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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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)
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!