It has been a very consistent winter for the nordic ski team, which will look to continue its solid performances this weekend at the Middlebury Carnival in Middlebury, Vermont. With only two more Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA) carnivals remaining, including Middlebury today, the Polar Bears will look to take a step up in regional rankings.
This past weekend at the Dartmouth Carnival proved to be another strong showing for the Polar Bears. Led by Spencer Eusden '12 for the men and first year Kaitlynn Miller and sophomore Hannah Wright for the women, the team finished 10th overall out of the 12 nordic teams competing on the weekend.
"Spencer and Hannah are both starting to ski up to their potential after starting the season slowly," coach Nathan Alsobrook '97 said. "This is huge for us."
On the men's side, Eusden led off the weekend with a 22nd overall finish in the 10K freestyle. He then followed up with a 21st overall finish in the 20K Classic mass start on Saturday with a time of 1:04.27.9 to earn the best individual men's performance.
Other notable men's performances on the weekend included a 34th and 38th place finish in Friday's 10K freestyle event by sophomore James Crimp and junior Wilson Dippo, respectively.
Wright led the women's team in the 5K freestyle on Friday, and Miller led the team in the 15K Classic on Saturday.
Wright crossed the finish line of the 5K freestyle 24th overall with a time of 15:18.1. She then finished the 15K Classic at 57:10.8 to take 37th overall.
Miller finished the 5K freestyle with a time of 15:37.2 to earn a 34th-place finish. The next day, she crossed the finish line 26th overall in the 15K Classic at 55:38.9.
In addition, Emma James '13 skied the best of race her career, finishing as the Polar Bear's third scorer with a 49th overall finish in the 15K classic.
"She lost a lot of training time to illness over Winter Break, so it's great to see [James] starting to come around after working so hard all summer and fall," Alsobrook said.
Each weekend presents challenges, and this weekend at Middlebury will be no exception. With very warm temperatures and possible rain forecasted for Friday, the conditions may be sloppy.
However, Alsobrook does not appear to be worried about his team.
"We will need to stay positive and focused," he said. "Our team has done a great job of this in recent weeks, so the weather shouldn't bother us."