Fred Bailey

Last weekend the top high school skiers in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont traveled to the Holderness School in central New Hampshire to compete in the three day Eastern High School Championship event hosted by the Holderness School and Holderness Nordic Club. Eastern High School Championships (EHSC) is the premier event for high school and prep school racers in New England and New York. Athletes qualify for the EHSC through state qualifying races in which up to 24 boys and 24 girls are selected from each state. Thanks to a collaboration with U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing, EHSC hosted a team of three Para Nordic skiers from Maine and the Midwest.

Championship racing action kicked off at Holderness on Friday afternoon with an individual start 5k freestyle race. The girls raced first followed by the boys. Holderness’ new 2.5k snowmaking loop was a welcome sight – a wide ribbon of snow with lots of depth in an otherwise snowless woodland. It had been reinforced in recent weeks during the handful of cold nights to ensure the best possible conditions for EHSC. A huge thank you to the Holderness staff and volunteers for snowing the trails!

5k Freestyle Girls:
1: Ella Ronci, NH
2: Ollie Hanna, NH
3: Addi Englund, NH
4: Elli Englund, NH
5: Nora Mccourt, ME
6: Hannah Petersen, MA
7: Adah Chapman, NH
8: Hannah Grohman, ME
9: Estella Laird, VT
10: Georgia Eckhardt, NH
10: Zola Bruner, VT

Results

5k Freestyle Para Boys:
1: Noah Oliver, ME
2: Zhenghong Schlecthe, MW
3: Alex Altermatt, MW

5k Freestyle Boys:
1: Oliver Wilson, NH
2: Matthew Clarner, NH
3: Quinn Uva, VT
4: Ian Brenner, MA
5: Henri Mccourt, ME
6: Becket Cote, ME
7: Lorenzo Atocha, VT
8: Sully Sturtz, NH
9: Noah Branchflower, NH
10: Leo Ebner, NH

Results

Saturday morning kicked off with a three lap 7.5k mass start classic race. A large crowd gathered to watch the 100+ skiers take off all at once. Spectators could be seen running back and forth from the stadium to the edge of the woods to Peck’s Hill – it was a noisy energetic event!

7.5k Classic Mass Start Girls:
1: Elli Englund, NH
2: Ella Ronci, NH
3: Ollie Hanna, NH
4: Claire Serrano, VT
5: Addi Englund, NH
6: Adah Chapman, NH
7: Nora Mccourt, ME
8: Hannah Grohman, ME
9: Hannah Petersen, MA
10: Sarah Kirincich, MA

Results

7.5k Classic Mass Start Para Boys:
1: Noah Oliver, ME
2: Zhenghong Schlecthe, MW
3: Alex Altermatt, MW

7.5k Classic Mass Start Boys:
1: Quinn Uva, VT
2: Oliver Wilson, NH
3: Henri Mccourt, ME
4: Charlie Kehler, VT
5: Aiden Bondaz, NH
6: Becket Cote, ME
7: Jared Rife, MA
8: Joey Sluka, VT
9: Liam Sakakeeny, MA
10: Sam Currie, MA

Results

After a lunch break freestyle XCX sprinting action got underway. The course was fun and technical featuring a barrel turn and hoop pairing right from the start, with several dual slalom sections, rollers, and a drop jump. The race format featured waves of five athletes with one athlete from each state (MA, ME, NH, NY & VT), with an all Para wave in the middle.

Skate Sprint Girls:
1: Ollie Hanna, NH
2: Claire Serrano, VT
3: Elli Englund, NH
4: Hannah Grohman, ME
5: Nora Mccourt, ME
6: Hannah Petersen, MA
7: Addi Englund, NH
8: Sara McGill, VT
9: Holland Calcutt, NH
10: Antonia Schramm, VT

Results

Skate Sprint Para Boys:
1: Noah Oliver, ME
2: Zhenghong Schlecthe, MW
3: Alex Altermatt, MW

Skate Sprint Boys:
1: Oliver Wilson, NH
2: Niko Cuneo, VT
3: Becket Cote, ME
4: Ian Brenner, MA
5: Matthew Clarner, NH
6: Teo Steverlynch-Horne, ME
7: Lorenzo Atocha, VT
8: Sam Currie, MA
9: Sisu Lange, VT
10: Quinn Uva, VT

Results

Saturday evening teams were treated to family style dining in the Holderness dining hall, where representatives from each table had to bring out giant platters of food and bus their tables. Following this delicious pasta dinner, we honored the top 3 overall individual athletes whose ranking was determined using points from the first three individual races. Team rankings were updated, with close races between Vermont and New Hampshire for 1st and Maine and Massachusetts for 3rd!

Individual Overall Girls:
1: Ollie Hanna, NH
2: Elli Englund, NH
3: Ella Ronci, NH

Full Standings

Individual Overall Para Boys:
1: Noah Oliver, ME
2: Zhenghong Schlecthe, MW
3: Alex Altermatt, MW

Individual Overall Boys:
1: Oliver Wilson, NH
2: Quinn Uva, VT
3: Matthew Clarner, NH
3: Becket Cote, ME

Full Standings

Sunday morning was the final race of the championship event–the 4 x 2.5k mixed relay. The race was tight and exciting right down to the finishing stretch. Following the relay, team scores were tallied with Team New Hampshire winning the Graham Taylor Cup with the highest team score for the first time in many years!

Mixed Relay:
1: NH-1 (Elli Englund, Oliver Wilson, Ella Ronci & Matthew Clarner )
2: NH-2 (Ollie Hanna, Aiden Bondaz, Addi Englund & Sully Sturtz)
3: ME-1 (Hannah Grohman, Henri Mccourt, Nora Mccourt & Becket Cote)
4: VT-2 (Claire Serrano, Finn Payne, Seven Bowen & Lorenzo Atocha)
5: MA-1 (Sarah Kirincich, Sam Currie, Hannah Petersen & Ian Brenner)

Results & Unofficial Teams

Team Standings

Tom Bartol Photos

Before we wrap up, we want to take a moment to thank the Holderness School and Holderness Nordic Club for everything they put into hosting a 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 our race officials and Bullitt Timing for timing and data management. U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing for joining the event for what we hope is the first of many appearances. 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!

Two weekends ago the top 14 and 15 year-old skiers in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont traveled to North Creek, New York to compete in the three day Eastern U16 Championship event hosted at the Gore Mountain Nordic Center. 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. The Gore Mountain Nordic Center staff pulled out all the stops to ensure we had great snow coverage for the event. The Mountain even closed the adjacent alpine slope providing warmup and ski testing of the race course.

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 girls raced first followed by the boys.  

Girls 5k Skate Top-10 Results:
1: Elli Englund, NH
2: Olivia Hanna, NH
3: Astrid Longstreth, VT
4: Tillie Lange, VT
5: Lucille Dent, NH
6: Claire Serrano, VT
7: Charlotte Crum, VT
8: Antonia Schramm, VT
9: Millie Larrick, NH
10: Anya Moriarty, VT

Results

Boys 5k Skate Top-10 Results:
1: Jed Bentley, NH
2: Matthew Northcott, NH
3: Tomas Masterson, VT
4: Will Wallace, VT
5: Aiden Guay, NY
6: Isaac Fellows, NH
7: Foster Whitworth V, NH
8: Damian Wynn, ME
9: Henry Swarzentruber, VT
10: Magnus Hayden, VT

Results

Saturday morning kicked off with a 5k wave start classic race in very spring-like conditions. Klister, zeros, or harries were on order for the race. The course was modified from the previous day to optimize the best available skiing, which had the added affect of increasing the ease of viewing on an already super spectator friendly course. Well over 100 parents, coaches and teammates could be seen and heard cheering on the hillside above the stadium!

Girls 5k Classic Top-10 Results:
1: Elli Englund, NH
2: Olivia Hanna, NH
3: Astrid Longstreth, VT
4: Claire Serrano, VT
5: Zola Bruner, VT
6: Tillie Lange, VT
7: Lucille Dent, NH
8: Antonia Schramm, VT
9: Charlotte Crum, VT
10: Millie Larrick, NH

Results

Boys 5k Classic Top-10 Results:
1: Jed Bentley, NH
2: Will Wallace, VT
3: Dean Ayotte, NH
4: Tomas Masterson, VT
5: Donovan Van Citters, NH
6: Henry Swarzentruber, VT
7: Patrick Holland, MA
8: Matthew Northcott, NH
9: Eli McEnaney, VT
10: Acer Verson, MA

Results

Saturday afternoon the 1.3km wave start sprint event got underway. This event featured three progressively steeper hills, with two downhill hairpin turns and rolling downhill to the finish. There were some exciting lunges at the finish to boot!

Girls Sprint Top-10 Results:
1: Olivia Hanna, NH
2: Astrid Longstreth, VT
3: Claire Serrano, VT
4: Zola Bruner, VT
5: Elli Englund, NH
6: Lucille Dent, NH
7: Tillie Lange, VT
8: Antonia Schramm, VT
9: Leila Griffith, VT
10: Millie Larrick, NH

Results

Boys Sprint Top-10 Results:
1: Jed Bentley, NH
2: Matthew Northcott, NH
3: Tor Webb, MA
4: Will Wallace, VT
5: Tomas Masterson, VT
6: Aiden Guay, NY
7: Dean Ayotte, NH
8: Jasper Lloyd, MA
9: Henry Swarzentruber, VT
10: Magnus Hayden, VT

Results

Saturday night Gore Mountain hosted a banquet for all the athletes at the main base lodge. A spaghetti dinner was on the menu, complete with vegan and vegetarian options and some delicious cookies! The cavernous room allowed for 300 people to be fitted simultaneously, with room to spare. During the banquet the top 10 athletes in each of the three individual races received their medals, in addition to the top three in the overall standings. Recognition was made of all the groups making this event possible: the host, volunteers, coaches, athletes, and parents. The evening was made even more exciting by several inches of new wet snow!

Girls Overall Individual 3 Event Standings (Top-3):
1: Olivia Hanna, NH
2: Elli Englund, NH
3: Astrid Longstreth, VT

Full Standings

Boys Overall Individual 3 Event Standings (Top-3):
1: Jed Bentley, NH
2: Matthew Northcott, NH
3: Will Wallace, VT

Full Standings

The final day of racing action featured the mixed relay. Sunday morning revealed excellent ski conditions due to ten inches of dense, heavy snow that fell overnight and many hours of work by the groomers that went into getting the course race-ready. 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 Elli Englund, Dean Ayotte, Olivia Hanna & Jed Bentley
2: VT-2 Claire Serrano, Magnus Hayden, Astrid Longstreth & Henry Swarzentruber
4: NH-2 Lucille Dent, Donovan Van Citters, Millie Larrick & Matthew Northcott
3: VT-1 Antonia Schramm, Will Wallace, Zola Bruner & Tomas Masterson
5: VT-4 Tillie Lange, James Langan, Anya Moriarty & Samuel Swarzentruber

Results

Team Scores

Before we wrap up, we want to take a moment to thank the Gore Mountain Nordic Center 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 and Underdog 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!