NENSA News

A new Eastern High School Championships award has been named after Graham Taylor, one of the founders of The Eastern High School Cross Country Ski Championship meet.  The award will be given to the overall state winner this weekend at the Eastern High School Championships at Mountain Top Inn and Resort in Chittenden, VT. Graham has been involved in this major meet since its inception, and it is fitting that this award be named in his honor. 

Originally, state teams were comprised of  28 skiers,  14 females and 14 males, with two events, an individual event and a relay.  In 1990, the teams leaders decided the meet should  be rotated and hosted by the five states.  Massachusetts hosted the first one in 1991 at Mountain Top, Chitttenden, and again in 1997 at Craftsbury Center, with Taylor serving as Race Director at both.  The state rotation continued through the 1990’s until NENSA got firmly established in 2001.

“I have been working with Graham for the past 10 years and he has been an amazing Team Leader for 33 years.  Massachusetts is so lucky to have Graham not only leading our team but also being the driving force behind EHSC.” says Executive Director Amie Smith.

Over the years, the event has evolved into state teams of 48,  four events spanning three days,  with three individual events and a relay.  Scoring includes the top 20 females and top 20 males and top 10 relay teams per state constituting the scoring for each state team with the focus on depth, using a scoring formula developed by Taylor.  NENSA is very proud to present this award named after a living legend in nordic skiing.

New England ended the 2017 USSA Junior Nationals in Lake Placid on a high!  The relays were delayed to a noon start, due to the bitter bitter cold temps and gusty winds that enveloped our region this past weekend.  But the brutal cold conditions did not detour our team, and by the end of the day, medals were earned in each of our 6 age group divisions, and New England was on the podium for 4 out of 6 of those races.  They all raced strong and gutsy races that were oh so fun to watch ~ way to go Team NE!

And by evening, at the banquet and closing awards, Team New England, once again, won the Alaska Cup!  The final point tally for the week was:  1st place, New England, with 1352 points; 2nd place, Intermountain, with 1054 points; 3rd place, Alaska, with 984 points; 4th place Midwest with 784 points; 5th place Rocky Mountain with 580 points; 6th place Pacific NW with 474 points; 7th place Far West with 365 points; 8th place Mid-Atlantic with 351 points; 9th place Great Lakes with 181 points; and 10th place High Plains with 89 points.

Some fun facts on the Alaska CUP:  This is our fourth year in a row for winning the AK Cup, and NE has won it 11 out of the past 14 years.  But the Alaska still holds the most wins overall, since the cup started in 1986 – 16 overall wins to our 13 from NE.  Intermountain has won twice and the Midwest once, in years past.  The cup was a gift to Junior Nationals in 1986 by the Alaska team, thus why it is called the Alaska Cup.  Next year, I think our toughest competition will be from Intermountain, who had great results this year, and will be hosting Junior Nationals in 2018 in Soldier Hollow.  But as always, team New England will be up for the challenge.

Relay Results:

Our U20 men won GOLD ~ the relay team of Kamran Husain, Koby Gordon & Daniel Streinz.

Our U20 women won SILVER ~ the relay team of Alexandra Lawson, Mary Kretchmer & Mackenzie Rizzo.

Our U18 men won SILVER ~ with the relay team of Elliot Ketchel, Adam Glueck and Ben Ogden.

Our U16 girls won SILVER ~ with the relay team of Charlotte Ogden, Anna Lehmann and Abigail Streinz.

Our U18 women were in the medals for 5th place, with the relay team of Rena Schwartz, Kirsten Miller and Callie Young.

Our U16 boys were also in the medals for 4th place, with the relay team of Will Koch, Matthew Moreau, and Josh Valentine.

I want to give a HUGE shout out to our VOLUNTEER JN staff – the coaches and wax techs – who make this trip possible:  Head Coach, Matt Boobar, age group coaches – Adam Terko, Kat Howe, Pat Casey, Rob Bradlee, Audrey Mangan and Alex Jospe, and our wax techs – Ollie Burruss, Jeremy Hecker, Justin Fereshetain, Jake Barton and Jeremey Nellis.  THANK YOU to all of you!

 

 

Over the weekend the U16 Championships were held at Titcomb Mountain in Farmington, Maine. This Championship event is an important step in the NENSA development pipeline. These Championships bridge the gap between the New England Bill Koch League and Middle School skiing to high school racing, the Eastern High School Championships and Junior Nationals. There was a great field of 14 and 15 year old athletes representing Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York and a guest team from the Midwest.

The first race of the weekend was the 5k skate held on Friday which went off like clockwork.  On Saturday, low temperatures delayed the start of the 5k classic to midday which unfortunately cancelled the skate sprint.  Thanks to great race organization and experienced coaches and Team Leaders, all of the teams adapted to the new schedule once mother nature started cooperating.

The most exciting race of the weekend was on Sunday, the team relay! This race has four legs alternating between girls and boys, with two classic and two skate legs. The race began with a girls mass start classic race, which had ample room for a clean start.  At the end of each leg, skiers came out of the woods, and though the stadium before tagging off to the next skier. This set up really helped coaches call out numbers and line up skiers in the tag zone. The last leg of the relay was the boys skate. Finn Sweet from Vermont crossed the line with just over a minute lead to win the relay. Adam Carlisle from Team Massachusetts and New Hampshire skier Cal Schrupp battled closely for second and third place with  Team Massachusetts earning the 2nd step on the podium by 1 tenth of a second.

The awards ceremony took place at noon on Sunday, where the announcer recognized the race organizers and sponsors. Tony Ramsey gave a special award to Fred Griffin for his work as a TD, Teacher, Coach and for serving as NENSA’s Executive Director for almost 10 years. The top 5 relays teams were called up, and the top three were given local maple syrup and awards handmade with local wood. Team scores for the weekend were then announced, with NY in 5th place, MA in 4th place, ME taking 3rd place, NH in second and Vermont taking the win and the U16 Championship Cup!

The best part of the entire weekend is watching the camaraderie at the start and finish lines between all of the athletes and the unity and support within each team.  Friendships are made during this weekend that can last well beyond high school. Thank you to Titcomb Mountain and the Farmington Ski Club for hosting a great weekend of racing. Thank you also to all the parents and coaches who supported these young athletes with food and waxing.  And Thank You all to the Team Leaders who keep the teams organized and make sure everything runs smoothly.

Find results from the weekend here on barttiming.com

Races were delayed this morning at Titcomb Mountain in Farmington, Maine for U16 Championships. The 5 km individual classic race was delayed until 12:00 p.m. for the girls and 1:30 for the boys. The afternoon sprint races were cancelled. The temperatures rose slightly for race time, but the wind was still a factor in the start area. The format changed to three in a wave every 30 seconds so that skiers could start closer to the shelter of the woods. There were many helping hands at the start of the races to keep skiers warm with blankets, before they headed off into the woods for their races.

Ingrid Miller from Vermont came in third place today with a time of 17:50, and Maine skier Isabelle Jandreau took second place with a time of 17:33. Winning by one second from Vermont was Adrienne Remick with a time of 17:32. In the boys race, Linden Niedeck from Massachusetts placed third in 14:55, Cal Schrupp from New Hampshire was second in 14:50, and Vermont skier Finn Sweet won the race in 14:40.

Tonight the banquet was held at The University of Maine at Farmington for a delicious pasta dinner and all the fixings. During dinner, a bib draw was held for some great raffle prizes donated by local sponsors. The top 10 boys and girls in both the skate and classic individual events were given hand made wooden medals, and the top three were given maple syrup as well.

The top three overall individual awards were given off of accumulative points from the two individual events. For the girls, Andrienne Remick from Vermont was third, Isabelle Jandreau from Maine was second, and Vermont skier Ingrid Miller was first overall. Third place overall was Linden Niedeck from Massachusetts, and in a tie for first place was Cal Schrupp from New Hampshire and Vermont skier Finn Sweet.

Get excited because tomorrow are the team RELAY RACES!!!!

Find full results here: http://www.barttiming.com/XCski/j2f2017/j2f2017.htm

 

Yesterday was the classic races, individual starts, day at Junior Nationals.  The original format for mass starts had to be changed when the venue was changed from Mt. Van Hoevenberg to the Olympic Jump Site last week.  Team New England had another strong day of results, and two new National Champions ~ Ben Ogden, SMS, won the men’s 10k, and Julia Kern, SMS Elite, won the women’s 10k!  Congratulations to both of them!

New England had 13 top 10 results (for All American Honors) and placed 28 of our skiers into top 20, for Alaska Cup points scoring.

For the U20 Women:  The gold medal went to Julia Kern, SMS Elite.  4th place was Alex Lawson, Craftsbury Nordic; 6th place Mackenzie Rizio, UVM; 11th place Mary Kretchmer, Gunstock Nordic; 17th place Avery Ellis, Craftsbury Nordic; 19th place Ingrid Thyr, Williams College; and rounding out the top 20 was Annika Landas, Middlebury College in 20th.

For the U20 Men:  4th place went to Daniel Streinz, Mountain Endurance; 7th place to Koby Gordon, Dartmouth College; 12th place to Finn O’Connell, UVM; 13th place Kamran Husain, SMS; and 14th place to Conor Hrynuk, UMPI.

For the U18 Women:  5th place went to Rena Schwartz, GMVS; 7th place to Gabby Vandendries, CSU juniors; 14th place went to Mae Chalmers, SMS; and 19th place went to Hannah Reiders, CSU juniors.

For the U18 Men:  The gold medal went to Ben Ogden, SMS.  7th place went to Elliot Ketchel, GMVS; 8th place to Adam Gluck, Ford Sayer; 11th place to Russell Boswell, SMS; 12th to Nick Wilkerson, GMVS; 15th to James Kitch, CSU juniors; and 19th to Walker Bean, GMVS.

For the U16 Girls:  12th place went to Anna Lehmann, SMS; and 16th place went to Charlotte Ogden, SMS.

For the U16 Boys:  4th place went to Josh Valentine, Gunstock Nordic, 5th place to Will Koch, SMS; and 16th place to Zander Martin, SMS.

Today’s Team Relay Races are delayed until 12 noon, due to extremely cold temps.   Team New England is leading in the Alaska Cup points going into today’s Team Relays(!), but we can not take anything for grated, and Team New England is excited to defend this lead today!