NENSA News

April 7, 2022

To the New England Nordic Ski Association Community,

Amie W. Smith, Executive Director of the New England Nordic Ski Association (NENSA), has shared with the Board her decision to leave her position to explore other creative pursuits. Amie has been Executive Director since 2016 and through her efforts NENSA has become a leader in North American skiing for its engaging and diverse youth programming, competitive success at all levels, and strong industry partnerships. She leaves NENSA with a strong and talented staff in place, and in good financial stability.

Amie has been connected to NENSA for decades, starting as a “racer parent” and youth coach as her girls grew up in the Eastern Massachusetts Bill Koch League and Cambridge Sports Union and through their years of collegiate racing. She was volunteer Trip Leader for the New England team to Junior Nationals in 2014 and 2015 before officially joining NENSA as the Director of Competitive Programs in June of that year. Her professional leadership and ebullient personality have successfully guided NENSA through challenging times, not the least of which has been two years of the pandemic. NENSA Board Chair Carol Van Dyke says Amie will be greatly missed and “Her attention to detail, dedication to NENSA’s mission, mentorship especially to women, her passion for the sport, and her positive approach to all issues uplifted everyone to do their best and she leaves the organization in a far stronger position than what it was at the start of her tenure.”

We are grateful that Amie will stay on to help with the transition over the next four months.  She will continue to be involved with NENSA as a Technical Delegate and coaching with her local BKL Club at Prospect Mountain. The sport and industry of cross-country skiing are grateful for her years of service.

The Board of Directors of NENSA will open a national search that invites qualified individuals to apply for this position later in April.

With Regards,

The New England Nordic Ski Association Board of Directors

   

NENSA along with U.S. Ski Team staff will be hosting the 2022 Eastern Regional Camp (REG) at Craftsbury from July 2 through July 7.  Athlete invitations will be sent out after the posting of U.S. Ski & Snowboard List 10 (listed as valid April 7th).

Coaches who are interested in being a part of this development opportunity should email [email protected]

2022-2023 Eastern Cup Bid Sheet

The winter of 2021-2022 was a “Great Restart” and our venues created a spectacular Eastern Cup Series despite an ongoing pandemic and a low snow year. The venues preparation, knowledgable staffs along with robust volunteers, and snowmaking systems made for a memorable season that boasted one of our largest annual participation numbers with nearly 3000 competitors. There was a beautiful blend of junior, collegiate and international skiers in our fields — which provided awesome experiences — whether athletes enjoyed their first nationally sanctioned race, or went on to represent the New England at Junior Nationals (where NE was the strongest division), or the US Ski Team in World Cup competition — and everything else in between. Eastern venues continue to raise the bar and are HUGE component to the strength of our region.

Last season two Eastern Cups were hosted in conjunction with SuperTours and one with an EISA carnival. Those balanced overlaps are always welcome, boost field size and the level of competition.

We are also hopeful that more NENSA involvement with designated Popular events will become an attractive option for venues in years they might not host an Eastern Cup. Bids for Popular races and Marathons are also open.

The East does not currently have any proposed SuperTour bids during the Eastern Cup season, although Craftsbury has a bid for SuperTour Finals at the end of March. The SuperTour schedule will be finalized at U.S. Ski & Snowboard Congress in early May. Venues that might be interested in hosting a Super Tour in 2022-2023 should submit a Request for Proposal immediately.

Eastern Cup bids will be reviewed throughout the month and presented to the Athletic Development Committee (ADC) prior to NENSA’s Board Meeting the weekend of May 14th.

Please find U.S. Ski & Snowboard Congress sanctioning fees and head tax info included on the bid sheet, and additional event fee responsibilities.

We look forward to receiving your bids, and working with you throughout the year to make your event and New England’s premier races the best they can be.

Bids are due by May 2nd. Please direct questions to [email protected]

2022-2023 Eastern Cup Bid Sheet

This past winter, young skiers all across the east from Buffalo, NY to Moosehead, ME participated in NENSA’s second annual virtual XC Ski Bingo game completing activities ranging from night skiing to backcountry skiing to three-legged skiing. This year, with open borders, everyone participated on one card although participants could get Bingo by completing a row or column of activities without leaving their home state or their own backyard! Participation grew this year with 71 unique participants skiing in 6 states (MA, ME, NH, NY, VT, and WI) in 2 countries (US and Canada) at 64 different ski areas! The smiles and stories shared by participants were inspiring and heartwarming, and we were truly excited to see how many young people got outside to play on their skis. 

Like last year, we think the participants and their families tell their stories better themselves. So without further delay, here is some of what they had to share: 

“Our backcountry ski was right out our front door and to some tree farm trails we have never explored before! It was so much fun and felt adventurous even though we were close to home.”

“​​Love racing my sisters up the hills!”

“I loved playing ‘Fire In The Forest’ with my friends in Bill Koch club!  I made pizza for a snack when I went backcountry skiing with my sister. I like cold pizza and cold snow.”

“So exciting trying night skiing for the first time, we loved it!!!”

“We had fun building jumps with our BKL club after the big snow storm!”

“Saw a horse and cows while skiing!!!”

“I am lucky because I get to ski two or three times every week. My grandma let me use her trail tracker app to log how many miles we ski.”

“We made a family human slalom course and didn’t use our poles all day! It was hard work but really fun.”

“I was able to ski with Gretchen the Grouse at Prospect.”

“Had a blast at Alleghany winter cabins this year on open trails to skijour with the dog!”

“My brother and I would “compete” at our Bill Koch practices to see who could complete the most items on our Bingo list. This is my first time skiing and I really love my Bill Koch friends. I even raced for the first time at the Festival this weekend and had a great time!” 

“I kept asking Mom to bring me to the lantern ski at Great Brook, but there was no snow when we were able to go. I was so determined to night ski that I took my skis and hit the trails behind my house.”

“Zeke knew that he needed to ski to the high point to get Bingo, so it provided the extra encouragement to push a little farther on a beautiful day. The reward was a super fun downhill where he squealed with delight and finished with a huge smile on his face. And his 3.5 year old brother, who was being pulled in a chariot, also loved the fun and fast downhill. Family memories to cherish and finish the ski season on a very high note!”

“My favorite bingo activity was the 3-legged race! My friend and I did it and tried to skate! Classic would’ve been a better choice, but it was so fun! We laughed so hard the whole time! I thought we were going to fall over from laughing.”

We are grateful to the families and ski areas that supported participants in their many activities. And we are also grateful our NENSA sponsors for providing fantastic Bingo raffle prizes.

Click below for an album with more Bingo photos to see what the players have been up to all winter and happy spring!

PHOTOS

The Farmington Ski Club and Titcomb Mountain put on a great event for this year’s Eastern High School Championships, the region’s first since 2019.  Skiers from across New England, along with guest teams from the Great Lakes and Midwest regions, gathered for two days and three thrilling races.

An early spring arrival and subsequent melt down meant our host venue had to pull out all the stops to ensure the best conditions possible for the event with shovel crews tirelessly working to patch the courses.  Additionally, the mountain’s manager harvested snow from the alpine slope to bridge the gap between the cross country stadium and lower alpine slopes to make very exciting sprint and relay courses.  Titcomb Mountain very graciously closed their alpine activities to allow the best possible experience for our high school cross country athletes!

The first day of racing saw teams break out warm klister to combat the rainfall Mother Nature bestowed upon us.  The girls kicked off racing with a two lap 7.5km interval start classic race.  An hour and half later the boys took their turn on the same course.  This year’s event saw the inclusion of adaptive racer Otis Loga of Vermont who did a three lap rolling course that paralleled the able bodied course for the first race.  NENSA and Titcomb were thrilled and honored to have Otis compete in this Championship event.

Day two started with the girls XCX, a cross country sprint with terrain features, followed soon after by the boys.  The host venue was particularly excited and proud of this race.  They had manipulated the snow on the lower alpine slopes to create big banked turns, rollers, and a drop jump.  These were accompanied by a barrel turn, gates, blue paint, and an alternate line around the drop jump for those seeking less thrills but no one used the alternate line! Spring conditions made balance in the soft snow challenging, but the athletes took it in stride.  A large crowd of spectators gathered to watch the athletes climb to the high point and then descend through the features.  Many “ooohs” and “ahhhs” could be heard from the crowd as the skiers zipped by and a few entertained the crowd further with drop jump tricks.  Rounding out the sprint events for the morning was the adaptive race.  Otis received lots of cheering and camaraderie from the other athletes and state teams.

Following a lunch break racing action resumed with the freestyle relay.  Teams of four–two girls and two boys–from each state/region made their way around a 3.5km course with the first half in the woods and the second half on a watered down version of the XCX course.  One team included a mix between able bodied and adaptive racers with Otis skiing the anchor leg.  New this year was a tag less relay exchange where finishing athletes skied in a lane parallel to the starting athletes and had to cross a designated line before their starting teammates could cross their respective start line.  The format resulted in clean handoffs and no carnage in the exchange zone, a big change from years past! The relay saw another large crowd gather in the stadium and along the alpine slope to cheer on the athletes.  It was a welcome sight after two years of restricted viewing opportunities.

Below are 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.

Girls 7.5km Classic

1. Hattie Barker, VT
2. Evelyn Walton, MA
3. Emma Charles, ME
4. Isabella Synnestvedt, MA
5. Catherine Stow, NH
6. Elsa Bolinger, NH
7. Francesca Kitch, MA
8. Isabelle Serrano, VT
9. Virginia Cobb, VT
10. Clara Lake, MA

Boys Adaptive 2.5km

1. Otis Loga

Boys 7.5km Classic

1. Ellis Slover, ME
2. Joey Rouhana, ME
3. Nate Livingood, ME
4. Samuel Murray, NH
5. Nico Hochanadel, VT
6. Evan O’Conner, GL-MW
7. Luke Rizio, VT
8. William Riley, NH
9. Nathan Doughty, MA
10. Tzevi Schwartz, VT

Girls 1.2km XCX

1. Evelyn Walton, MA
2. Hattie Barker, VT
3. Emma Charles, ME
4. Catherine Stow, NH
5. Clara Lake, MA
6. Francesca Kitch, MA
7. Mirra Payson, MA
8. Elsa Bolinger, NH
9. Elsa Granholm, NH
10. Julia Thurston

Boys Adaptive 1.2km

1. Otis Loga

Boys 1.2km XCX

1. Nate Livingood ME
2. Quinn McDermott, MA
2.  Ellis Slover, ME
4. Derek Waddick, GL-MW
5. Mitchell Townsend, NH
6. Luke Rizio, VT
7. Anders Linseisen, VT
8. Sam Folland, GL-MW
9. Lucas Daly, MA
10. Leo Circosta, VT
10.  Joey Rouhana, ME

Girls Overall

1. Evelyn Walton
1. Hattie Barker
3. Emma Charles

Boys Overall

1. Ellis Slover
2. Nate Livingood
3. Joey Rouhana, ME

Mixed Freestyle Relay 

1. VT 1: Maggie McGee, Luke Rizio, Hattie Barker, Tzevi Schwartz
2. MA 1: Isabella Synnestvedt, Nathan Doughty, Evelyn Walton, Quinn McDermott
3. VT 2: Virginia Cobb, Anders Linseisen, Rebecca Cunningham, Nico Hochanadel
4. VT 3: Emma Crum, Leo Circosta, Isabelle Serrano, Austin Beard
5. ME 1: Emma Charles, Nate Livingood, Nyla Scott, Ellis Slover

Congratulations to Team Vermont on winning the Graham Taylor Cup with the highest team score!

Results | Event Photos | Mount Blue TV Coverage

We want to take a moment to thank the Farmington Ski Club and Titcomb for preparing amazing courses this weekend and for hosting a fun 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 EHS Champs, and BART Timing for timing. And last but not least, thank you to all the athlete and coaches for bringing your energy, enthusiasm, and love of skiing to this event!

In June, Barney Hodges, the Director of the Rikert Nordic Center and Andrew Johnson, the Head Coach of the Middlebury College Ski Team brought forth a plan to create a festival to end the 2022 ski season.  Their idea was to utilize the amazing resources of the Middlebury College facilities, its staff and connections within the local and broader skiing community to celebrate the winter.  The plan included making this the first edition of an event that will grow into the future.

The 2022 format of the Rikert Grand Prix was a 3-day race event hosted by both the Rikert Nordic Center and Middlebury College Snow Bowl in Ripton, VT.  Preparations for the late March event were part of the vision of snowmaking throughout the winter — regardless and unbeknownst that we would have one of the lowest Vermont snowfall totals in recorded history.  The efforts at Rikert and the Bowl paid off for the some hundred brave souls who were not ready to hang up their skis!

Video of the Hill Climb.

Full Results.

Utilizing an a-la-carte-mini-tour-format, racers could test themselves in a freestyle prologue, a 10 kilometer classic mass start, and a final stage pursuit-start hill climb.  The largest field of the weekend was drawn to the hill climb, which utilized a closed alpine mountain for a fast but, grueling climb up the Lang Trail after a brisk assent and descent on the bottom pitch of the Ross.  Post race, competitors drew together to celebrate the masters skiers who braved the elements, and perhaps the most robust prize table and best attended awards of the season.  Every competitor received something, with generous donations from Fischer, Toko, Enjoy Winter, Boulder Nordic Sport East, and Caldwell Sport.  There was also $2400 in prize money that was spread between the days, rewarding the top skiers.

The Grand Prix offered something for every level of skier, with men and women racing the same distances.  With U.S. Ski & Snowboard and New England Nordic Ski Association sanctioning, the event was as much geared towards elite athletes hoping to take home a cash prize as it was for junior and master skiers looking to challenge themselves on entertaining courses.  While the strength 0f University of Vermont and other collegiate skiers was undeniable — all skiers were very much a part of this celebratory event.  As we begin to reflect on the “Great Restart” that the 2022 ski season was, race organizers should continue to think outside the box like Hodges and Johnson did by creating new formats and making a total race experience.

The second half of Junior Nationals put Team New England to the test — with mass start classic racing and a perennial favorite event, team relays.  After two days of New England dominance in the freestyle and sprint events it would be a hard charging Midwestern team that would take the win on the day in the classic races.  One of the huge factors heading into the Championships was to keep everybody healthy, with strict protocols to limit potential exposure to Covid.  Throughout the week New England athletes and staff did a superb job of accommodating and responding to any potential health concerns — trying to limit any unneeded stress on the athletes.  The mass start races also proved to have a fair share of spills and equipment breakage — both factors that held some athletes back from their top performances on the day.

Despite these challenges three skiers dug deep and came out as National Champions in the classic races: U18’s Fin Bailey (SMS) and Ava Thurston (Mansfield) and U20 Nina Seeman (Dartmouth).  It’s a pretty remarkable statistic when you have one division win half of the races at such a highly competitive event.  Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that Thurston and Seeman won all three of the individual events for their age group!  At the end of Friday’s races New England claimed six podiums and nine top-10 All  American results 🇺🇸.  U20M Aidan Burt (UVM)🥈; U20W Nina Seeman (Dartmouth)🥇 Cat Stow (Gunstock)🥈; U18M Fin Bailey (SMS)🥇; Jack Lange (SMS) 7th; U18W Ava Thurston (Mansfield)🥇; U16M Tabor Greenberg (GMVS)🥈; U16W Annelies Hanna (Craftsbury) 4th and Julia Thurston (Mansfield) 10th!

The Dave Quinn Award is awarded each year to one Junior National athlete.  Each of the 10 divisions nominates one person, and then all 10 divisional cast one vote.  The Dave Quinn Award recognizes that JN athlete who best exemplifies the ideals of the cross country sport that Dave Quinn expressed thought out his life.  In addition to outstanding results, nominees should have special attributes such as love of the sport, leadership, overcoming hardship, worth ethic, which make them unique.  New England nominated Mr. Jack Lange for his leadership throughout the event, including nightly pep talks to the entire team, and his unmatched love of cross country skiing and competition.

After a hard fought day on the classic tracks Team New England woke up Saturday ready to show their very best in the freestyle relays.  For the first time in Junior National history the relays were mixed gender — providing for some really exciting races and showing the true depth of each division.  The first race of the day belonged to the U16’s: Tabor Greenberg(GMVS), Quinn McDermott (Berkshire Nordic), Beth McIntosh (Frost Mountain) and Annelies Hanna (Ford Sayre) put on a show and set the stage for an amazing sweep of all three age groups.  These results would cement the overall team award, bringing the Alaska Cup home to New England for the seventh time in ten years!

Video of U16 Finish

Despite highlighting the top results from the races in Minneapolis — New England’s continued success belongs to the whole region.  The team that traveled to Junior Nationals was shaped by the competition and community we find at training camps, rollerski races, popular races and Eastern Cups throughout the year.  It took a herculean effort to get a team of sixty plus skiers and staff to the event after two years of a pandemic.  The skiers and support staff rose to the challenge, unifying as a team, finding success and new friendships.

Detailed Results

  I moved to New England two years ago and I am so grateful that I did. My experiences with New England racing and training have been amazing. This year, I went to all the eastern cups and met many wonderful people there who made me feel like I was a part of a tight knit and welcoming community of hard working athletes, coaches, organizers, and parents. After traveling to Junior Nationals, I feel even more a part of this great group of people. 

  Out in Minnesota I definitely had my ups and downs. I had a few races that did not go as I had hoped, and yet, I was still able to enjoy my time. I believe that this is all due to the uplifting group of people around me. We all tried to communicate with each other on how our races went. If a race went well, we all congratulated and celebrated with that person. If a race did not go as planned, we worked together to lift that person up and help them get back to having fun. After a few tough races for me, I was revamped by the teamwork of the super fun relay races. One of my best races and most fun races ever was the relay and I heard from many other people that they share the same attitude towards that day of racing. The fact that the relay was so great for so many people on team New England shows that we are not only strong individuals but a strong and uplifting team. 

  This great attitude continued through the fun activities we did as a whole team or as an age group outside of skiing. I had tons of fun playing tag in our afternoon mobility, receiving some snow balls to the face, showing off my terrible bowling skills, and emptying the shelves at trader joe’s of all peanut butter and chocolate milk. I also can’t remember another time that I voluntarily sat in the hallway of a hotel for hours. During our free time, I really enjoyed resting in the hall and hanging out with my new friends. We spent so much time just talking and getting to know each other. It was awesome to meet people from all over New England and the world, with Elsa and Maddie from Sweden and Australia, who I had raced with in the past but had never had full conversations with. Another uplifting routine we got into was the team meetings every night. Everything from sharing thoughts of the day at our U18 girls meetings to the awesome speeches/ pep-talks from our team leaders. Jack Lange truly made me remember how much this team cares about each other and our success as a whole group. I am really going to miss the fun times we had at JN’s and am looking forward to seeing everyone at the end of the season races, camps, and next race season. I think that the immense success that team New England had is all thanks to the amazing coaches, wax techs, organizers, and team mates that we had out there. As a team, we not only succeeded in winning the coveted Alaska Cup but we showed other teams what real team spirit looks like! Thank you so much to everyone who supported team New England and let’s keep the cup for many years to come!

Even in the face of challenging and changeable conditions, the athletes at Eastern U16 Championships this past weekend in Jackson, NH showed determination, strength, camaraderie, team spirit, and support. Eastern U16 Championship is the premier event for U16 cross country ski racers in New England and New York. The goal of the Eastern U16 Championships 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 weekend one moment in particular stood out as a moment that exemplified what U16s is all about. As the last relay racer finisher in the final race of the weekend entered the stadium, the athletes who had already finished lined up along the finishing strait to cheer him in and a group of competitors from another state ran along the fence yelling encouragement all the way to line. 

This past weekend’s even hosted by JacksonXC was a slightly shortened version of the typical event and featured a 5k wave freestyle race Saturday followed by a 1.2k freestyle sprint and a mixed gender classic relay Saturday. Below are 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.

Girls 5k Freestyle
1. Ava Schneider, VT
2. Nyla Scott, ME
3. Reese Furneaux, ME
4. Addi Englund, NH
5. Hannah Petersen, MA
6. Frances Tucker, MA
7. Rowan Tanguay, ME
8. Sarah Glueck, NH
9. Ruth Krebs, VT
10. Vienna Mahar, MA

Boys 5k Freestyle
1. James Underwood, VT
2. David Northcott, NH
3. Abrahm Geissinger, ME
4. Oliver Swabey, MA
5. Oliver Wilson, NH
6. Charlie Kehler, VT
7. Alexander Scopinich-Burgel, MA
8. Henri McCourt, ME
9. Sam Currie, MA
10. Baxter Harrington, VT

Girls Sprint
1. Nyla Scott, ME
2. Frances Tucker, MA
3. Sarah Glueck, NH
4. Ava Schneider, VT
5. Sara McGill, VT
6. Ruth Krebs, VT
7. Ella Ronci, NH
8. Sadie Bell, VT
9. Reese Furneaux, ME
10. Sylvia Harvey, ME

Boys Sprint
1. Niko Cuneo, VT
2. Oliver Wilson, NH
3. Alexander Scopinich-Burgel, MA
4. Quinn Uva, VT
5. Oliver Swabey, MA
6. Charlie Kehler, VT
7. James Underwood, VT
8. Teo Steverlynck-Horne, ME
9. Andrew Krieger, MA
10. Matthew Clarner, NH

Girls Overall
1. Nyla Scott, ME
2. Ava Schneider, VT
3. Frances Tucker, MA

Boys Overall
1. James Underwood, VT
2. Oliver Wilson, NH
3. Alexander Scopinich-Burgel, MA

Mixed Classic Relay
1. NH 1: Sarah Glueck, Oliver Wilson, Addi Englund & David Northcott,
2. VT 1: Ava Schneider, Charlie Kehler, Ruth Krebs & James Underwood
3. ME 1: Nyla Scott, Abrahm Geissinger, Reese Furneaux, & Henri McCourt
4. VT 2: Sadie Bell, Quinn Uva, Sara McGill & Niko Cuneo
5. MA 1: Frances Tucker, Alexander Scopinich-Burgel, Sarah Kirincich & Sam Currie

Congratulations to Team New Hampshire on the overall win in a tight competition! The points spread between teams was one of the closest in years.

Full Results (including team scores) | Event Photos

Additional event photos courtesy of Tom Bartol:

Girl’s 5K Freestyle | Boys’s 5K Freestyle | Girl’s Sprint | Boy’s Sprint |Relay | Awards

We want to take a moment to thank JacksonXC for preparing amazing courses this weekend and for hosting a fun 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 U16 Champs, and Bullitt Timing for stellar data management and event timing. And last but not least, thank you to all the athlete and coaches for bringing your energy, enthusiasm, and love of skiing to this event!

Team New England returned to Junior National competition in Minneapolis, Minnesota this week with gusto.  After a two-year hiatus all ten U.S. Ski & Snowboard regions reconvened for this celebrated event, with a few of the strongest divisions sights set on the coveted Alaska Cup.  The Alaska Cup not only rewards individual performances, but rather the depth of the full team.  After two days of excellent competition, Team New England (717 points) has a sturdy lead over the Midwest of 218 points.  Alaska sits in third with 438.

Alaska Cup Point Tallies

Team New England arrived in Minneapolis after a very successful Eastern Cup season that saw venues in four different states: Maine, New York, Vermont and New Hampshire.  This schedule allowed for a balanced, yet extremely competitive regular season including two SuperTour events.  The final weekend of Junior National qualification, hosted this year by the Dublin School, tends to be a junior-centric event — providing head to head competition amongst the top juniors in the region.  This exciting weekend really highlights the depth of our region and allows for some last minute adjustments to the Junior National team based on who is skiing fast at that moment.  While there is a finite number of athletes that can make the trip — it is the whole of the energy and resources of our region that make Team New England so strong!

Team New England was greeted to a beautiful Opening Ceremonies in downtown Minneapolis over a stone arch bridge.  All teams marched with pride and the excitement of returning to National level competition was evidenced by a goodhearted snowball fight!  New England looked sharp and focused in their well known blue and yellow snowflake Swix uniforms.

Monday saw the first competition, with freestyle interval start races.  Team NE came out of the gates hot with eight podiums and 14 top-ten All Americans.  While our veteran skiers performances were outstanding there were many amazing results by first time Junior National skiers too!

Highlights included: U20 Women Nina Seeman🥇 and Cat Stow🥉 — U18 Women Ava Thurston🥇 Hattie Barker🥉 Sofia Scirica 5th and Evie Walton 6th — U16 Girls Beth McIntosh 5th and Annelies Hanna 9th — U20 Men Aidan Burt🥉 Jack Young 9th — U18 Men Jack Lange🥈 Sam Gallaudet 8th and Fin Bailey 9th — U16 Boys Tabor Greenberg🥇 Micah Bruner🥉 and Quinn McDermott 4th.

As always it takes a total team effort including athletes, coaches and amazing wax techs!

Wednesday saw classic sprint competition and Team NE crushed it again.  With conditions teetering on the line between hardwax and klister our skiers and techs felt right at home, not to mention some help from premixes that were born back East.  An amazing stat: three-quarters of the team qualified for the afternoon heats.  The second day of races saw 16 top-ten All Americans and five podiums, including three National Champions — Congrats to Fin Bailey🥇for U18 men, Ava Thurston🥇for U18 women and Nina Seeman🥇U20 women. Jack Young took🥈for the U20 men and Ellis Slover got🥉for the U16 boys.

Action continues on Friday with Mass Start Classic races — you can view Livestreaming here.

Full results available here.
NENSA’s IG account for more pictures and video.