Last week the top 14 and 15 year-old skiers in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont traveled to Fort Kent, Maine to compete in the three day Eastern U16 Championship event hosted at the Fort Kent Outdoor Center (FKOC). Eastern U16 Championships is the premier event for U16 cross country ski racers in New England and New York. The goal of the event is to provide the highest quality competition for U16 athletes to learn and develop as skiers and people. Eastern U16 Champs (U16s) began modestly in 1992 and has grown into one of the highlights of the season for junior athletes. This past week, skiers were warmly welcomed into the Fort Kent community where they found snowy race courses that were well maintained and prepared for them by the dedicated folks at the FKOC.
Below we have featured the top-10 results for the individual races and the top-5 for the relay as well as the top-3 overall individual standings. While we are highlighting these finishes, we want to take a moment to acknowledge every athlete who stepped onto the start line this weekend and tried their hardest out there on the race course!
Championship racing action kicked off at on Friday afternoon with a wave start 5k freestyle race. The boys raced first followed by the girls. Here is local news coverage of the Friday races courtesy of WAGM news.
Boys 5k Skate Top-10 Results:
1: Jonah Gorman, VT
2: Lorenzo Atocha, VT
3: Parker Nellis, ME
3: Matthew McIntosh, VT
5: Sisu Lange, VT
6: Matias Citarella, VT
7: Sullivan Sturtz, NH
8: Calvin Collins-Knapp, MA
9: Eric Fulton, NH
10: Timothy Craddock, VT
Girls 5k Skate Top-10 Results:
1: Anika Leahy, VT
2: Elli Englund, NH
3: Hannah Petersen, MA
4: Lea Perreard, NH
5: Ella Ronci, NH
6: Kate Carlson, VT
7: Alexandria Taylor, MA
8: Estella Laird, VT
9: Leigh Niedeck, MA
10: Ella McEntee, VT
Saturday morning kicked off with a 5k wave start classic race in exciting conditions due to dense, heavy snow that fell overnight. Thanks to the groomers for the long hours that went into getting the course race-ready Saturday morning!
Boys 5k Classic Top-10 Results:
1: Parker Nellis, ME
2: Lorenzo Atocha, VT
3: Beckett Cote, ME
4: Jonah Gorman, VT
5: Luke DeBitetto, VT
6: Sisu Lange, VT
7: Eric Fulton, NH
8: Sullivan Sturtz, NH
9: Tait Harvey, ME
9: Ivan Ivanov, VT
Girls 5k Classic Top-10 Results:
1: Lea Perreard, NH
2: Anika Leahy, VT
3: Elli Englund, NH
4: Ella Ronci, NH
5: Leigh Niedeck, MA
6: Kate Carlson, VT
7: Alexandria Taylor, MA
8: Sara McGill, VT
9: Estella Laird, VT
10: Hannah Petersen, MA
Saturday afternoon the much anticipated cross country cross (XCX) sprint event got underway. This event featured a 1.25k course with a drop jump, hairpin turns, a slalom hill, big rollers, and bicycle bumps. Like all the previous races, athletes started in waves. Congrats to everyone for tackling this exciting and challenging course! In fact it looked so fun that the coaches gave the race a shot with impromptu wave starts following the final official girls wave.
Boys XCX Top-10 Results:
1: Jonah Gorman, VT
2: Lorenzo Atocha, VT
3: Timothy Craddock, VT
4: Sisu Lange, VT
5: Ivan Ivanov, VT
6: Parker Nellis, ME
7: Matthew McIntosh, VT
8: Matias Citarella, VT
9: Grayson Hoeft, ME
10: Calvin Collins-Knapp, MA
Girls XCX Top-10 Results:
1: Anika Leahy, VT
2: Elli Englund, NH
3: Ella Ronci, NH
4: Nora McCourt, ME
5: Leigh Niedeck, MA
6: Georgia Eckhardt, NH
7: Skyla Mace, NH
8: Hannah Petersen, MA
9: Isabel Linton, VT
10: Tillie Lange, VT
Sunday morning dawned sunny and bright for the final day of racing action featuring the mixed relay. After all the weekend races came to a close, Vermont had tallied the most number of points claiming the overall team win. Thank you to all the states for an action packed weekend of fun racing and camaraderie!
Mixed Relay Top-5 Results:
1: NH-1 Sullivan Sturtz, Lea Perreard, Eric Fulton & Elli Englund
2: VT-1 Lorenzo Atocha, Kate Carlson, Jonah Gorman & Anika Leahy
3: MA-1 Fritz Sanders, Leigh Niedeck, Calvin Collins-Knapp & Hannah Petersen
4: NH-2 Nicholas Ring, Ella Ronci, Isaac Novosad & Skyla Mace
5: ME-1 Beckett Cote, Rowan Tanguay, Parker Nellis & Nora McCourt
Boys Overall Individual 3 Event Standings (Top-3):
1: Jonah Gorman, VT
2: Lorenzo Atocha, VT
3: Parker Nellis, ME
Girls Overall Individual 3 Event Standings (Top-3):
1: Anika Leahy, VT
2: Elli Englund, NH
3: Ella Ronci, NH
Before we wrap up, we want to take a moment to thank the FKOC for everything they put into hosting this fantastic event. We also want to thank our NENSA sponsors for their ongoing support of our Championship events, Eastern Amateur Educational Foundation (EASEF) for supporting athletes all across the East in attending EHSC. Also a big thank you to our race officials, the in-house timing crew at the FKOC, and Bullitt Timing. And last but not least, thank you to all the athletes and coaches for bringing your energy, enthusiasm, and love of skiing to this event!