After a record-setting performance in which the Polar Bears placed second overall at the Broomhall Cup, the goal for last weekend at the University of Vermont (UVM) Carnival was to keep up the strong skiing. They did.
"This was another good weekend for us," said coach Nathan Alsobrook '97. "No amazing individual finishes, but good solid skiing across the board."
Overall, the Polar Bears finished the weekend in 10th place out of 13 nordic ski teams at the UVM Carnival, but it was some noteworthy results against specific colleges that stole the headlines.
For the first time in recent memory, the women's team edged out Colby in Friday's 15K Classic event. In addition, the men's team tied the University of New Hampshire (UNH) in Saturday's 10K Freestyle, an impressive result considering that UNH is one of the elite nordic programs in the northeast.
"We haven't been competitive with them [UNH] often in the past, so this was encouraging," said Alsobrook.
The women were again led last weekend by first year phenom Kaitlynn Miller.
In the 15K Classic, Miller crossed the finish line with a time of 56:40.8 to earn a 19th place showing.
She then followed that up with a strong 16:38.5 time in the 5K freestyle to cross the finish line 34th overall.
Hannah Wright '13 also had a strong weekend, posting a 37th place finish in the 15K Classic and a 48th place in the 5K freestyle with times of 59:26.4 and 17:02.8, respectively.
On the men's side, junior Spencer Eusden led the way for the Polar Bears, skiing to an impressive 20th-place finish in the men's 10K freestyle competition with a time of 28:08.0.
He then followed up that performance with a solid showing in the men's 20K Classic in which he crossed the finish line at 1:06:21.9 to capture a 24th overall.
Coming in second for the Polar Bear men was junior Wilson Dippo, who earned a 28th place finish with a time of 1:06:58.5 in the 20K Classic and a 29th place finish with a time of 28:23.1 in the 10K freestyle.
After another great weekend for the Polar Bears, the road doesn't get any easier as Bowdoin begins the Dartmouth Carnival today in Hanover, New Hampshire.
This weekend at Dartmouth poses challenges not seen yet this year.
"The Dartmouth course is super challenging and includes some fun, technical downhills—old school New England skiing—so we'll find out who's been keeping up with their footwork," Alsobrook said.