Tag: UVM Carnival

It’s Ogden and Ketterson Again in the Craftsbury SuperTour Freestyle Sprint

SuperTour racing continued on Friday in Craftsbury, Vermont, as part of the Henchey Memorial Carnival, which also included Eastern Cup and collegiate racing. The three-day event is presented by the Craftsbury Outdoor Center, NENSA, U.S. Ski & Snowboard, and the University of Vermont (UVM), the EISA carnival host school.

Racers were faced with snowy conditions for the opening 1.4-kilometer freestyle sprint as a winter storm made its way across the Northeast. Friday morning’s grooming report mentioned 6 inches of fresh snow, as more continued to fall throughout the morning.

On the women’s side, last weekend’s 10k freestyle winner, Alayna Sonnesyn (SMS T2), won the qualifier in 3:58.27, ahead of BSF Pro Team’s Lauren Jortberg in second and APU’s Rosie Frankowski in third. Perhaps a nod to the wintery conditions, these top three finishers were separated by over six seconds.

Sonnesyn advanced from the first heat of the quarterfinals into the semis, where she finished third in the first heat behind Katharine Ogden (SMS T2) and Ava Thurston (Mansfield Nordic Club), who crossed the line together, roughly 0.4 seconds ahead of Sonnesyn. As the second semi, which was won by Jortberg, was roughly four seconds faster on average, Sonnesyn did not earn a lucky loser spot in the final. Instead, Jortberg advanced with Anna Bizyukova of UVM, Frankowski, and Craftsbury’s own Margie Freed.

Despite the trend seen in the qualifier, the final featured tight racing, with the top five athletes finishing within two seconds of one another. Just 0.6 seconds separated second from fifth.

A scene from the women’s final of the 1.4k freestyle sprint in Craftsbury. (Photo: Instagram @nensa_nordic)

Coming out on top was Ogden, who won the final in 3:59.08. After racing on the World Cup from the opening races in Ruka through the midway point of the Tour de Ski, Ogden has gone three-for-three in SuperTour sprints since returning stateside, winning classic sprints in Soldier Hollow and Lake Placid before checking off a skate win today.

Just behind, Jortberg took second place (+1.30) with U18 athlete Thurston closing in third (+1.78). Bizyukova was next to the line in fourth (+1.86), with Frankowski less than a meter behind in fifth (+1.91). Freed rounded out the women’s final in sixth (+4.51).

“I think that the biggest thing to note about today was that it was blizzarding!” wrote Ogden in a post-race email. “The heavy falling snow made the heat racing very tactical and rewarded being very quick off of the line. There was one lane on the course that was packed down by traffic and the other areas were pretty soft!”

Ogden was just 11 points behind Caitlin Patterson on the Olympic qualification distance list, based on the athletes’ best two distance races on the SuperTour or at the U.S. Cross Country Championships, during which Ogden competed in only one race – the 10k individual start classic where she was second to Patterson. The following weekend in Sun Valley, she was second in one distance race and fourth in the other, behind three Olympians and ahead of Patterson in each. As the races at U.S. Nationals were scored at a higher point value, Patterson took the final Olympic spot, leaving Ogden on the wrong side of the cusp.

Nevertheless, Ogden has found silver linings in the additional time back east.

“It was a blast to be able to race with the EISA. I miss skiing for Dartmouth (Ogden graduated in 2021), so it was fun getting to ski with some of my old teammates and some new Dartmouth skiers. It was also pretty great to ski in lots of natural snow, we rarely get a snowstorm this big anymore and it was undeniably very fun.”

The women’s podium after the opening freestyle sprint race which kicked off a weekend of SuperTour, Eastern Cup, and EISA racing. (Photo: APU Nordic Ski Center / Instagram)

As Thurston is, remarkably, still in high school, Bizyukova was the top collegiate racer to earn today’s EISA sprint title. The second and third placed collegiate racers both hailed from Dartmouth College, with Callie Young finishing fifth in the first semifinal and 10th overall, and Jasmine Drolet taking sixth in the second semi for 11th overall.

The men of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF) Gold Team swept the top-three spots in the men’s qualifier, with Karl Schulz leading the way in 3:23.48. Peter Holmes was 0.33 behind in second, with Johnny Hagenbuch in third (+1.21).

Schulz carried momentum from the qualifier win into the first quarterfinal, which he won by half a second, but his day ended soon after in the semifinal. Racing in a fast first heat that contained two eventual podium winners and found both lucky losers, Schulz was fifth in the heat, +1.72 behind winner Matias Øvrum of UVM. Sam Wood (SVSEF) was second in the heat, ahead of last weekend’s sprint winner Zak Ketterson (Team Birkie) and Gregory Burt (UVM).

In the second semi, which was nearly three seconds slower, Canada’s Étienne Hébert (CNEPH) edged out Holmes by 0.1 seconds to go 1-2 and advance to the final round.

Zak Ketterson leads up the final climb in the men’s freestyle sprint final in Craftsbury. (Photo courtesy Zak Ketterson)

The top two spots in the final were decided by a close finish between Ketterson and Øvrum, with Ketterson crossing 0.28 ahead in a time of 3:22.57 to earn his third SuperTour sprint title of the season. Øvrum was second, though he was named the collegiate race winner for UVM, with Hébert crossing the line a few meters behind on his own in third (+2.17).

“I’ve always really liked racing at Craftsbury,” Ketterson wrote to FasterSkier after the race. “It’s an awesome place and this year Team Birkie has been lucky enough to stay right at the Outdoor Center. The race course is right out our back door!”

Ketterson also provided insights to the final round for those following from afar.

“The final was really close! I gave it everything I had at the top of the last hill but I definitely started to get tired and bogged down a bit into the finish. Matias skied a smart race and gave me a really good challenge in the last few meters but luckily I was able to fend him off. It was a tricky day with super soft fresh snow and I’m happy I was able to execute.”

Zak Ketterson races a snowy freestyle sprint qualifier in Craftsbury. (Photo courtesy Zak Ketterson)

Wood was fourth in the men’s final (+6.9), with Burt fifth (+7.17), and Holmes sixth (+10.82).

The men’s freestyle sprint podium after the opening day of SuperTour racing in Craftsbury. (Photo: Instagram @nensa_nordic)

As mentioned, Øvrum was the top collegiate racer, with Burt second, going one–two for UVM. Third place among college athletes was Allan Luke of Dartmouth, who finished sixth in the first semifinal and 12th overall.

Craftsbury’s Day 1 coverage of the the 2022 Henchey Memorial Carnival: SuperTour, NENSA Eastern Cup and UVM EISA carnival.

Results:

Women’s Qualifier | Heats | Collegiate

Men’s Qualifier | Heats | Collegiate

Full Heat Brackets

February 4, 2022
Craftsbury SuperTour Classic Sprint Rundown

The US SuperTour kicked off the first races of the new year at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center with a classic sprint. The event, dubbed the 2020 Lost Nation Cup, brings together senior athletes, EISA carnival teams, developing NENSA skiers, and citizen racers for a weekend of racing in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.

“Retired” Craftsbury native Ida Sargent won the women’s race in a time of 3:55.47, followed by fellow CGRP athlete Kaitlynn Miller (+0.21), and Dartmouth Ski Team’s Katherine Ogden (+2.09). Erika Flowers posted the fastest qualifying time of 3:56.03; she finished fifth in the final (+6.67).

Breaking down the heats in Craftsbury. (Photo: BullitTiming.com)

On the mens’ side, Ben Saxton (SMST2) took the final in 3:19.0. He was followed by Canada’s Julien Smith of NTDC Thunderbay (+2.04) with Forrest Mahlen of APU in third (+2.25). University of Vermont athlete Ben Ogden was the fastest qualifier of the day in 3:18.62. Ogden was eliminated in the first heat of the semifinal, finishing 11th overall.

Results from the men’s heats in Craftsbury. (Photo: BullitTiming.com)

Racing continues tomorrow with interval start freestyle distance races Saturday and mass start classic distance races Sunday.

Women’s Qualifier | Women’s Final Results

Men’s Qualifier | Men’s Final Results

January 24, 2020
Back from Europe, Championship Skiers Shake Up Results at UVM Carnival

(TO BE UPDATED WITH MORE PHOTOS SOON)

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 3^rd place showing on Saturday marked Buetow’s second freestyle podium of the season. The Bobcat skier placed 2^nd in the SLU Carnival Prologue two weeks ago.

Two Darmouth skiers, Silas Talbot and Scott Lacy, finished in 4^th and 5^th, 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 5^th.

Women’s 10k Freestyle Podium L-R: Corey Stock (DAR), Annie Pokorny (MIDD), Annie Hart (DAR) Photo Courtesy C.J. Feehan, EISASkiing.blogspot.com

The win was Pokorny’s first at the EISA level, though her 4^th 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 3^rd 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 4^th for the second consecutive-day, and Steve Mangan was 5^th.

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.

FULL RESULTS

INTERVIEW WITH ANNIE POKORNY (Courtesy EISA Skiing)

February 4, 2013
Caitlin Patterson and Patrick Johnson take EISA skate races

Caitlin Patterson (UVM) leads Ida Sargent in the 10km skate race (photo: Lincoln Benedict)

Light snowfall and intermittent gusts of winds combined with cold temperatures to make for less-than friendly spectating, but that did not stop the crowds from clustering at trail junctions to cheer on the more than 400 racers that participated in the second day of racing for the combined UVM college carnival and Eastern Cup weekend at Trapps Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont.

Both men’s and women’s races were run with two rounds of the same 5km loop, a course whose long steady climbs and rolling downhills were well-designed by Morton Trail Systems to test the mettle of any well-trained athlete.

Rosie Brennan (DAR)

The women’s 10km skate race was the first event, and the podium – though in slightly different order – held the same three women as the day before. It was Caitlin Patterson of UVM who stepped up for the performance of the race. Having the luck to start right behind Dartmouth’s Ida Sargent, whom she had taken second place to in the classic race, Patterson had a target in sight off the start. Patterson caught Sargent in the first lap and the two skied together for most of the race. Rosie Brennan (DAR), skiing alone, stepped up one place from the day before to finish in second, 15 seconds behind Patterson. Sargent ended up 24 seconds back.

Patterson returned home last Monday from the U23 Championships in Germany and said she is still “reacclimating to the time zone and school” after a heavy travel and racing schedule. She said she has tried to “take every day as it comes”, and that after starting slow and feeling a bit sluggish in yesterday’s classic, she tried a different approach to the skate race.

“I think my warm-up was really well-organized and good today, so that really helped me feel well during the race,” said Patterson. It also allowed her to start at a quicker pace and quickly eliminate the 15 second deficit she had on Sargent.

“I started out strong,” said Patterson, “ I caught up to Ida in front of me and that was really fun to ski with her and see right where I was relative to some of my fast competitors.”

If not for Patterson, the Dartmouth women would have completely claimed the day. After Sargent and Brennan, 4th-6th places were taken by teammates Sophie Caldwell, Erika Flowers, and Katie Bono. With Patterson’s win and her teammate Jennie Bender in 9th, UVM finished behind Dartmouth for the top women’s team scores.

UVM's Franz Bernstein gives the home crowd something to cheer about by taking the podium twice over the weekend.

The men also raced 10 kilometers, and UVM’s Franz Bernstein again had a great day on his home course by making it back onto the podium with his 2nd place finish. It was Patrick Johnson of Middlebury who had the winning time of 26:46, ten seconds up on Bernstein. Johnson led his teammates Graham Egan (7th) and Dylan Grald (16th) to take the top men’s team score of the day.

Dylan McGuffin from UNH continued his strong season by jumping back onto the podium in third, 21.5 seconds back.

Patrick Johnson (MID) winning the 10km skate (photo: Lincoln Benedict)

Johnson said that pacing and skiing relaxed helped him toward his top result today.

“I took it out pretty conservatively, skied it smoothly. It’s a nice course just to ski efficiently and glide a lot and I just took it easy on the first lap and then put the hammer down on the second lap.”

When asked why his team was so much stronger now, Johnson said it was more a matter of sickness and bad luck during the first couple races of this year that the team was not where they are now.

“We’ve been training really hard this season,”said Johnson,”so I think we knew that what we did this weekend was possible for the whole season.”

Men's Podium: Franz Bernstein (UVM), Patrick Johnson (MID), Dylan McGuffin (UNH)

Women's Podium: Rosie Brennan (DAR), Caitlin Patterson (UVM), Ida Sargent (DAR)

Kevin Rose, UNH: "Best Mohawk" in EISA keeps upping his style

February 8, 2010
Bernstein and Sargent take first races of UVM Carnival

Racing through the stadium at Trapps Family Lodge

They were ideal conditions for a classic race. Cold – but not too cold, blue skies, sunshine, and precision cut tracks. Luckily, these were also the type of conditions that could withstand a lot of racing traffic, as the college carnival was also combined with an Eastern Cup and the total number of participants numbered more than 450.

Designed by Morton Trails, the race venue at Trapps Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont is in the process of FIS homologation certification. The course is skiable but challenging, and all races were run on a tough 5km loop that starts on a downhill and ends on an uphill: one lap for the women and two for the men.

Ida Sargent winning the 5km classic (photo: Lincoln Benedict)

The women’s race was run first, as the sun was just starting to warm the air. Dartmouth’s Ida Sargent and Rosie Brennan, back from a successful trip to Germany for the U23 Championships, reasserted their place in the college carnivals by placing first and third. With a 4th place finish from teammate Katie Bono, the Dartmouth women were ensured a team victory.

Also just back from Germany, Caitlin Patterson of UVM placed second, right next to the women who were her teammates overseas and are now her competitors on the eastern circuit. Patterson led her team to a second place finish, aided by a 6^th place from UVM teammate Jennie Bender.

Furthering his team’s success, UVM’s Franz Bernstein dominated the men’s race by finishing the 10 kilometer course in a time of 29:29.7, exactly 33 seconds ahead of his closest competitor.

Bernstein didn’t wake up feeling he could take on the field, but a home course and home crowd advantage can never be underestimated.

“In the morning I didn’t feel that great, I had a sore throat,” explained Bernstein, “but I felt really well into the race and right from the start I had the feeling that I could win today.”

“Until the last half of the second lap I was still in second, and on the last uphill I got into a really good striding. It was pretty close until the end, but after the last hill I felt still strong and I finished well.”

Bernstein agreed that being at home had its benefits. “We skied here so many times – it definitely helps,” said Bernstein, “and the home crowd is just awesome.”

With Bernstein’s win the UVM men took 6^th, and overall – combined with alpine scores – the team is leading the scoreboard into tomorrow’s last event of nordic skate races. Bernstein is hopeful of his team’s continuing success, but not ready to make predictions.

“ [Tomorrow] is just another day here at the UVM Carnival and hopefully we can end up as well as we did today.”

Continuing their momentum from their sprint relay win at St Michael’s, the Middlebury men stole the thunder from Dartmouth today, putting six men inside the top fifteen. Dylan Grald placed third, just one second behind 2^nd place Nils Koons of Dartmouth. Grald’s teammates Patrick Johnson and Doug Debold provided the final two team scores with their 6^th and 7^th place finishes.

Full Results

Men's Podium: Nils Koons (DAR) in 2nd, Franz Bernstein (UVM) in 1st, Dylan Grald (MID) in 3rd

February 6, 2010
EISA, UVM Carnival, 10k/15k Classic, Stowe, VT

December 30, 2008
EISA, UVM Carnival, 5k/10k Freestyle, Stowe, VT

December 30, 2008