Mansfield Nordic Club

If you are involved with anything long enough, you are bound to see some things come full circle. Over 6 years ago, Brandon Herhusky (aka “Dingo”) was a Junior skier arriving at UVM from California without a roster spot on the EISA team. I was approached by Brandon and his mother Stacey, and after a dinnertime meeting down on the waterfront we had settled on a plan for the 2017/2018 season.

Brandon would take on the unique challenge of attending UVM, but training and racing with MNC. Without a car in Vermont, and while still learning the entire area itself (from both a training and living perspective) Brandon made it work through a lot of effort.

Here’s a photo with a LOT of fun connections, if you know where their career trajectories took Aidan and Brandon!

After a season of training and racing with MNC, Brandon caught the D1 attention of the University of Alaska Anchorage, where he spent the next four years racing on the RMISA circuit. In addition, as a U20 Brandon’s Junior career concluded with a fantastic 4th place in the sprint event at Junior Nationals in Soldier Hollow, Utah.

Brandon racing for MNC in Lake Placid, January 2017!

With a love of training and learning about the sport at the core of his approach, it was clear even before he finished his competitive career that Brandon would make a great coach. Sure enough, after college he returned to his high school alma mater Sugar Bowl Academy in order to help lead the next generation. We would keep in touch throughout these couple of years, taking splits trailside at Junior Nationals or attending coaches meetings at US Nats…and then the assistant coaching position at UVM opened up.

Brandon was coming back to Vermont!

While he was at UVM, assistant coach Perry Thomas helped start in motion a collegiate summer training group for MNC. It was a loose collection of mostly MNC alumni who were interested in taking another step in their summer focus. This was a great start to the program, but it was Brandon who really took the concept and ran with it. He helped organize housing, created applications and positioned flyers all over team vans at EISA races, and worked with me to implement a college training camp.

Throughout the summer Brandon independently led this group to great heights for two straight years. This group has included World Cup and NCAA All-American athletes, and skiers looking to break into the EISA top-30 alike.

MNC U at a training camp in Bethel, summer 2023

Dingo (on bike) getting ready to lead MNC U through some intervals, June 2024

With the growth of MNC University our club has expanded immensely in terms of numbers, talent, engagement, and work ethic. These skiers have all embraced Vermont and our club whether they have come from Burlington or Boston, Maine or Minnesota.

Two full-circle moments are also key to this story:

• Aidan Burt is the younger skier in that first photo…little did they know that eventually Aidan would ski for UVM, with Brandon as his coach, more than half a decade after that photo was taken
• Several skiers have trained and raced with MNC while freshmen at UVM (without spots on the varsity team). That path led both Emma Page and Greta Kilburn to varsity spots on the team after their MNC “post-grad/college freshman” seasons, and Nico Hochanadel to an All-American finish at Junior Nationals this year.

  Brandon was the first athlete to pave the way for such an opportunity, showing our club can support skiers beyond just high school.

Recently, Brandon accepted a new role as assistant coach at the University of New Hampshire. There will still be some MNC connections, as he’ll now coach MNC alum Hattie Barker (who was also an athlete in Brandon’s first year leading MNC University) but we will of course miss his presence in our corner of Vermont.

We wish the best for Brandon in his next adventures, and can’t thank him enough for his contributions to MNC as an athlete and coach alike!

The bags are checked, the airport snacks are purchased, and our group of Juniors who just finished Rocky Mountain Camp are in various stages of transit back to Vermont.

This was a great camp, and the third edition of this western adventure. We got to visit some new places, both in training sessions and beyond…we went to a new canyon (Cascade Springs), raced at a new GoKart track (The Grid in Provo).

We even had a massively-expanded timetrial at the Soldier Hollow rollerski track with Team SoHo and Park City Ski and Snowboard club. Last year we were in Utah a week later and most had started school, but this time the clubs of the area were hosting practices-as-usual just like us. So we had a skate rollerski timetrial with 40 athletes total!

There are sure to be more stories and reflections to come, but for now please enjoy a sampling of photos, with links to the full album, until we get out feet under us back East 🙂

Rocky Mtn Camp Photo Album

Joint rollerski with Team SoHo and PCSS

Mt Timpanogos in the distance, where we’d hike later in the week

We also explored some non-ski outdoor activities, like a bit of fly fishing

Some chalk decorating after a TT with the other clubs!

Double pole intervals up Big Cottonwood Canyon (complete with fried chicken at the top from the Brighton store!)

The ever-scenic Mt Timpanogos

Final-night sunset at Guardsman Pass