Outside observers of nordic skiers have always seemed to notice a paradox; how people who are necessarily inclined to an individual pursuit done in the woods band together to push each other all over the world.
In observing New England skiers, there’s always been an insistence to place this paradox in the landscape itself. Back when Sports Illustrated would send a reporter to visit Bill Koch every 4 years ahead of the Olympics, ledes and flourishes would insist that he enjoyed things like the “solitude, even stoicism, of pursuing the sport in the Vermont woods.”
As NENSA recently found when it caught up with Bill and Kate Koch in March, some of that is true. Nearly 50 years on, Bill still cues in on “[enjoying] the solitude of the outdoor environment.” Just as quickly though, he rattled off coaches, teammates, mentors, and the motley crew of hundreds of New England kids which gather every March for the Bill Koch League Festival (BKL) as being as important to his pursuit of the sport to an Olympic medalist level, and continued love for it today.
Perhaps then, the secret outsiders aren’t seeing; those winter Vermont woods aren’t so empty after all.
Instead, they’re filled with a special community of athletes who show an equal love for the frozen forests they get to glide through and the challenge of gliding through them as fast as they can. There is something special about the New England landscape which lends itself to cross country skiing. Old forests, good snow, wicked weather, and tracts to explore from Maine to Massachusetts. But there’s also something special about the principles those who practice the sport have established. To go from their pocket of the world to take on the rest of it, together.
Skiing better, together.
NENSA serves as the organization banded together to help apply that principle. Founded 30 years ago to help New England skiers challenge each other, so that they can challenge the world.
At the conclusion of each of the last six seasons, NENSA has named an Elite and Development Team which seeks to recognize the skiers who have represented the New England ski community nationally and internationally, and contributed to the ongoing work of pushing each other here, to we can push together out there. Today, we are proud to name and recognize the 2025 NENSA Elite Team and NENSA Development Team. Skiers are recognized here for their accomplishments during the 2024-25 season, and are invited to view the benefits of this recognition here: Elite Team and Development Team.
From the World Cup and World Championships in Scandinavia and the mountains of Europe, to Alaska and the Rocky Mountains, NENSA is proud to see skiers who have cultivated a love for the sport in our region across every landscape, physical and competitive, our sport has to offer.
We name our Elite and Development teams with the recognition that these skiers form a key cohort for our community to support with our development programming. The ultimate purpose and driving principle of NENSA is that helping them achieve their dreams in nordic skiing is a dream for all of us; that quaint, lively community out in the New England woods.
2025 NENSA Elite Team
| Ben Ogden | SMS T2 | Jessie Diggins | SMS T2 |
| John Steel Hagenbuch | Dartmouth | Julia Kern | SMS T2 |
| Jack Young | Colby | Annie McColgan | UVM |
| Matthew McIntosh | GMVS | Ava Thurston | Dartmouth |
| Joseph Sluka | Ford Sayre | Annelies Hanna | Ford Sayre |
| Lincoln Miller | GMVS | Lea Perreard | Ford Sayre |
| Tabor Greenberg | UVM | Mary Harrington | GMVS |
| Oliver Miatke | St. Michaels | Gillian Fairfax | Bowdoin |
| Daniel McCollor | St. Michaels | Greta Kilburn | UVM |
| Finn Sweet | UVM | Zoe Devine | St. Michael’s |
| Logan Moore | Middlebury | Emma Crum | Bowdoin |
| Braden Becker | Craftsbury GRP | Lauren Jortberg | SMS T2 |
| Jack Christner | Middlebury | Shea Brams | Middlebury |
| Emma Strack | St. Lawrence | ||
| Nina Seeman | Dartmouth | ||
| Ruth Krebs | Craftsbury | ||
| Beth McIntosh | GMVS |
2025 NENSA Development Team
| Roger Anderson | UNH | Tatum Witter | Dartmouth |
| Declan Hutchinson | St. Michael’s | Hattie Barker | UNH |
| Cooper Camp | Dartmouth | Sofia Scirica | Middlebury |
| Mason Wheeler | Middlebury | Maggie Wagner | Middlebury |
| Charles Martell | St. Michael’s | Emma Reeder | Dartmouth |
| Peter Warner | Middlebury | Maddie Hooker | Colby |
| Charles Ben Oldham | UNH | Rose Horning | UVM |
| Aidan Jacobus | Dartmouth | Lydia Kraker | Colby |
| James Underwood | Ford Sayre | Mirra Payson | Bowdoin |
| Luke Rizio | UVM | Caroline Tarmy | St. Lawrence |
| Jed Bentley | UNH | Margo Nightingale | Colby |
| Beckett Cote | Quarry Road | Ella Ronci | Holderness |
| Fritz Sanders | Berkshire Trails | Amelia Circosta | Craftsbury |
| Niko Cuneo | Mansfield | Kiera Stabile | SMS |
| Matias Citarella | GMVS | Claire Serrano | Craftsbury |
| Jorgen Pirrung | Mansfield | Tillie Lange | Craftsbury |
| Foster Whitworth | Holderness | Mia Gorman | Mansfield |
| Eli McEnaney | Prospect Mountain | Acadia Enman | Mansfield |
| Matthew Northcott | Caldwell Sport | Olivia Hanna | Ford Sayre |
| Patrick Holland | Prospect Mountain | Astrid Longstreth | Mansfield |
| James Langan | Mansfield | Antonia Schramm | SMS |
| Lucille Dent | Ford Sayre | ||
| Lila Marchetti | Ford Sayre | ||
| Leila Griffith | Craftsbury | ||
| Skyah McLaughlin | Dublin XC |
