On Sunday, two hundred and seventy-six skiers competed at the Rikert Nordic Center in interval start skate races. Racers were greeted with firm and fast track conditions under blue skies and single digit temperatures. The groomers continued to work their magic — creating challenging 2.5km (U16) and 3.7km (Open) loops for the 5 and 10 kilometer competitions. The modified course layout created fun and fair competition for all despite the dramatic weather event on Friday.

The day kicked off with the U16 boys. Brian Bushey of the Green Mountain Valley School had a breakthrough performance, besting the field with a time of 12:43, to secure his first Eastern Cup victory. Aidan Burt of the Mansfield Nordic Club, who is currently ranked as the top U16 boy in New England, showed his strength with a solid second place finish. Finn Sweet from Craftsbury took third place and maintained his second place ranking for U16’s.

Nina Seeman of the Stratton Mountain School secured her third Eastern Cup victory of the season with a time of 14:40, and currently stands alone as the top New England U16 girl. Craftsbury/Mansfield standout, Quincy Massey-Bierman, who sat out Saturday’s sprint event added another second place finish to her 2018 résumé and Shea Brams of the Cambridge Sports Union placed third. The podium of Sunday’s results match the current ranking for the top U16’s girls in New England.

The open women’s field was an international affair with Montanan and Stratton T2’s, Erika Flowers, taking the overall win covering the three lap 10km course in 29:36. Anne Marie-Comeau from the University of Laval made the trip to Ripton, Vermont as part of her bid to represent Canada in the 2018 Olympics. Her second place finish gave her a 100 point FIS race and gets her one step closer to Pyeongchang. Brazilian and Olympian, Jaqueline Mourao, rounded out the podium, which she stood upon with her two children.

Rena Schwartz of the Green Mountain Valley School was the top junior in the race. The U20 covered the course in 31:15. U18 Sophia Laukli of Yarmouth High placed second and Lillian Bates, also a U18, of Dublin XC placed third.

Ben Ogden (U18) from the Stratton Mountain School topped the open men’s field with a time of 25:44. The standout junior skier will represent the US Ski Team in Goms, Switzerland later this month in the 2018 World Junior Championships. Second place belonged to Adam Martin of the Craftsbury Green Team, who started just ahead of Ogden and the two spent the entire race in within each others sight. Jorgen Grav, a former UVM Catamount, who now represents Ford Sayre took the final step on the open podium.

Northern Michigan skier Daniel Streinz (U20) was the second junior on the day and Scott Schulz (U18) from NYSEF was third.

Results from all of the races can be found on barttiming.com or on the NENSA results page.

New England Junior National Rankings. Please note as per 5/2017 ADC decision sprint races are being re-scored with distance points to bring parity to sprint and distance events for JN qualification. (The Senior National Sprint OOR qualifier will be updated tomorrow on the ranking page to reflect final results vs. qualifier).

Eastern Cup racing will resume February 3rd and 4th at the Trapp Family Lodge with two distance races.

NENSA would like to extend a heartfelt THANK YOU to the staff of Rikert, the organizing committee, Bart Timing and the race officials for making this weekend of racing so successful!