Skinny Ski News

Head Coach Justin Beckwith sent along this update from the Nordic world:

Last week was a great week for the Nordic Program.  We hosted a locals’ Flex Term week with five charges from the Mad River Bill Koch League program and Harwood Middle School, and the crew skated around a challenging sprint track on the upper field on campus, some of the best XC skiing in the Valley!  Heidi Halvorsen ’13 and MK Cirelli PG ‘12 had a chance to race in the Dartmouth Carnival, where there were also some great results for Alumni. The rest of the crew raced in the Vermont J2/Eastern High School Qualifier in Grafton. 

The Flexies had a busy week of technique work, adventure skis and cheering on our girls in the Carnival.  One of the highlights was skiing up into Huntington Gap where we were able to find a little more winter than we have down in the Valley -- this trip was aimed to show the beauty of exploration on skis and push the kids physical limits.  Wednesday we hosted the Harwood Middle School team for a sprint race with some of our skiers and Jenn White.  Top honors went to Nell Shea and Noah Eckstein.  On Friday we travelled to Trapps for a full day of skiing and cheering -- the kids all donned new GMVS headbands and got exposure to high-level racing. 

Heidi and MK were able to race in the Dartmouth Carnival based on their low points profile under the NENSA quota.  They each had great races in the 5km skate race with Heidi placing 19th and MK taking 34th.  This was their second weekend of racing in carnivals and they were the top juniors outside of collegiate racers in all three of these races. 

On Sunday, three of our skiers, along with two younger visitors, traveled to Grafton for the J2/EHS Qualifier, where they raced against the best High School racers in Vermont.  Hans Halvorsen ’12 led the team with a victory in the 3km classic race in the morning.  He also placed 5th in the 3km Skate, making him the second overall qualifier.  Devlin placed 7th in classic and 4th in skate.  Kaitlin Fitzgerald ’12 skied a gutsy skate race to take eighth place.  Although they qualified for the Championships, all skiers declined their places on the team to focus on other races, including Canadian Nationals and Super Tour Finals. 

This weekend is the final Eastern Cup, which is being hosted in Craftsbury.  These serve as the final two qualifiers for Junior Nationals, which is held in Heber City, Utah during the first week of March.  We are excited for some good racing close to home and hope to secure some GMVS spots on the New England Team -- stay posted.  

Tons of photos from the past week on our blog: http://gmvsxc.blogspot.com