Season
We at Cornell Nordic have had a long and exciting season (it didn’t feel all that long) which culminated last week in our National Championships in Winter Park, Colorado.
As mentioned before, our season kicked off with a FREEZING week at Mt. St. Anne in Quebec where nighttime lows neared -35 degrees (Farenheit or Celcius, take your pick) and daytime highs sometimes only reached -10F or so. We had cars that wouldn’t start, PB&J that couldn’t get eaten, and many a tooth chipped (don’t ask). Despite this, we got in some great skiing and the new skiiers (Kristoph, Platon, Eugene, Doro, Colette, Sara, Eva, Beth, Anna, Daisy, Carolyn, Sam) really impressed us with their skiing. After this, our season consisted of weekend races where highlights included staying at the Army Barracks and doing a biathlon at Ethan Allen, VT, a [dimly lit] nighttime race at Viking Nordic, VT, our amazing home race in Lake Placid, NY, a pleasant, but unnoteworthy race at Lapland Lakes, NY, and the annual Valentine’s Day Race in Prospect, VT.
Our regionals race was held at Waterville Valley, NH where we were able to lodge right next to the race course. The skies were sunny and a lot of people put in great races over the two days. Our girls ended up REGIONAL CHAMPIONS beating the likes of Clarkson and UMPI for the team title. Melinda McAleese also ended up as REGIONAL CHAMPION for the ladies.
After a week to catch up (or fail to) on school work, a FULL team consisting of Erin Wolcott, Melinda McAleese, Jess Marion, Julia Schoen, Anna Knight, Bobby Penney, Brian Macpherson, Owen Skinner, Patrick Nadeau, Chris Mui, and distinguished alumnus Aaron Duphily headed out to Colorado to compete at National Championships. Along the way, we ran into some sleeping through alarm issues, car trouble (RIP car with 1 heat setting), delayed flights, canceled flights, and the like. Despite all this, the team was able to pull together and enjoy the amazing scenery, sunny skies, handsome condo, and great skiing conditions at Devil’s Thumb Ranch. To quote influential Beat Poet Chris Mui:
“After the race, wispy
clouds peel off the top of snow capped rockies like the celestial host
rising on high. The sun has burned through a gray blanket and this valley
wears its new robes well; an azure ceiling hangs over a pure white floor . I
am awed and check to make sure I am still alive.”
Also influential from Mr. Mui:
“Our Glorious Director of Floros and Things That Make Your Skis Shiny, Aaron
Duphily, destroys the soap dispenser in the shower while practicing his
mixed martial arts moves.”
On our first day of races, freestyle sprints were held under the lights at Winter Park’s alpine resort much to the bewilderment and amusement of alpiners and snowboarders alike. Melinda McAleese was able to overcome a missed turn to take 1st overall for the women while Jess Marion took 14th, Erin Wolcott took 17th, and Anna Knight took 19th. On the Men’s side, Brian Macpherson took 20th, Patrick Nadeau took 27th, Chris Mui took 28th, Owen Skinner took 30th, and Bobby Penney took 31st.
At the next 8.5k classic race, Cornell started doing better and better, which was a trend repeated all week. The women took 1st, 15th, 21st, and 31st with un-sick Julia Schoen swapping out for a very sick Erin Wolcott. The men took 20th, 22nd, 24th, 28th, and 31st.
At the 15k skate race, the men had perhaps their best race of the season beating East Coast teams that wailed on us all year. Brian Macpherson took 10th, Chris Mui took 23rd, Bobby Penney took 24th, Owen Skinner took 26th, and Patrick Nadeau took 34th. This was good enough to take 5th for the day, beating Army, Air Force, Clarkson, and Paul Smith from the East. The women fared even better, taking 7th, 16th, 25th, and 29th and finishing 5th for the day as well.
For the relay 3×5 mixed relay (classic classic skate), the women enjoyed sun and nice klister conditions just missing a podium in 4th place. By 11:00am it was blizzarding and the men struggled through covered klister conditions and slow skating conditions to take 6th place.
All in all, the West was really good this year, but Melinda showed them the East is still boss and pulled out 1st place overall. From there, things generally collapsed into chaos with more delayed, canceled, and generally miserable flights resulting in a night spent on the floor of Chicago O’Hare airport and much lost luggage. The team survived and is now stronger because of it.