Qualifying for the Vermont Eastern HS or U16 Championship team is a big deal. Each year, Vermont routinely sends more athletes to Junior Nationals as part of the New England Team than any other nearby state. So the yearly one-day, two-race Qualifier event is sort of like a Norwegian national championship: you have to be able to win a World Championship title in order to be strong enough to win a National Title.
The event is one of the few (if only?) event where you’re guaranteed to have a “complete” Vermont field. High School teams, Club teams, Ski Academy teams; everyone competing in the same race.
So naturally it is a benchmark: skiers look to improve and move up the list in order to be on a team, Eastern Cup athletes are still trying to beat familiar competitors from other races, and everyone can see how their team stacks up!
For the MNC gang this race represented the halfway mark of the season. With 2 Eastern Cups down and 2 more to go, this was sort of the Slam Dunk Contest held right in the middle of the season (no extra charge for cable subscribers). While there were individual successes in Lake Placid, for the most part it was time for something different: we were due for a good one.
Having this past weekend off from racing was a welcome change of pace. You might think this refers to the energy stamina needed to race hard…that’s true, but almost as important was the relief on the brain. No stress of driving, staying in another town, eating meals and scheduling life differently…we just had a basic interval session and a fun ski in the woods. Some of the crew also had the Tour De Chittenden, which, while opposite of rest and chill, still might’ve provided a good mental reset: so much racing in such a short time that there’s no chance to overthink it.
So when it came time to lay it out there for just a day this week at the Qualifiers, we finally had the good one we were due for.
It was a cold day on Saturday, with just enough wind to provide that extra chill in your lungs. The races were moved from Rikert to Sleepy Hollow, which was actually great. Closer for many of us, AND we happened to have spent most of the week training there anyway! AND on klister no less, given the wacky weather. I am in fact a firm believer of training on klister. Many teams opt to switch it to skate, though the recent skin ski explosion has also made striding still an option for some. But you can’t substitute the real thing and even though klistering adds a lot of work to a training session (like the coach getting covered in it just for a weekday session) you can see the benefits play out when it counts.
Charles putting his strong double pole to work
That’s what we got for the morning race: a 4km classic featuring a lot of purple and blue klister. Rosemary, Sara and I each took a few seconds to say a word of prayer for our right thumbs before de-gloving and starting the process of klistering 20+ pairs of skis out on the wedding pavilion. With stable granular snow, most every team was using some type of purple klister and racers across the board seemed to be happy with their skis. That meant it was a skier’s race, not a wax race…those who could ski the klister well and use their strength and speed from ski-specific training would be apparent. Our group showed how much work they’d been putting in, as it was definitely our strongest race of the year so far. The men were up first with Aidan 8th, Brook 11th, Timmy 13th, and Charles 15th. The Eastern HS team is chosen from the top 20 ranked skiers, combining their classic and skate times. This was a particularly strong result for Aidan (usually only racing against U16s, in this field competing overall) and a huge result for Brook. To be just outside the top-10 in this race is huge. It also sounds like Charles may have ripped one of the fastest first laps in the entire field before fading a bit on the second. The men were all in a solid position to make the EHS team!
The women’s classic was an awesome display of Pug power, and I felt a wave of excitement and a sigh of relief. These were the kind of results I knew the gang had worked hard enough to earn, and after things hadn’t felt fully actuated for the first half of the season this really stood out. Quincy finished 3rd, Ava 4th, Meredith 9th, Rose 11th, Sammie 12th, Ali 13th, Hanna 14th, Lily 28th, Myla 30th. 7 of the top 15? That’s a Pack of Pugs for sure. Just outside was Lydia (31st), along with Rachel (49th), Virginia (58th) and Carly (64th) all competing in their first qualifier (Virginia, Carly, and Rachel are all middle schoolers!).
Pug Pack
Up next, the men’s skate race. This was biathlete Timmy’s time to shine and he didn’t let the fans down with a 6th-place effort. Not far behind was…Brook! Who got
Hanna showing them how it’s done
his top 10 with a 10th place result! Aidan came in just a tick behind in 11th, with Charles in 22nd.
The women kept the engine running full-blast for the afternoon, with Ava bringing home the top MNC result of the day with 2nd place! Quincy 7th, Rose 9th, Meredith 11th, Sammie 19th, Hanna 20th, Ali 23rd, and Lily and Myla tied for 30th. Lydia showed her consistency, finishing 32nd.
The final combined results helped determine the top-20 who would comprise the Eastern HS team, as well as the top-24 U16 athletes for the U16 Championship. In the end, “Mansfield Nordic Club” was heard quite frequently during the team naming, as many of our skiers earned spots.
9. Tim Cobb
10. Brook Hodgeman
11. Aidan Burt
16. Charles Martell
2. Ava Thurston
5. Quincy Massey-Bierman (+ Craftsbury)
10. Rose Clayton
11. Meredith Stetter
14. Sammie Nolan
15. Hanna Holm
18. Ali Priganc
In addition Lydia, Rachel, and Carly will all get to compete at the U16 Championships this spring too! It’s also a strong possibility that, with JNs overlapping and the State Meet quota, we could see both Lily and Myla added to the Eastern HS roster 🙂
The story of this race day can’t be finished without a quick glance back at some details from last year. The trio of Brook, Hanna, and Meredith deserves some recognition…these were 3 skiers who hadn’t been involved with the club before the past season…with the slight exception of Brook who joined mid-season last winter. But, these were racers who had never rollerskied at the Range before, and never been involved in MNC programming for spring/summer/fall. They are also three racers who have put an INCREDIBLE amount of time and effort into this sport over the past 8 months, both at our training sessions but also on their own. The work ethic here is inspiring, and the amount of work clearly shows in the year-to-year progress these three have made.
Last year’s combined classic and skate rankings for each skier are listed, compared with this year’s qualifier.
Brook
2018: 44th
2019: 10th
Meredith
2018: 53rd
2019: 11th
Hanna
2018: 78th
2019: 15th
Hard work…it works!
Full Results via Bullitt Timing
Photos (including above) from Dave Priganc
On Sunday, Jenny was busy winning the Flying Moose 10km in Maine. Here in VT we had the busy MNC Skiathlon, with Julia and Eli racing for the Pugs and taking home some nice glassware for their speed 🙂
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