races, both the men’s and women’s races featured 15-second start intervals. Last weekend’s individual 10k classic winner Ben Lustgarten (Middlebury) made the most of his starting spot one bib ahead of Tarling, as the two skied together for the majority of the race. Their styles and body-types distinctly different, Lustgarten’s small frame might not have even been noticeable behind Tarling’s imposing figure if you were watching the two approach head-on. Despite their differences in stature, however, both skiers ended up on the podium; Lustgarten’s pacing behind Tarling was good enough for 3rd place.
And sandwiched between the Dartmouth and Middlebury skiers? UVM’s Scott Patterson, who earned his first classic podium of the season. Starting one seed earlier than Tarling and Lustgarten, Patterson spent much more time alone during the course of his race. Though he was not able to pace with the two other podium members, Patterson might as well have been skiing next to them: he ended the day 10 seconds shy of Tarling and under 7 seconds ahead of Lustgarten.
For the second day in a row, two Dartmouth skiers took spots 4and 5 to lead the Big Green to a team score victory. Silas Talbot was 4th for the second consecutive-day, and Steve Mangan was 5th.
Overall, the Darmouth and UVM men took 7 spots within the top ten. Along with Lustgarten’s podium performance, Erik Lindgren of UNH and Austin Meng of St. Lawrence University were the only finishers aside from those two schools to crack the top ten.
Racing continues next weekend with the Darmouth Carnival. Due to low snow in the Hanover area, next weekend’s races will take place at the snow-making haven of the Craftsbury Outdoor Center.
The days of the local ski hill have returned to Colby College. EISA racing took place for the very first time this weekend at the Quarry Road Recreation Area in Waterville, Maine. A large-scale community project which will, upon completion, feature mountain biking trails, snowshoeing, snowboarding and sledding in addition to competition-level Nordic Ski trails, Quarry Road is located at the site of Colby College’s former ski hill just a few minutes from campus.
The Nordic racing trails weave through open fields and climb along a hillside adjacent to the former Colby ski slope. In fact, the T-bar used during the areas initial operation still stands, and sledding takes places on a lower part of the slope that is still clear of trees. The climbs are steep, and the descents are twisting, and the venue weaves in and around itself in creative ways only legendary trail designer John Morton could conceive.
Just across the parking lot at the race venue, Colby’s former Ski Hill is still visible along the ridge. The insert shows the T-bar line for the hill.
The warm temperatures that affected the snow at last weekend’s St. Lawrence Carnival also took a toll on Central Maine’s conditions this week, but once again a combination of hard work, as well as the new snow-making system at Quarry Road, resulted in a network of about 4.5 kilometers of skiable trails.
“These races are the second major event to be held at this new facility,” chief of race Pat Cote remarked to a gathering of coaches, “the first major event being getting these trails ready for racing this week.”
Though the planned 5k competition loop could not be used, tracks were set for Saturday’s classic race on a technical 2-kilometer loop. The full 4.5k loop created for the weekend was used for Sunday’s mass-start freestyle races.
Saturday: 5/10k Classic
Cold temperatures made for solid tracks during Saturday’s classic race. The abrasive snow conditions, as well as multiple corners that necessitated a bit of skidding for many, meant that kick wax was hard to maintain for the duration of the longer men’s race. More than a few bases ended up a bit scratched and shredded from the nature of the course, but conditions were fair for every racer. The decision was made unanimously to send top-seeded skiers out on course first to limit crowding, and the podium had been settled before the first 30 of 93 racers crossed the line.
Ben Lustgarten had been tantalizingly close to the top-3 before, but on Saturday morning the Middlebury Junior made absolutely sure that his first trip to the podium would involve a climb to the very top: his winning margin was nearly half a minute ahead of second-place Scott Lacy, who picked up his second podium of the year. Silas Talbot of Dartmouth also picked up podium number two of his 2013 season in third place.
University of Vermont skiers Jorgen Grav and Scott Patterson finished in 4th and 5th place, respectively, though the Dartmouth men took the victory in the team standings thanks to David Sinclair’s 6th place finish.
See below for an interview with race winner Ben Lustgarten
UVM’s Anja Gruber and coach Pat Weaver. A combo that is certainly working this season
The women’s race saw a few familiar names near the top of the results sheet, with EISA rankings-leader Anja Gruber taking the win for Vermont. Annika Taylor of UNH finished ten seconds behind Gruber for 2nd place.
A few other names near the front of the race might have been more surprising. The final podium place on Saturday went to Dartmouth’s Emily Blackmer, a Senior and relative unknown on the circuit who only raced in one Carnival for the Big Green last year. Blackmer made the most of her first EISA race this season, finishing fourteen seconds behind Taylor to claim 3rd place.
Bowdoin’s Kaitynn Miller continued her incredible Junior season, improving on her best-ever school finish of 5th last weekend by one place on Saturday. Her fourth-place finish was only 6 seconds off the podium, marking another historic day for the Polar Bears.
Isabel Caldwell of Dartmouth rounded out the top five. As the only school with 3 finishers in the top-10, the University of New Hampshire took a narrow victory over the Big Green in the women’s team score.
Sunday featured exciting mass-start racing, with a bit more carnage and destruction than usual. The snow stayed hard and fast on day 2, leading to a large number of crashes on numerous downhill sections. Orange alpine-style fencing was set up on one corner, and more than a few racers found themselves in the netting before the day was over. For the most part, however, the race favorites stayed out of trouble. On the women’s side, much like the previous weekend of EISA racing, it was UNH and UVM fighting near the top.
The women’s 15k freestyle featured the same three athletes on the podium as the week before in Lake Placid, albeit in a slightly different finishing order. UNH’s Annika Taylor led the way, finishing the mass start with 20 meters of clear snow behind her.
That snow behind was being churned furiously, however, as the fight for second place involved a sprint finish between the Anja and Anya…By a boot-length it was Anya Bean of UNH ahead of UVM’s Anja Gruber.
Taking 4th for the second straight day was Bowdoin’s Kaitlynn Miller, whose consistently fast skiing has made her a threat for the podium in either technique on any day. Dartmouth’s Carly Wynn finished 5th.
Scott Patterson skiing alone at the front of the Men’s 20k Freestyle
Scott Patterson, who again looked to be untouchable in the freestyle technique, took the win in the men’s race by over a minute. Patterson made his move early, skiing away from the pack solo before the first lap was even completed. Patterson described his race quite simply afterward. “I was just skiing on my own, having fun,” he laughed.
Second place went to Steve Mangan of Dartmouth, and in his second podium-performance in two days Ben Lustgarten (Middlebury) outsprinted Rogan Brown (UVM) for 3rd place. Silas Talbot took 5th.
Mangan’s 2nd place, as well as the string of Darmouth skiers in spots 5 through 8, still left the Big Green just shy of the UVM men in the team score for the race.
Overall the new trails at Quarry Road were received enthusiastically by racers, spectators and community members alike. “People in and around Waterville have been looking for a venue like this for a long time and are taking full advantage of it,” said Colby skier Jared Supple.
With top-notch organization, support and motivation, the area seems to have only begun to show its potential.
EISA racing continues next weekend with one of the largest Nordic events in New England, the combined UVM Carnival/Eastern Cup at Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, VT.
Erik Soderman (NMU) on his way to winning the men's NCAA skate title
The 5 and 10k nordic freestyle races opened a four-event weekend for the 2012 NCAA Skiing Championships. Both nordic races are being held on a 5.1k lap course at Bohart Ranch in Bozeman, Montana.
The trailhead at the venue is measured at 1859 meters (6100 feet) of elevation, the track winding through the woods up the side of the mountain and accumulating a total climb of 167 meters. The course begins with a couple steep climbs, mellows out for a rolling two kilometers, and then starts the last kilometer with a literal “Wall” of a climb. Before letting the racers back into the stadium, however, the course first grinds up a grueling uphill S-turn.
On Wednesday teams and spectators were greeted with spectacular sunshine and 30 degree temperatures, the wind picking up just as the men’s races began at 11am.
Maria Graefnings from the University of Utah and Erik Soderman of Northern Michigan University took home the first titles of the week with their respective victories.
Dartmouth topped the nordic team scores with a total of 214 points. The University of Vermont had the second highest team score with 183. The University of Utah just edged Montana State for third place, the U of U tallying a total of 179 points to MSU’s 176.
Women’s 5 Kilometer, Individual Start Skate Race:
Maria Graefnings won the women’s 5 k skate by an impressive 20 seconds, clocking 14:05.9. Graefnings, a senior at Utah who hails from Falun, Sweden, is no stranger to the podium. In 2011 she was designated FasterSkier.com’s Women’s Collegiate Skier of the Year after her highly successful RMISA season was capped with an NCAA 5k skate victory and runner-up performance in the classic.
Maria Graefnings (UU) tops the first hill on course to winning the women's 5k
This season Graefnings missed the first four RMISA qualifying races in order to train and race in Sweden and she returned stronger than ever, winning both Regional races handily.
“I’ve been feeling good since Regionals,” said Graefnings of her current race form, though she indicated that she did not take winning today’s race for granted.
“I knew I was in the lead after about two and a half K, but I had no idea how the girls behind me were doing, so when I finished I just had to wait and wait. Then I was super happy when I heard that I won.”
Graefnings enjoyed racing on a course that included such variation.
“I love this course. It’s tough, it’s challenge. It’s steep hills, it’s flat, it’s challenge downhill s – it is everything, so I like it a lot.”
Caitlin Patterson took second place with a time of 14.25.8 and SophieCaldwell finished third with a time of 14:31.0. Patterson and Caldwell were the top freestyle point scorers in the Eastern Region (EISA), and yesterday’s performance showed again how closely matched the two competitors were. Patterson is a senior at the University of Vermont who spent this last summer training in her hometown of Anchorage, Alaska.
Caitlin Patterson (UVM)
Patterson said she had a good feeling about her own form even before she arrived in Bozeman, but that the strength of the field was harder to put a finger on.
“In past years I’ve been a little sick or unsure of how I am feeling,” said Patterson, “but this year I was pretty psyched to be feeling good.”
“But the podium is never guaranteed,” warned Patterson, “you can only control your own preparation and there’s definitely a lot of fast girls out here gunning for the podium too.”
Patterson said she dealt with the altitude by pacing the start of her race. Though she said she started “smooth and conservative as usual” when she tried to apply her finishing kick she could “feel the burn of altitude”.
“I actually didn’t feel like I could ‘kick it in’ quite as much as I wanted to, said Patterson, “but it was a good race.”
Sophie Caldwell (DAR)
Caldwell is a Dartmouth senior whose hometown lies in Peru, Vermont. As the overall points leader from the EISA region, Caldwell says she had a hard time making a concrete goal knowing that the other two regions would bring strong competition to the field.
“The podium was my goal, admitted Caldwell, “but I really had no idea.”
Caldwell stuck to her race plan – skiing conservatively on the steep hills in order to apply speed to the flat sections, but said her legs still burned with unusual force by the four kilometer mark. At that time she got positive reinforcement via splits and was able to find momentum through the finish line. Caldwell crossed the line in third place with just .8 seconds to spare. Clocking in just behind her was another of Caldwell’s close eastern competitors, Lucy Garrec of UVM.
Garrec finished nine seconds ahead of fifth place finisher, Jaime Bronga of UAA. Utah’s Joanne Reid finished sixth and Erika Flowers (DAR) placed seventh. Amy Glenn was the third UVM finisher in eighth and Annie Hart was the third Dartmouth finisher in ninth, while Marie-Helen Soderman of NMU rounded out the top ten.
Men’s 10 Kilometer, Individual Start Skate
Erik Soderman was the dark horse surprise in yesterday’s races, and not only did he win the 10k contest, he bested the field by an impressive 25 seconds. Soderman is a sophomore at NMU whose hometown lies in Njurunda, Sweden. Though Soderman had just won both his regional CCSA races, his results at last year’s NCAA – 19th place skate and 39th in the 20k classic – hardly put him on the map as the man to beat.
Erik Soderman (NMU), announcer Peter Graves, and NMU coach Sten Fjeldheim chat post-race
According to second place finisher Miles Havlick, Soderstrom “wasn’t really on the radar”.
Though he admitted his win was “a bit surprising” Soderman was not overly taken aback by his performance.
“There’s always hope. Realistically I was going for top ten, but you always want to be up there of course.”
When asked how his race strategy differed from racing in the Midwest, Soderman remarked, “It’s the altitude that is the biggest difference, I would say. I was just trying to keep it consistent, keep a consistent pace and maintain that.”
Soderman knew he was a having good race when he got a split at the 7 kilometer mark that he was in the lead by 25 seconds, but says he was in the dark after that, and just had to put his head down and hammer until the finish. “The last few K’s I was just going for it.”
Miles Havlick (UU)
As the MVP points winner from the RMISA region, Havlick was one of several favorites to win today’s race, but he was pleased with his second place finish, saying, “There are a lot of fast guys here, so there’s no pressure on me, it’s been a good, consistent season and it’s just ‘do it to have fun’ and go as hard as I can.”
The University of Utah sophomore from Boulder, Colorado is used to skiing at altitude.
“We skied in Alaska down at sea level and that was pretty tough,” said Havlick, “you just have to hammer the whole time. Up here, this course doesn’t have much rest, so I was trying to just stay smooth and relaxed and then turn it on and throw down as much as I could on the second lap.”
Though Soderman was a surprise, Havlick was getting splits that indicated that it was a very close race. “Everyone else was really tight,” said Havlick, “within five seconds, so you just had to fight hard today.”
Sam Tarling finished third with a time of 25:53.6. Hailing from Cumberland Maine, the junior from Dartmouth College is known as a stronger skate skier. Though he was ranked second in the EISA division and earned a podium in every skate race, he did not win any of the races outright. Leading the Eastern division in yesterday’s race with his podium result would not have been as much of a surprise if Tarling had been feeling more race-ready.
Sam Tarling (DAR)
“I had one good day when we did some threshold, but after that two days of just feeling terrible,” Tarling said of his adjustment to altitude. He had a hard time warming up the morning before the race, and it took outside feedback to let him know he was in the race at all.
“I thought I was going out way too slow. I was keeping it in threshold, but it felt just so slow so I was a little worried but then I kept getting positive splits and I was moving up. I knew there were a lot of fast guys behind me but I was happy with those splits I was getting and happy with my feeling going into the hills on the last lap, so I was able to hammer up the last big climb and gain a couple spots.”
“I haven’t had a good race at altitude in a long time,” admitted Tarling, “so it was really nice to come here and put down a good run.”
Those couple spots Tarling may have picked up on the hill included fourth place’s Michael Schallinger of Montana State, who missed Tarling – and the podium – by only two tenths of a second.
Fifth through tenth places were won by Rune Oedegaard (CU, 5th), Didrik Smith (UU, 6th), David Norris (MSU, 7th), Erik Packer (DAR), 8th, Kjell-Christian Markset (NMU, 9th), Tyler Reinking (MSU, 10th).
For those who had a good race on the first day of competition, Graefnings summed up the feeling of the morning.
“I felt good, super good, I mean the sun is shining, people everywhere cheering – just an awesome day.”
Patrick Johson (MID) crushes the 10k skate; behind him, Jordan Buetow (Bates) races to sixth.
The third weekend of EISA qualifiers were combined with NENSA’s TD Bank Eastern Cup races and held at the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont.
The collegiate competitors topped the combined field on each day of individual start races, with only three Eastern Cup competitors cracking into the top ten.
The podium saw no new faces this weekend, as Middlebury’s Patrick Johnson took both men’s races, Dartmouth’s Sophie Caldwell won the 5k classic race, and UVM’s Caitlin Patterson topped the 10k skate.
In the J2 race, Julie Kern (CSU) and Cullen Brown (Durango, CO Nordic) won their respective events on both days of racing.
Stadium at Trapps Family Lodge in Stowe, VT
An overnight snowfall Friday evening added to an already solid base on the homologized race trails at Trapps and light flakes continued into the morning, clearing for the first day’s races and remaining open to sunshine for the weekend’s events. Typical of Trapps, early morning stillness turned to subsequent gusts throughout each day, which kept the air and snow feeling cooler than the reported mid-twenties temps.
Saturday’s classic track set up solid overnight for the women’s mid-morning 5k. Some of the late morning racers were not so lucky; the sun ‘s effect appeared just prior to the start of the men’s race and left many racers with slick skis.
Sophie Caldwell is cheered through the stadium by father Sverre CaldwellAnnie Hart (DAR)
After a double victory last weekend in Jackson Sophie Caldwell continued her winning streak by topping the women’s field with a time of 15:48. Her closest competitor and main rival, Caitlin Patterson, finished second by 7.4 seconds, a time which was only .7 seconds ahead of third place finisher Annie Hart (DAR).
UVM then paved the next three positions, as Amy Glen, Anja Gruber and Lucy Garrec took fourth through sixth respectively. Clare Egan of the Green Racing Project took seventh. Erika Flowers (DAR) earned 8th place while Annie Pokorny (MID) took 9th. UNH’s Tristan Ramey and Elizabeth Guiney took 10th and 11th.
The 10k race was also an individual start, but the times for the top three men told a story of an embattled sprint finish. Johnson was in a heated race around the two-lap course with Sam Tarling of Dartmouth and Franz Bernstein of UVM. It took the three men just over 28 minutes to cross the line within 2 seconds of each other. Tarling clocked in a mere .3 seconds behind Johnson, Bernstein’s time a slight addition of 2.3 seconds.
Dartmouth’s Eric Packer and Gordon Vermeer took fourth and fifth places, Fritz Horst (UVM) took 6th, Justin Freeman (racing for Holderness Nordic and the only non-collegiate racer in the top-ten) took 7th, Per Lindgren (UNH) was 8th, Ben Lustgarten (MID) was 9th, Dylan Grald (UVM) placed 10th, and Erik Lindgren (UNH) finished 11th.
Franz Bernstein (UVM)
Sunday’s skate races were both 10k events.
Caitlin Patterson (UVM) photo: Lincoln Benedict
In the women’s race Caitlin Patterson took back the top spot from Sophie Caldwell, clocking a time of 28:16. Caldwell finished in a time of 28:27, and the next four places finished within 15 seconds. In third was Caldwell’s teammate Erika Flowers, who sprawled across the line in sheer exhaustion. Fourth place went to Clare Egan, the only top woman outside the collegiate field. Fifth and sixth went to UVM’s Lucy Garrec and Amy Glen.
The times in the men’s race were just as tightly contested – except for the top spot. Patrick Johnson did not just win the men’s skate, he tore apart the field. Second through 10th place was spread by only 28 seconds, but Johnson managed to gap the entire field by 42 seconds in an event which took just over 24 minutes.
In second place was Sam Tarling of Dartmouth, while third and fourth went to UVM’s Franz Bernstein and Alex Howe. Mathieu Fortin of Lavall University (Quebec) took fifth, just one second over sixth place Jordan Beutow of Bates. Patrick Caldwell, a J1 racer from Stratton Mountain took an impressive 7th place in the midst of an experienced field. Eric Packer of Dartmouth placed 8th, and 9th place held a tie between Ben Lustgarten (MID) and Justin Freeman (Holderness).
Sam Tarling (DAR) and Ben Lustgarten (MID)
Dartmouth won the team scores for both classic races and the men’s skate race, while UVM took the women’s skate race. Dartmouth won the overall combined team score, adding up 916 points to UVM’s 735. Middlebury was third with 729.
Sophie Caldwell (DAR) leads the front pack of racers during the women's mass start classic at Black Mountain in Rumford, ME(photo: flyingpointroad.com)
The first races of the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA) were hosted by Bates College and held at Black Mountain in Rumford, Maine – the same location that hosted the US Nationals just two weeks ago.
It was the first showdown of the year, and every team wanted to establish their place on the ranking list. Continuing their rivalry from last year, the University of Vermont (UVM) and Dartmouth (DAR) battled for the top team scores. The UVM women – led by Lucy Garrec, Caitlin Patterson, and Amy Glen – could not be beat. Meanwhile the Dartmouth men – led by Eric Packer, Sam Tarling, Gordon Vermeer and David Sinclair – topped the men’s team scores. In the yellow leader jerseys for the first day back in action were Caitlin Patterson and Eric Packer. Ironically enough, the two only succeeded in leading the pack on the second day of racing, after they dropped the yellow bibs.
The same 3.3 km course used at US Nationals still had a very fast hard-track base of man-made snow, but it was carpeted with a solid half foot of cold powder the night before the first race, making for a much softer track than expected in both races.
5/10k Skate
Though the individual start race distances were short, the new slow snow ensured for some wide gaps in the field: the time between the top ten women was more than a minute over 5k and in the men’s 10k race there was a gap of nearly one and a half minutes.
Lucy Garrec (UVM) (photo: flyingpointroad.com)
The titles for Saturday’s individual start skate race belonged to UVM’s Lucy Garrec and Middlebury’s Patrick Johnson. Garrec took the race with a firm lead on the field, clocking a time which was 13 seconds faster than teammate Caitlin Patterson and another 15 seconds faster than third place finisher Sophie Caldwell of Dartmouth.
In fourth and fifth place Erika Flowers (DAR) and Amy Glen (UVM) finished just one second apart, and rounding out the top ten were Beth Taylor (BAT), Alena Tofte (HAR), Elizabeth Guiney (UNH), Annie Pokorny (MID), and Anja Gruber (UVM).
Garrec said that she was glad the course slowed down with the new snow, because she could use her quick tempo to an advantage. She thought the key in these conditions was to keep relaxed and try not to fight the soft track.
“Keep it really quick and light, and try to switch gears over the top of every hill,” explained Garrec of her strategy.
Garrec wasn’t entirely surprised with her victory.
“It was my goal,” she stated. “I’ve been feeling really good in practice, and I like this course, so I was excited to go out there and give it my all.”
Johnson was also confident in his ability to top the field, given the opportunity.
“I definitely have been feeling good [in practice], but I also know there is a lot of tough competition out here so I was hoping to fight for the win and obviously I was able to do that today and get what I needed to pull it off, so I was happy with that.”
Patrick Johnson (MID)
Johnson said he had to rethink his race strategy after racing in faster conditions at the US Nationals races. By skiing more efficiently and starting the race slower, Johnson hoped to pace himself and pick up time in conducive terrain.
“There’s a lot of flat sections in the stadium where you can work really hard and not go a lot faster and at the same time there is High School Hill where you can put a ton of energy in but not necessarily make time, so I think it was the long gradual sections where you had to put in the work today to ski fast,” Johnson explained.
Johnson executed his plan well, and with a half kilometer to go in his race he was given a split that he was tied for first. He was able to find the extra speed necessary, and crossed the line in a time of 26:20, just 2.5 seconds ahead of Dartmouth’s Sam Tarling.
Franz Bernstein o f UVM finished in third place, followed by Eric Packer (DAR) in 4th, Gordon Vermeer (DAR) in fifth, Scott Patterson (UVM) in sixth, Peter Hegman (UVM) in seventh, Jordon Buetow (BAT) in eighth, Erik Fagerstrom (DAR) in ninth and Will Wicherski (WIL) in tenth.
10 k Mass Start Classic
Eric Packer (DAR) crossing the line in first (photo: flyingpointroad)
Saturday was another cold day at Black Mountain, with snow falling so lightly it never clogged the tracks. The waxing was easy, the race tactics much tougher. The mass start classic was only 10 kilometers in length, which meant it was a sprint from the get-go that barely slowed down, with 100 racers streaming the double-tracked, 3 x 3.3 km course.
It was an exciting day of races, as the short distance and fast track ensured a tight field and constant battles for changing positions in the pack formation.
The men’s race started first. Franz Bernstein and Sam Tarling took the charge in pulling a lead pack off the front of the field, cutting it down to just just over 15 racers by the third lap. The pack consisted mostly of Dartmouth and UVM racers, a smattering of Williams, Middlebury , and UNH racers throughout.
Bernstein (UVM) and Tarling (DAR) lead line of racers during men's mass start
Though Bernstein and Tarling did much of the early work, it was Eric Packer who made a decisive move in the last lap of the race and came down the finishing stretch with a solid ten meter lead, clocking in with a 3.5 seconds lead over Bernstein with a time of 27:25. Friday’s winner Patrick Johnson (MID) was one of several skiers caught in a crash early in the race, but he made an impressive comeback over the next two laps, fighting his way through the field back up to the lead pack and finishing in third place, just 1.2 seconds ahead of Tarling. The next seven racers finished within eight seconds. Tarling started a run of Dartmouth skiers which was only broken up by sixth place Dimitri Luthi of Williams. In fifth was David Sinclair, seventh was Steve Mangan, and eighth was Gordon Vermeer. Finishing out the top ten were Benjamin Lustgarten (MID) and Fritz Horst (UVM).
Lead pack of the women's race
In the women’s race Lucy Garrec charged off the start in her signature style, her teammates Caitlin Patterson and Anja Gruber just behind her and in the mix with Dartmouth’s Sophie Caldwell and Anne Hart and UNH’s Elizabeth Guiney. By the second lap Amy Glen had moved up to add more force to the UVM squad, and Isabel Caldwell moved up to add her weight to the Dartmouth scale.
“We started pretty fast ,” said Patterson, of the front pack pace. “My teammate Lucy Garrec starts off really fast, that’s what she naturally does. I wouldn’t have a tendency to start off that fast, so the pace felt really quick to me, but, again, I am a slow starter. . . we were not relaxing too much because it was only a 10k, compared to the 20 k we did a few weeks ago at Nationals.”
It was the third time up High School Hill where Patterson found herself – rather unexpectedly – making her move.
“I was just hanging out in the group,” said Patterson, “I really wasn’t feeling the greatest, it took me a little while to warm up into the race. . . on the second lap I felt really good going up High School Hill. On the third lap I didn’t preconceive that I would go there, but I decided I was working my way toward the front and at the top got into the very front and decided that was going to be it.”
Caitlin Patterson (UVM) crosses the line first in the mass start classic
Though Patterson said she “had a little bit of doubt” as to whether or not she could hold onto the charging pace for the rest of the lap, she also didn’t want to wait for the race to come down to a sprint finish.
Her gamble paid off, and Patterson came down the straightaway with a 5.4 second lead over Glen and another couple seconds over SophieCaldwell, who edged Garrec out of third place by just .7 seconds.
Gruber was fifth, Hart finished sixth, Guiney seventh, Isabel Caldwell in eighth, Annie Pokorny (MID) in ninth, and Erika Flowers (DAR) rounded out the top ten.
![sophie caldwell](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/01/Caldwell160105mf115-e1452125247580-729x600.jpg")
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![Steve Mangan and Sam Tarling celebrate the Dartmouth victory](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/02/TarlingMangan-RELAY.jpg")
![Leg 1 of the women's relay near 4k, with familiar suits up front](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/02/Girls-Lead-RELAY.jpg")
![Dartmouth skiers donned traditional garb to cheer on the racers Saturday](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/02/DAR-Traditional.jpg")
![The Middlebury women wore cheerleader outfits and held a mini pep-rally for the Williams men](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/02/Midd-Williams-CARNICRUSH.jpg")
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![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2010/02/Caitlin-Patterson-leads-Ida-Sargent-UVM-10km-skate-photo-Lincoln-Benedict.JPG" "Caitlin Patterson (UVM) leads Ida Sargent in the 10km skate race (photo: Lincoln Benedict)")
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![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2012/01/women-mass-classic-at-bates-flying-point.jpg" "women mass classic at bates flying point")
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![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2012/01/IMGP8618.jpg" "Womens mass start classic at Bates")
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