Junior Nationals

Junior National racing wrapped up on Saturday under a sunny blue Utah sky with the Classic 3 x 3.3k Team Relays.  Temps had dipped below freezing the night before, so our U20 and U18 men, first out at 9am and 9:45am had hard and fast tracks, and the snow softened throughout the morning into early afternoon, as the U20/U18 women and U16 boys and girls raced.  Our New England Wax Techs once again proved to be some of the best in the country, delivering incredibly fast skis for our team all day.  By the end of the day, New England had an incredible 9 podiums in 6 races!

First out were our U20 men.  The team of Adam Witkowski (SMS), John Henry Paluszek (Gunstock Nordic) and Adam Glueck, (Dartmouth College) were on the podium for second place, with a time of 22:09.5, and the team, of Nick Wilkerson (GMVS), Willson Moore (OSI), and Andrew Doherty (Mt. Washington Nordic) rounded out the top 5 medal teams in fifth, with a time of 23:14.3.

The U18 men’s team of James Kitch (CSU juniors), Greg Burt (GMVS), and Ben Ogden (SMS) won GOLD with a time of 24:41.1, and the team of Josh Valentine (GMVS), Isaac Freitas-Eagan (Mansfield Nordic) and Conor Munns (SMS) took the bronze with a time of 26:26.0.

Our U20 woman’s team of Phoebe Sweet (Craftsbury Nordic), Rena Schwartz (GMVS) and Callie Young (Craftsbury Nordic) won GOLD, with a time of 36.23.8, and the team of Marin Coletta (Colby College), Avery Ellis (Middlebury College), and Laura Appleby (CSU juniors) placed fourth for the U20 women team sprint medals with a time of 37:02.8

The U18 women took silver with the team of Charlotte Ogden (SMS), Sophia Laukli (OSI), and Mae Chalmers (SMS), with a time of 37:31.3.

The U16 boys once again took GOLD for the win, with the team of Finn Sweet (Craftsbury), Aidan Burt (Mansfield Nordic) and Will Koch (SMS), with a time of 33.18.8.  I would like to note here that this was Will Koch’s FOURTH National Title this week, as he WON all the races in the U16 boys category!  A HUGE congrats to Will on this specular accomplishment at Junior Nationals!

Our U16 girls team of Nina Seeman (SMS), Shea Brams (SCU juniors) and Quincy Massy-Bierman finished out the day in fourth place with a time of 38:31.6, and the 9th trip to the medals podium for Team New England for the Team Sprint day!

Link to RESULTS

Link to some great Saturday Team Relay PHOTOS  (Thanks again to Paul Bierman for these great photos!)

It was another great day of racing at Junior Nationals out in Soldier Hollow Utah today for the freestyle distance mass start races.  The U20 men raced 15k first, with a hard fast course, followed by the U18 men who raced 10k under really good conditions.  The temps were rising and the course was a lot softer for the U20 women and U18 women 10k races, which followed next.  By the time our U16 boys and U16 girls raced their 5k races in early afternoon, the snow was the consistency of mashed potatoes, and it was tough racing out there.

Our Team New England had some nice stand out results today, most notable, U16 Will Koch, SMS, who had his third WIN and third National title in the past 4 days!!  U18 Ben Ogden, SMS, also had a stellar race, finishing second, and making this his third podium in the last 4 days too!  Congrats to both Will and Ben on some really great racing out here in Soldier Hollow Utah!  We had 12 of our athletes finish in the top 10, earning them all an All American award today.

Our thanks go out to Paul Beirman, for sharing these links for PHOTOS from the first three days of racing here at JN’s:

http://www.uvm.edu/~pbierman/JN_2018/Tuesday

http://www.uvm.edu/~pbierman/JN_2018/Wednesday

http://www.uvm.edu/~pbierman/JN_2018/Friday

Click HERE for full results for today Mass Start Freestyle Races.

Click HERE for the most up-to-date Alaska Cup Point standings after three days of racing….New England is still in the lead, but it is a very close race this year!  Tomorrow’s relays will be the deciding factor for which team brings home the cup!  Racing starts at 9am MT.  Catch all the live action at:  https://www.xcjuniornationals2018.com/results.html

 

Wednesday March 7th was the Freestyle Sprint Day at the US Ski & Snowboard Junior Nationals here in Soldier Hollow Utah.  A bluebird sunny sky and warming temps greeted our athletes (and wax techs) as they headed out for a full day of qualifying races in the morning, and then head to head heats in the afternoon.

Team New England qualified 30 of its 45 athletes into the afternoon heats.  At the end of the day, we had 2 new National Champions, 3 podiums, and 11 All Americans (athletes finishing in the top 10 of their age group).

A huge congrats to Will Koch, SMS, for his second National Title in two days!  Will was first for the U16 men in the sprints today.

Huge congrats also go out to James Kitch, CSU juniors, for his first National Title and first place win in the U18 men’s race today.  Team mate Ben Ogden, SMS was second.  Nice to see two New England athletes share a podium again ~ two days in a row!

Full results can be found HERE on summittiming.net

 

Junior Nationals kicked off racing on Tuesday March 6th in Soldier Hollow Utah with the interval start Classic distance races.  By the end of the day, Team New England had 2 new National Champions, 4 podiums, and 13 All Americans (athletes who finished in the top 10 of their age group races).  A nice way to kick off Junior Nationals!  Team New England has 45 athletes and 13 coaches/wax techs here in Utah for the US Ski & Snowboard Junior Nationals this week.

Congrats to Will Koch, SMS, who took first place in the U16 men’s 5k distance race, and to Finn Sweet, Craftsbury Nordic, who was second!!  Always fun to see team mates on the podium together!

And congrats to Ben Ogden, SMS, who took first place in the U18 men’s 10k.  And Rena Schwartz, GMVS, who was third in the women’s U20 5k distance race.

Link to full results on summittiming.net can be found HERE

Link to some great photos taken by Paul Beirman (dad of U16 JN athlete Quincy) HERE

Good Morning New England Junior National Fans! www.xcjuniornationals2018.com will host 3 options for “watching” the race, under the results tab. Races start at 9am MT today! Go Team New England! #bringbacktheAKcup #racingfastisfun! #oneteam