Walk into any room on campus with a television and there is a solid chance that an event from the Olympic Winter Games will be unfolding on the screen. The Games, which began last Friday, have placed a rare media spotlight on the often-overlooked sport of Nordic Skiing. The Nordic ski team will offer a taste of that Olympic excitement this weekend as it heads to the Williams Carnival at Prospect Mountain in Woodford, Vermont.
Last weekend, the team finished in tenth place out of 13 teams at the 100th Annual Dartmouth Carnival, hosted by the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont. Spencer Eusden '12 once again led the men's team with a 32nd-place finish and personal-best time in the 20K Classic.
Niko Kubota '10 and Scott Longwell '12 were also strong finishers for the men, finishing 42nd and 43rd, respectively. Overall, the men finished in ninth place in Friday's classic, and 11th in the Freestyle on Saturday.
On the women's team, first year Hannah Wright led the Bowdoin pack yet again, finishing in 36th place in the 15K Classic and also achieving a personal record.
She led the Freestyle on Saturday as well, along with Elissa Rodman '10 and Erin Hatton '12. In the end, the women were 11th in the Classic and 15th in the Freestyle.
Although the team failed to beat many of its rivals, such as Bates and Colby, Coach Nathan Alsobrook was pleased with his team's efforts over the weekend.
"Both teams were right in the mix," he said. "It's encouraging for our skiers to see that they can be competitive with the rest of the conference even if we're not quite there yet."
At the Williams Carnival this coming weekend, the team will face shorter races 5 & 5K for the women and 10 & 10K for the men. The team has been preparing for the change of pace by focusing on speed interval training in practice. The short, fast pieces are designed to keep the team "sharp but rested heading into the final two weeks of the season," according to Alsobrook.
Regardless of the ultimate results of the coming race, the skiers are proud of the strides they have made this season.
"Results are something to compare yourself to the rest of the racers," said Wright, "but I mainly would love to finish up the season knowing that I did the best I could in every race."