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Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Saturday, March 07, 2009
The Fat Lady has sung!
We've just finished the day and it is all over! UW Double National Championship!
It was an amazing day, with crazy weather and even crazier skiing. Sun, fog, snow, wind, sun, wind, snow...
We managed to just keep ahead of the weather and UW had decent skis and used them to great advantage.
The women started the day 12 points in front of Whitman, this meant that as long as they were within 1 place of Whitman they would win the overall. The women decided to make it interesting and almost gave the coaches heart failure!
Gracey rocked the first leg, coming in 20 seconds in front of second place. Gwynn took off for the fastest split of the day, adding 1 minute to the lead. Kari took off in the lead but soon found that an entire week of skiing her heart out had taken it out of her. It was all she could do to finish and both St. Olaf and Whitman caught her before the end of the race. Luckily for UW Shaina from St. Olaf held off Whitman for the win, leaving the cowgirls standing on top of the overall podium!
The men had an amazing day. We figured the points and if we took the top 3 men off the team the UW men would still have won Nationals. As it was the second relay team, lead by John passed the first relay team, Eliah, on the first leg of the relay. Matt was the first leg of the 3rd relay and finished right on Eliah's heals. Dan was second and soon dominated the rest of the teams. Jacob was the second leg for the 2nd team and he took off into 2nd place, behind Dan. Adam skied 2nd leg for the 3rd team and had a great run. Despite plowing fresh snow for the rest of the field and almost crashing into some touring skiers Dan came into the exchange zone 1+ minute in front of second place. He handed off to Zhenya and the race was over. Jacob handed off to Justin in 4th and Adam handed off to Fitz. Zhenya came it well in the lead, grabbed a UW flag and skied to the finish like a world cup winner, waiving the UW flag. Justin, having left everything on the trail yesterday, faded a bit but Fitz finally had the race we were all looking for all year, flying up from the back, passing team after team.
It was a good day, with the UW men and women completing their first ever double victory!
It doesn't get any better than that!
These athletes ROCK OUR WORLD!
It was an amazing day, with crazy weather and even crazier skiing. Sun, fog, snow, wind, sun, wind, snow...
We managed to just keep ahead of the weather and UW had decent skis and used them to great advantage.
The women started the day 12 points in front of Whitman, this meant that as long as they were within 1 place of Whitman they would win the overall. The women decided to make it interesting and almost gave the coaches heart failure!
Gracey rocked the first leg, coming in 20 seconds in front of second place. Gwynn took off for the fastest split of the day, adding 1 minute to the lead. Kari took off in the lead but soon found that an entire week of skiing her heart out had taken it out of her. It was all she could do to finish and both St. Olaf and Whitman caught her before the end of the race. Luckily for UW Shaina from St. Olaf held off Whitman for the win, leaving the cowgirls standing on top of the overall podium!
The men had an amazing day. We figured the points and if we took the top 3 men off the team the UW men would still have won Nationals. As it was the second relay team, lead by John passed the first relay team, Eliah, on the first leg of the relay. Matt was the first leg of the 3rd relay and finished right on Eliah's heals. Dan was second and soon dominated the rest of the teams. Jacob was the second leg for the 2nd team and he took off into 2nd place, behind Dan. Adam skied 2nd leg for the 3rd team and had a great run. Despite plowing fresh snow for the rest of the field and almost crashing into some touring skiers Dan came into the exchange zone 1+ minute in front of second place. He handed off to Zhenya and the race was over. Jacob handed off to Justin in 4th and Adam handed off to Fitz. Zhenya came it well in the lead, grabbed a UW flag and skied to the finish like a world cup winner, waiving the UW flag. Justin, having left everything on the trail yesterday, faded a bit but Fitz finally had the race we were all looking for all year, flying up from the back, passing team after team.
It was a good day, with the UW men and women completing their first ever double victory!
It doesn't get any better than that!
These athletes ROCK OUR WORLD!
Men's 15km Free
Sorry about posting this a little late, it was a crazy day.
The men were amazing as usual this week. The hallmark of a truly strong team is that when one falters another can take her/his place. This is exactly what happened in the skate race.
The men decided they didn't want to lead the whole race and managed to come out of the start with two skiers in front of them. Four UW men, Dan, Zhenya, Eliah and John, in a row were followed by the rest of the pack. Only a few kilometers into the race the lead man crashed and caused a huge pileup that forced our men to the front. Not a problem though, they were willing to work together.
By the second loop three UW men, Dan, Zhenya and John, had separated themselves from the pack and were skiing together with Dan leading and the other men hanging on.
It was an impressive race with the three men at the front followed by Eliah in 7th, Jacob in 14th and Justin, Fitz, Adam and Devin spread out through the pack.
The full 15km found Dan still leading with Zhenya jsut hanging on and John having dropped back a bit but still in front of the rest of the pack.
Zhenya tried to make a move to take Dan but Dan proved to be too strong and managed to complete the hat trick of three races in a row! Zhenya was 2nd three times and John had his best skate race of his career to finish in 3rd. The rest of the men skied amazing and the men's National Championship it now in the bag!
1-2-3 sweep with one different man for UW!
Now we are just looking for a good relay and these athletes can relax and celebrate their stunning victory.
The men were amazing as usual this week. The hallmark of a truly strong team is that when one falters another can take her/his place. This is exactly what happened in the skate race.
The men decided they didn't want to lead the whole race and managed to come out of the start with two skiers in front of them. Four UW men, Dan, Zhenya, Eliah and John, in a row were followed by the rest of the pack. Only a few kilometers into the race the lead man crashed and caused a huge pileup that forced our men to the front. Not a problem though, they were willing to work together.
By the second loop three UW men, Dan, Zhenya and John, had separated themselves from the pack and were skiing together with Dan leading and the other men hanging on.
It was an impressive race with the three men at the front followed by Eliah in 7th, Jacob in 14th and Justin, Fitz, Adam and Devin spread out through the pack.
The full 15km found Dan still leading with Zhenya jsut hanging on and John having dropped back a bit but still in front of the rest of the pack.
Zhenya tried to make a move to take Dan but Dan proved to be too strong and managed to complete the hat trick of three races in a row! Zhenya was 2nd three times and John had his best skate race of his career to finish in 3rd. The rest of the men skied amazing and the men's National Championship it now in the bag!
1-2-3 sweep with one different man for UW!
Now we are just looking for a good relay and these athletes can relax and celebrate their stunning victory.
Friday, March 06, 2009
Tortilla Cigars
Hey guys! So I heard that you liked my cigars This is Holly, Christi's little sis. I am giving you the original recipe from the Deceptively Delicious Cookbook. Then in the instructions, I gave you what I did instead. I don't go by the recipe rules blah!
Makes 6 large tortilla cigars
1 cup chicken (cooked and diced or shredded)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup squash (pureed)
1/2 cup carrot (pureed)
4 oz cream cheese
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 large flour tortillas
OK So first thing first, puree the vegetables. Just take the vegs you want and microwave, boil, or roast until they are soft enough to be mushed up. For example, I used a sweet potato instead of carrots. Then add the rest of the ingredients, except the chicken and tortillas, and throw them into a food processor or blender. Zig until you have a nice paste with no big chunks. If you don't have a blender or food processor, just make sure the cream cheese is at room temperature then mix together with a potato masher or wooden spoon. Spread the mixture on the tortillas, roll them into a cigar shape, brush with olive oil and bake them for 5-8 minutes or until browned on the edges.
Now for my recipe! I used sweet potato instead of the carrots. Just go crazy: butternut squash, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach, etc... you get the idea. I also added green chiles (you can't have Mexican food without them!) Just as a heads up, I used one small can of mild chiles and one can of hot chiles thinking that it would be a medium heat. Not so much! So just use one small can and get medium heat chiles or just mild. So the beauty thing of this recipe is that you can use any veg you want or have on hand and meat or no, it just doesn't matter. I also like them with some salsa and guacamole! What about black beans or refried beans? If you find a killer combination let me know!
Women's Race!
We just finished the women's race and wow! The women were up on Whitman by only 6 points and St. Olaf by 12. We were all hoping to have a good day to get a little further ahead before the relay.
The women skied beyond our wildest expectations! Gracey went out with the lead pack and worked with Brittany to finish in 3rd place. Kari and Gwynn worked together the whole race, picking girls oof left and right to finish right behind Gracey in 4th& 5th! Marie had amamzing day, coming from 9th in the first lap to finish hot on the heals of Kari & Gwynn in 6th!
Morgan, who's legs haven't allowed her to skate all year finished the race in 15th and Shannon had an amazing day finishing right around 17th.
The women definitely won the day with 12 points, Whitman followed with 20.
More on the men's race later.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Classic 8.5km Amazingness!
Well, we didn't think we could do any better in today's race after the amazing finishes last night but we did! For the first time in UW Nordic team history we swept the podium! Dan, Zhenya & Eliah came in 1 - 2 - 3! Not only that we had 6 men in the top 11 with John in 7th, Jacob 10 & Matt 11. Our 6th man beat most other teams 3rd man!
Needless to say the men won, with a perfect score!
The women also rocked! They were 3 points down to Whitman after the sprints and were on a mission.
They had a great day with Gracey 3rd, Kari 5th, Gwynn 6th, Morgan 10th and Marie 13th! What a great finish! The women were 1st by 8 points and now lead Whitman by 6 points in the overall!
It was an amazing, wonderful day!
We are now looking forward to a day of rest and the mass start on Friday.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Nationals Sprint! What a race!
Wow! I don't know how to start this blog. What an amazing evening. We arrived at the base of the Winter Park alpine hill and didn't see any sign of a nordic sprint course anywhere. Slowly, as we watched the course came together. Flagging, fences, snow cats, shovels, etc appeared and began to shape an amazing sprint course. With one killer uphill, one screaming downhill and some great twists and turns. The unfortunate thing was that it took a little too long to setup the course and by the time it was finished it was time for the race to start. No one had a chance to ski the course and they had to ski the first loop completely blind. That was the bad news the good news is that everyone was in the same boat! The course was amazing to watch, you could see the entire thing from one place, it was well lit and very challenging. The perfect world cup style sprint.
The women started the prelim at 6:15pm in the waning light of the sunset. Kari was the first woman out of the gate and she successfully navigated the course and looked comfortable doing it. Gwynn followed in good speed, Gracey, Marie, Shannon and Gina. They all looked good, although Shannon took a hellatious fall on the downhill that impressed the Maine coach.
The men started immediately after the women, as a matter of fact the first men had to contend with the slowest women. Everything looked good for the start until Zhenya's pole broke right out to the start. Thanks to Rachel and Adam he got a pole in about 10 seconds and then skied like a god to try to make up the time but 10 seconds in a 1.4km sprint is a huge amount of time and we weren't sure he would make the finals. The rest of the men looked great! Dan, Eliah, John, Kinner, Fitz, Jacob and Adam all skied amazing and cranked around the course.
The top 10 athletes from the prelims go on to head to head finals. We waited on pins and needles to see who had qualified for the finals. The women were announced first and 4 of our women qualified, Kari, Gwynn, Gracey and Marie! Wow! 4 of the top 10 were UW! They were divided into 2 heats for the semifinals and unfortunately 3 of our girls ended up in one heat, Gracey, Gwynn and Kari with Marie in the other heat.
We still didn't know the results of the men when the women's heats started. But Marie was in the first heat and skied amazing. She just chewed people up on the uphills but lost a little ground on the downhill. She finished 5th in her heat, not far out of qualifying for the next round.
The 2nd heat went off with the final three UW women. Kari and Gracey got a decent start but Gwynn got tripped up on the uphill and the race was just too short to get back to the group. Kari and Gracey started in 4th and 5th spots and fought their way up until they were in 2nd and 3rd. That put Kari into the A final and Gracey into the B final.
Meanwhile we were still waiting to find the finalist for the Men's final. They were finally announced and we had put 4 men into the finals! Dan, Eliah, John and Zhenya, despite his broken pole!
Woo Hoo!
We got luckier with the men that the women with them split 2 in each heat. The first heat went out with Dan and Eliah. They got a good start but were following Tom from Western State. They were starting to make ground on him and were about to pass him when Tom crashed, leaving Dan and Eliah free and clear in the front. The first 2 from each heat automatically qualify for the A final so Dan and Eliah were able to ski half of the second lap a little slower to conserve energy for the final round.
John and Zhenya were in the next semi and it was a great one. John was trying to take the lead on the killer uphill when he got tangled with an Whiman skier and got his ski caught in the fence. He didn't give up but got up and went after the rest of the field. Zhenya skied like a man possesed, trying to prove himself after the breaking of the pole earlier. He followed a Clarkson skier for about half a lap and then blew by him and destroyed the heat. Easily winning and moving onto the A final. John made an amazing comeback and almost managed to get himself into the B final.
The finals were also amazing! The women's B had Gracey and these women were fight for places 5-8 in the race. Gracey skied smart and tough and pulled herself into 6th place with some great tactics on the back stretch.
The men's B was the only final that didn't have a UW skier, this was because of the 4 people who qualified for the A final 3 of them wore a bucking horse on their legs!
The women's final featured Kari in her worst event. She got tripped twice on the first hill and came out in 4th. She fought like a tiger and took 3rd and just missed 2nd by 1 second! This was her best ever finish in a sprint at Nationals in her 4 years of college!
The men's final was the show of the night, with 3 UW men and one Whitman. The men took off fast Dan leading, Zhenya hot on his heals and Eliah hanging on. The easy lap Dan had when in the Semi's showed up now because he lead from start to finish with never a challenge. Zhenya followed Dan around but couldn't quite catch him, Dan became UW's first Nationals Champion for the week and we hope not the last. He finished in a comfortable 2nd place. Eliah spent the race fighting with the Whitman racer. Around 75% of the course he lead but the Whitman racer was waiting for his chance and with the straitaway to go he made his move. Eliah tried to fight him off but just lost at the finish, despite an amazing lung Eliah just missed the 3rd place. What an amazing finish for UW though, 1,2, 4!
There were probably 200 people lining the finish stretch and the roar was amazing!
The men finish the night well in the lead of this national championship event with only 7 points. The women were 2nd, just edged out by Whitman by 3 points. They are motivated to go after them tomorrow!
The final thought for the day is the amazing support showed by the entire team, those who raced, those who didn't and those who raced and immediately asked what they could do to help the rest of the team do well. Without Adam Zhenya wouldn't have gotten a pole in time and wouldn't have made it to the finals and wouldn't have gotten 2nd. Without Liz and Catherine on the hill we wouldn't have been able to tell our athletes to go wide on the top corner so they wouldn't slip on the ice. Without any one person out there I don't believe if the result would have been the same. This team wins because of every person, racing or not, counting or not. They are all part of the magic and we are proud of them all.
We are now waxing skis like maniacs, preparing for tomorrow morning at 9am when they race the 8.5km classic race.
More updates then!
The women started the prelim at 6:15pm in the waning light of the sunset. Kari was the first woman out of the gate and she successfully navigated the course and looked comfortable doing it. Gwynn followed in good speed, Gracey, Marie, Shannon and Gina. They all looked good, although Shannon took a hellatious fall on the downhill that impressed the Maine coach.
The men started immediately after the women, as a matter of fact the first men had to contend with the slowest women. Everything looked good for the start until Zhenya's pole broke right out to the start. Thanks to Rachel and Adam he got a pole in about 10 seconds and then skied like a god to try to make up the time but 10 seconds in a 1.4km sprint is a huge amount of time and we weren't sure he would make the finals. The rest of the men looked great! Dan, Eliah, John, Kinner, Fitz, Jacob and Adam all skied amazing and cranked around the course.
The top 10 athletes from the prelims go on to head to head finals. We waited on pins and needles to see who had qualified for the finals. The women were announced first and 4 of our women qualified, Kari, Gwynn, Gracey and Marie! Wow! 4 of the top 10 were UW! They were divided into 2 heats for the semifinals and unfortunately 3 of our girls ended up in one heat, Gracey, Gwynn and Kari with Marie in the other heat.
We still didn't know the results of the men when the women's heats started. But Marie was in the first heat and skied amazing. She just chewed people up on the uphills but lost a little ground on the downhill. She finished 5th in her heat, not far out of qualifying for the next round.
The 2nd heat went off with the final three UW women. Kari and Gracey got a decent start but Gwynn got tripped up on the uphill and the race was just too short to get back to the group. Kari and Gracey started in 4th and 5th spots and fought their way up until they were in 2nd and 3rd. That put Kari into the A final and Gracey into the B final.
Meanwhile we were still waiting to find the finalist for the Men's final. They were finally announced and we had put 4 men into the finals! Dan, Eliah, John and Zhenya, despite his broken pole!
Woo Hoo!
We got luckier with the men that the women with them split 2 in each heat. The first heat went out with Dan and Eliah. They got a good start but were following Tom from Western State. They were starting to make ground on him and were about to pass him when Tom crashed, leaving Dan and Eliah free and clear in the front. The first 2 from each heat automatically qualify for the A final so Dan and Eliah were able to ski half of the second lap a little slower to conserve energy for the final round.
John and Zhenya were in the next semi and it was a great one. John was trying to take the lead on the killer uphill when he got tangled with an Whiman skier and got his ski caught in the fence. He didn't give up but got up and went after the rest of the field. Zhenya skied like a man possesed, trying to prove himself after the breaking of the pole earlier. He followed a Clarkson skier for about half a lap and then blew by him and destroyed the heat. Easily winning and moving onto the A final. John made an amazing comeback and almost managed to get himself into the B final.
The finals were also amazing! The women's B had Gracey and these women were fight for places 5-8 in the race. Gracey skied smart and tough and pulled herself into 6th place with some great tactics on the back stretch.
The men's B was the only final that didn't have a UW skier, this was because of the 4 people who qualified for the A final 3 of them wore a bucking horse on their legs!
The women's final featured Kari in her worst event. She got tripped twice on the first hill and came out in 4th. She fought like a tiger and took 3rd and just missed 2nd by 1 second! This was her best ever finish in a sprint at Nationals in her 4 years of college!
The men's final was the show of the night, with 3 UW men and one Whitman. The men took off fast Dan leading, Zhenya hot on his heals and Eliah hanging on. The easy lap Dan had when in the Semi's showed up now because he lead from start to finish with never a challenge. Zhenya followed Dan around but couldn't quite catch him, Dan became UW's first Nationals Champion for the week and we hope not the last. He finished in a comfortable 2nd place. Eliah spent the race fighting with the Whitman racer. Around 75% of the course he lead but the Whitman racer was waiting for his chance and with the straitaway to go he made his move. Eliah tried to fight him off but just lost at the finish, despite an amazing lung Eliah just missed the 3rd place. What an amazing finish for UW though, 1,2, 4!
There were probably 200 people lining the finish stretch and the roar was amazing!
The men finish the night well in the lead of this national championship event with only 7 points. The women were 2nd, just edged out by Whitman by 3 points. They are motivated to go after them tomorrow!
The final thought for the day is the amazing support showed by the entire team, those who raced, those who didn't and those who raced and immediately asked what they could do to help the rest of the team do well. Without Adam Zhenya wouldn't have gotten a pole in time and wouldn't have made it to the finals and wouldn't have gotten 2nd. Without Liz and Catherine on the hill we wouldn't have been able to tell our athletes to go wide on the top corner so they wouldn't slip on the ice. Without any one person out there I don't believe if the result would have been the same. This team wins because of every person, racing or not, counting or not. They are all part of the magic and we are proud of them all.
We are now waxing skis like maniacs, preparing for tomorrow morning at 9am when they race the 8.5km classic race.
More updates then!
Monday, March 02, 2009
Nationals Day 2: Part 2
I got a chance to ski the sprint course this evening and it was great fun! Right at the base of Winter Park. Start & finish along the flat, straight up, and I mean up, beside the Xephyr lift, down across the alpine run. Back up a smaller run around and back dow the strait away X 2 loops. It's a kick of a course and there should be almost 1000 people out there to watch it!
If you are in the area the premier will run at 6pm, with finals at 7ish. It should be a great show.
One change to the schedule, the men will start at 9am on Wednesday morning followed immediately by the women at around 9:30am. The change it due to the drastic warm up that happens between 10:30 &11:30.
This change is great and will make things much more fair.
We hope to see some of you out there cheering on the team, even if it's just virtually!.
Nationals Day 2
Wow! What a beautiful day! It was a high of about 45 and it was warm and clear all day. That's good news for hanging out and skiing but not awesome for waxing. Especially since it went from -12˚C when we arrived to +2˚C before we left. It makes for fun kick waxing and Rachel was at it from 8am, when we arrived to 1pm when we finally packed up for the day.
I was also testing madly, trying to find the perfect base wax for the conditions. The glide is not a crucial because even if the skis are slow they can still move but if the kick doesn't work... All bets are off.
It was a great morning and we got to see many of our friends from the East and only had a few people with too much sun. Luckily the worst two were Rachel and Joe, they won't feel good but at least they don't have to try to race tomorrow!
Tonight I'll be skiing the proposed sprint trail with Amy, VP of Cross-Country at 6pm and we'll see how that looks. It should be a grand spectacle with 1000 people out to watch the finals! Luckily it's not a classic sprint though because we won't get a chance to see the course early and that would sure make it tough for a classic race.
I'll try to update the blog once I've skied the course.
More later!
I was also testing madly, trying to find the perfect base wax for the conditions. The glide is not a crucial because even if the skis are slow they can still move but if the kick doesn't work... All bets are off.
It was a great morning and we got to see many of our friends from the East and only had a few people with too much sun. Luckily the worst two were Rachel and Joe, they won't feel good but at least they don't have to try to race tomorrow!
Tonight I'll be skiing the proposed sprint trail with Amy, VP of Cross-Country at 6pm and we'll see how that looks. It should be a grand spectacle with 1000 people out to watch the finals! Luckily it's not a classic sprint though because we won't get a chance to see the course early and that would sure make it tough for a classic race.
I'll try to update the blog once I've skied the course.
More later!
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Rumford by Rachel
Rachel has written a great article about Nationals last year and Nationals half a lifetime before.
It got rave reviews from the team. If you want to read it please go to: http://www.uwyo.edu/ski/articles.html
It got rave reviews from the team. If you want to read it please go to: http://www.uwyo.edu/ski/articles.html
Nationals Day 1
Well we all got there in one piece and in great spirits! It seems that the team is healthy, happy and definitely peaking! The energy level is awesome!
We had time this evening to get unpacked, meal teams organized, go to the store to buy food and make and eat dinner.
Dan, Eliah, Matt & Willie made a great pasta dinner and we had our first team meeting.
Information so far... The sprint course is unknown because the original one was unacceptable so they are having a renegotiation and will be planning a new course soon. We won't be able to ski the sprint course until right before the race on Tuesday. It sounds like the course will be 2 X .7km loop. We'll see how it goes.
It also seems that it's possible that we'll be doing a different course for the races at Devil's Thumb, which will probably actually be better for us. So that's good news!
At this point the biggest excitement we've seen was the cutting of Willie's mul-hawk. At this point it actually amazing and judging from Marie's reaction, a tad frightening. I will reserve judgment until I see the finished product.
Tomorrow we'll ski the classic course, test glide and kick and see what weather gods bring.
We had time this evening to get unpacked, meal teams organized, go to the store to buy food and make and eat dinner.
Dan, Eliah, Matt & Willie made a great pasta dinner and we had our first team meeting.
Information so far... The sprint course is unknown because the original one was unacceptable so they are having a renegotiation and will be planning a new course soon. We won't be able to ski the sprint course until right before the race on Tuesday. It sounds like the course will be 2 X .7km loop. We'll see how it goes.
It also seems that it's possible that we'll be doing a different course for the races at Devil's Thumb, which will probably actually be better for us. So that's good news!
At this point the biggest excitement we've seen was the cutting of Willie's mul-hawk. At this point it actually amazing and judging from Marie's reaction, a tad frightening. I will reserve judgment until I see the finished product.
Tomorrow we'll ski the classic course, test glide and kick and see what weather gods bring.
Friday, February 27, 2009
USCSA Nationals!
Next week, March 3-7, the UW Nordic Team will be competing in their 10th USCSA National Competition at Devil's Thumb Ranch, CO.
We're hoping this will be a historic year with a double championship. Everything has to align correctly but there is a small chance and we're all excited.
If you are in the area please consider coming down and supporting these fine athletes. There is a schedule online at: http://www.uwyo.edu/ski/National2009.html
The sprint will be Tuesday evening, on the alpine hill, under the lights. It should be an extremely exciting race. Also Saturday will be the final event of the week, the relay.
We hope to see you out there!
Christi
We're hoping this will be a historic year with a double championship. Everything has to align correctly but there is a small chance and we're all excited.
If you are in the area please consider coming down and supporting these fine athletes. There is a schedule online at: http://www.uwyo.edu/ski/National2009.html
The sprint will be Tuesday evening, on the alpine hill, under the lights. It should be an extremely exciting race. Also Saturday will be the final event of the week, the relay.
We hope to see you out there!
Christi
Cowboy Chase!
Wow! It's way beyond the time I was hoping to get this up but I guess it's better late than never...
The Cowboy Chase weekend was one of the most successful in club history! We changed the format this year to make it a more traditional 2-day pursuit and had a 10km skate on Saturday and a 10km classic on Sunday. It was an amazing weekend of racing!
The 10km skate was a mass start and due to the fact that our amazing MBNA groomers decided it would be nice to groom the lower meadow we had the best mass start area we've ever had. Lots of space to have a fair start. We had 38 men, 21 women and 5 kids start the race. We started the women 2 minutes behind the men and the kids 2 minutes after that so the start was well manageable for everyone!
The course was a 10km loop so after the start we had awhile before anyone came back in. Rachel was out on the course with a radio and we got a couple of updates from her but it was on the edge of the radio reception so some of it was lost but we knew that Zhenya, Dan and John were skiing together and Kari, Gwynn and Britanie (Western State) were also in a pack. We expected to see the first man enter the campground between 26-28 minutes and we were not disappointed when Zhenya came flying up the hill into the campground with Dan only a few seconds back! They both flew around the campground and despite an attempt at a comeback from Dan Zhenya was able to win the race by only 10 seconds! John came in only 34 second behind Dan and Joe was only 29 seconds behing John. Talk about a tough top 4 and we were missing our star freshman, Eliah, with illness! Jacob, still struggling to come back from ACL surgery in September showed how much training he had done in the fall coming in only 50 seconds behind Joe with Freshman Matt and an ill Justin within a minute of Jacob. Grigory followed Justin within a minute and Nicholai, Willie and Adam finished in a pack, just to make things interesting on Sunday. Fitz, still sick but needing to do something, struggled in followed by Devin, back for his first race in a month, to round out a strong men's team. There were many great packs that should make Sunday interesting. On another note, UW Nordic Team Alumni Brian (Bus Mom) had a great race finishing as the 5th citizen racer! It sure was great to see him out there!
The women also wanted to make things interesting and after Kari and Gwynn changing leads for 10km Britanie showed herself to be a tad stronger at the end, just edging Gwynn by 1 second and Kari by 2! Marie had a strong race to finish in 5th follwed by Ava in 6th, Karyn in 7th, Shannon in 8th, Catherine in 9th and Gina in 10th. Talk about a leathal women's team! Our two beginners, better know as Cara & Kara, skied together for most of the race with Kara just pulling out a win. They were followed by Jenny with a solid race. There was also a UW Nordic Team alumn in the women's race. Mae came up from grad school at CSU to show the new girls how it was done. At the end of the race she was in 3rd place and on solid footing to make some gains in her favorite technique on Sunday.
Sunday dawned bright and sunny and the pursuit part of the race was on. The times were extremely close and most of the field went out within the first 13 minutes! The classic race was a 2 lap race so we all got to see what was happening in the middle of the race. The course was a solid 5km's so we were expecting to see the first guy (Zhenya) at about 15 minutes. We were surprized when he and Dan came flying by the start at just over 13 minutes! John was in hot pursuit but losing groud since Dan and Zhenya were working together and Joe was also working hard but not being able to gain on John. Other men were mixing it up, some losing ground, some gaining and the second pack of Nicholai, Willie and Adam was just holding together. Gwynn had made a move for the women and was leading Kari with Britanie starting to lose a little ground. The other women were once again gaining or losing, mostly depending on whether they are skaters or classic skiers, except Morgan who didn't race yesterday and was rapidly plowing up through the field.
The final lap turned out to be extremely exciting with Zhenya just edging Dan for the overall pursuit win but Dan just edging Zhenya for the classic race win. John hung tight for 3rd, Joe had a great classic race and stayed in 4th. There was some mix up in the rest of the men with Adam showing his summer training and managing to drop Willie and Nicholai. Brian made an amazing run to take the overall men's citizen lead!
The women also made an amazing finish. Kari managed to just pull away from Gwynn to take the overall lead and Britanie finished 3rd overall. Morgan caught tons of people and took 4th for the day in the classic race. The rest of the women skied well with little mix-up.
On the whole it was an amazing weekend of racing and sets us up nicely for USCSA Nationals which start on Tuesday, March 3. We can hardly wait!
 |
| From Cowboy Chase 2009 |
The Cowboy Chase weekend was one of the most successful in club history! We changed the format this year to make it a more traditional 2-day pursuit and had a 10km skate on Saturday and a 10km classic on Sunday. It was an amazing weekend of racing!
The 10km skate was a mass start and due to the fact that our amazing MBNA groomers decided it would be nice to groom the lower meadow we had the best mass start area we've ever had. Lots of space to have a fair start. We had 38 men, 21 women and 5 kids start the race. We started the women 2 minutes behind the men and the kids 2 minutes after that so the start was well manageable for everyone!
The course was a 10km loop so after the start we had awhile before anyone came back in. Rachel was out on the course with a radio and we got a couple of updates from her but it was on the edge of the radio reception so some of it was lost but we knew that Zhenya, Dan and John were skiing together and Kari, Gwynn and Britanie (Western State) were also in a pack. We expected to see the first man enter the campground between 26-28 minutes and we were not disappointed when Zhenya came flying up the hill into the campground with Dan only a few seconds back! They both flew around the campground and despite an attempt at a comeback from Dan Zhenya was able to win the race by only 10 seconds! John came in only 34 second behind Dan and Joe was only 29 seconds behing John. Talk about a tough top 4 and we were missing our star freshman, Eliah, with illness! Jacob, still struggling to come back from ACL surgery in September showed how much training he had done in the fall coming in only 50 seconds behind Joe with Freshman Matt and an ill Justin within a minute of Jacob. Grigory followed Justin within a minute and Nicholai, Willie and Adam finished in a pack, just to make things interesting on Sunday. Fitz, still sick but needing to do something, struggled in followed by Devin, back for his first race in a month, to round out a strong men's team. There were many great packs that should make Sunday interesting. On another note, UW Nordic Team Alumni Brian (Bus Mom) had a great race finishing as the 5th citizen racer! It sure was great to see him out there!
The women also wanted to make things interesting and after Kari and Gwynn changing leads for 10km Britanie showed herself to be a tad stronger at the end, just edging Gwynn by 1 second and Kari by 2! Marie had a strong race to finish in 5th follwed by Ava in 6th, Karyn in 7th, Shannon in 8th, Catherine in 9th and Gina in 10th. Talk about a leathal women's team! Our two beginners, better know as Cara & Kara, skied together for most of the race with Kara just pulling out a win. They were followed by Jenny with a solid race. There was also a UW Nordic Team alumn in the women's race. Mae came up from grad school at CSU to show the new girls how it was done. At the end of the race she was in 3rd place and on solid footing to make some gains in her favorite technique on Sunday.
Sunday dawned bright and sunny and the pursuit part of the race was on. The times were extremely close and most of the field went out within the first 13 minutes! The classic race was a 2 lap race so we all got to see what was happening in the middle of the race. The course was a solid 5km's so we were expecting to see the first guy (Zhenya) at about 15 minutes. We were surprized when he and Dan came flying by the start at just over 13 minutes! John was in hot pursuit but losing groud since Dan and Zhenya were working together and Joe was also working hard but not being able to gain on John. Other men were mixing it up, some losing ground, some gaining and the second pack of Nicholai, Willie and Adam was just holding together. Gwynn had made a move for the women and was leading Kari with Britanie starting to lose a little ground. The other women were once again gaining or losing, mostly depending on whether they are skaters or classic skiers, except Morgan who didn't race yesterday and was rapidly plowing up through the field.
The final lap turned out to be extremely exciting with Zhenya just edging Dan for the overall pursuit win but Dan just edging Zhenya for the classic race win. John hung tight for 3rd, Joe had a great classic race and stayed in 4th. There was some mix up in the rest of the men with Adam showing his summer training and managing to drop Willie and Nicholai. Brian made an amazing run to take the overall men's citizen lead!
The women also made an amazing finish. Kari managed to just pull away from Gwynn to take the overall lead and Britanie finished 3rd overall. Morgan caught tons of people and took 4th for the day in the classic race. The rest of the women skied well with little mix-up.
On the whole it was an amazing weekend of racing and sets us up nicely for USCSA Nationals which start on Tuesday, March 3. We can hardly wait!
UW Nordic Benefit Dinner & Raffle
Thought I should put a quick note about the dinner that we had on Saturday night. It was amazingly successful with over 200 people in attendance!
Thanks to everyone who attended, bought raffle tickets, made donations, etc. We will have a list of thank you's on this blog after Nationals and the list on our webpage will be updated as well.
We managed to make $3,316.00 thanks to everyone's hard work and generosity. We're still receiving donations from those of you who couldn't make it so thanks to you as well.
We couldn't do it without you!
Thanks to everyone who attended, bought raffle tickets, made donations, etc. We will have a list of thank you's on this blog after Nationals and the list on our webpage will be updated as well.
We managed to make $3,316.00 thanks to everyone's hard work and generosity. We're still receiving donations from those of you who couldn't make it so thanks to you as well.
We couldn't do it without you!
Monday, February 16, 2009
Cowboy Chase!
Get ready for the Cowboy Chase!
We'll be having a 2-day pursuit, 10km on Skate Saturday and 10km Classic on Sunday. You are welcome to join us for the whole weekend or just one race, whichever sounds the best for you.
The most exciting activity of the weekend will be the UW Nordic Benefit dinner and raffle. We have some truly amazing raffle prizes, 2 x 3-day passes to Jackson Hole, 2 x season passes to Devil's Thumb Ranch, 2 x rodeo tickets for Cheyenne Frontier Days, 6 months of free bread from the Home Bakery and much, much more!
For more information about the event please go to: http://www.uwyo.edu/ski/cowboychase.htm
We'll see you there!
We'll be having a 2-day pursuit, 10km on Skate Saturday and 10km Classic on Sunday. You are welcome to join us for the whole weekend or just one race, whichever sounds the best for you.
The most exciting activity of the weekend will be the UW Nordic Benefit dinner and raffle. We have some truly amazing raffle prizes, 2 x 3-day passes to Jackson Hole, 2 x season passes to Devil's Thumb Ranch, 2 x rodeo tickets for Cheyenne Frontier Days, 6 months of free bread from the Home Bakery and much, much more!
For more information about the event please go to: http://www.uwyo.edu/ski/cowboychase.htm
We'll see you there!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Skiers of the Week!
As you already know, from reading the account of the weekend below, we had the best performance at an NCAA race since 1993! These amazing results were lead by the following two athletes!
Zhenya joined us from Russia at the beginning of the semester and at that time we all thought he was old and out of eligibility. As the semester progressed we became aware of the fact that he's only 22 years old and in his first year of graduate school! This realization set off a flurry of activity as we petitioned the USCSA for a year of eligibility. Let's just say it was a good weekend for Zhenya, he was granted eligibility for this season and the possibility of another one next year as well as having his best finish this year!
He thought the classic race would be his best one but after the wax wore off his skis 5km into a 10km race he fought to finish in 25th, 2:53 out. He was disappointed with this finish and the time back but put it behind him and looked forward to the next day.
After a great start Zhenya flew around the course, dropping athletes that he was skiing with at the end! He finished in a team and personal best place of 17th, only 1:26 out of the lead! It was an amazing effort and we are all waiting to see what he can do at Nationals. Zhenya has provided the men's team with an excellent role model and leader!
Another new-comer lead the women this weekend as well, although eligibility was never in questions with her since she is a true freshman. Gracey started the weekend with a personal best place of 28, 18% out of the win. Up to that point this was one of the better finishes by a UW woman in the last 15 years but little did we know she saved the best for last!
Despite some stressful, last minute waxing that left the women with little time to get to the start Gracey handled the stress well and by the middle of the first lap was in a position to tie the best ever finish for a UW woman in the last 15 years but she wasn't content with that so she just kept picking off peole in front of her to finish in 19th place, only 13% out!
Not only is Gracey a rocket on the ski trails but she is a leader off the course as well. Always finding ways to help the coaches and her teammates with a smile on her face. We look forward to watching her become the best skier and person she can be during her college career.
Congratulations to these fine student athletes!
YOU ROCK OUR WORLD!
Zhenya joined us from Russia at the beginning of the semester and at that time we all thought he was old and out of eligibility. As the semester progressed we became aware of the fact that he's only 22 years old and in his first year of graduate school! This realization set off a flurry of activity as we petitioned the USCSA for a year of eligibility. Let's just say it was a good weekend for Zhenya, he was granted eligibility for this season and the possibility of another one next year as well as having his best finish this year!He thought the classic race would be his best one but after the wax wore off his skis 5km into a 10km race he fought to finish in 25th, 2:53 out. He was disappointed with this finish and the time back but put it behind him and looked forward to the next day.
After a great start Zhenya flew around the course, dropping athletes that he was skiing with at the end! He finished in a team and personal best place of 17th, only 1:26 out of the lead! It was an amazing effort and we are all waiting to see what he can do at Nationals. Zhenya has provided the men's team with an excellent role model and leader!
Another new-comer lead the women this weekend as well, although eligibility was never in questions with her since she is a true freshman. Gracey started the weekend with a personal best place of 28, 18% out of the win. Up to that point this was one of the better finishes by a UW woman in the last 15 years but little did we know she saved the best for last!Despite some stressful, last minute waxing that left the women with little time to get to the start Gracey handled the stress well and by the middle of the first lap was in a position to tie the best ever finish for a UW woman in the last 15 years but she wasn't content with that so she just kept picking off peole in front of her to finish in 19th place, only 13% out!
Not only is Gracey a rocket on the ski trails but she is a leader off the course as well. Always finding ways to help the coaches and her teammates with a smile on her face. We look forward to watching her become the best skier and person she can be during her college career.
Congratulations to these fine student athletes!
YOU ROCK OUR WORLD!
Article from UW News Service
UW Nordic Ski Club Competes against Division I Teams - February 10, 2009 (UW News Service)
Monday, February 09, 2009
DU Invite!
We just returned from our final NCAA Division I race of the season and it was amazing!
The weekend started out a little rough when the temperature dropped more than 15 degrees, necessitating re-glide waxing 17 pairs of skis on Friday morning. This was in addition to kick waxing the skis as well. Rachel worked on the kick while Ashley and I blasted through the glide as quickly as possible. The race was a 5km (women) or 1okm (men) classic inverval start race.
he women started at 9am and the temperature hadn't warmed up 2 degrees in the last 3 hours we had been at the venue and watching the thermometer. This made the kick for the women really easy and we ended up going with an extremely old Swix Special Blue that had bomber kick and was rocking fast. You can't even buy that kick anymore so hopefully we don't face this scenario often! The glide was also pretty easy, Fast Wax Tan. We love it when the temperature is in the Fast Wax Tan range because despite tons of testing we've not found anything better between 12-18F. We know most of the teams won't have Fast Wax so we know our skis will be good on those days!
Anyway, the women went out and had a great day, with Gracey busting into the top 30 in 28th and Kari (33) and Gwynn (36) solidly in the top 40. Morgan had a slightly off day but still managed 41. Marie didn't have a great day but thanks to new skis from the Snow Mountain Nordic Center we'll be looking for some better finishes next time! The women beat Whitman by 5 points and Gracey was within 7 seconds of Whitman's top girl, the closest any Cowgirl has been all year!
The men arrived to the frantic activity of re-waxing. While there were only 5 women to rewax there were 9 men and that takes some time. The coaches were unable to get out to cheer the women because the men had too many skis! We managed to get through the glide waxing, once again Fast Wax Tan, and on to the kick. The course was crazy because the snow varied from windblown, dry, cold snow in the valley to warm, wet, corn snow up on the top of the course. It was a kick waxing nightmare. Luckily for the men Rachel was up to the task. Not only was the course variable but it started warming up fast, 10 degrees between 10-11am!
The combination was crazy with the first starters on 3 layers of Rode Multigrade blue, 2 of Star Top Blue and 1 of Start Black Magic. The men did not start all at once so the men who started further back needed different wax and gradually it went from 3 layers of Rode Multigrade Blue and Rode Weiss mixed, 2 of Start Top Blue and 1 of Start Black Magic to 3 layers of Rode Multigrade Purple, 2 of Start Top Violet and 1 of Start Black Magic. It was a crazy time but we got everone waxed and started on the course for another great race.
The men were lead by Evgeniy in 25 who had a great day despite the fact that his skis were soft and the wax wore off before the hills on the second lap. He was followed by Eliah (31), Daniel (33), John (38) and Matt (40) in the top 40. Jacob had another impressive finish, after being out all fall recovering from ACL surgery, in 43 and was followed by Grigory (47), Justin (49) and Willie (50).
The men beat Whitman by 14 points and were huting bigger game being only 16 points behind University of Denver and 18 behind University of New Mexico. All the teams at this race are fully funded, varsity teams and our athletes love getting in there and being the underdog.
Saturday's waxing went a little better, with our knowledge of the local weather paterns at Devil's Thumb. Although the forcast was for warmer temperatures we went with Fast Wax Tan again for glide and it paid off. Although we arrived early, in case we had to rewax or put on fluoro's, we tested wax after wax as well as fluoro's and structure only to find that what we had on was the best we could do. Yay! No rewax for the 10 men in the race!
Saturday's races were exciting mass start skate races, the men doing 15km and the women 10km. With the men ready to go and only 5 women to glide wax we had a chance to see a little of men's race and it was so exciting! Zhenya got a great start and was with the lead pack at the start and by the end of the first 5km lap he was sitting in 21st! A great race! Eliah was having a bit of a tough race but the beauty of having such a strong men's team is that John chose this day to have his best race of the season. Dan & Joe were also skiing well followed closely by Justin, Jacob, Matt, Grigory and Willie. For the second lap we weren't able to see much of what was going on but when the men started finishing it was amazing! Zhenya had pulled up and finished in 17th! John had held on for a solid 31st, Eliah and Dan in 35 & 36, Joe in 38, Justin, Jacob and Matt 39, 40 and 41. Grigory and Willie rounded out the Cowboy attack in 44 and 45. Zhenya's 17th was the best UW men's finish since the NCAA team was cut in 1993 and he was only 1:25 back from the leader (3%)! He lead the men's team to the best team day since 1993 as well!
The amazing and exciting day only got better when the women took to the course. We had been testing glide consistently since 6:30am and Fast Wax Tan with HWK HFW 2 mixed on the back 1/2 of the ski and no fluoros was rocking but 25 minutes before the women's start the fluoros started running and panic was on! We got all the skis waxed with just 4 minutes to go but it was well worth the effort as the women matched the men's effort! Gracey's skis were so fast that she was passing other racers in a tuck as they were skating! Since there were no more skis to wax for the day the coaches were able to get out on the course and it was wonderful!
The first lap Gracey cruised by us smiling and looking strong in 22nd place, the best place by a woman to date! She was followed by Kari in 28th and Gwynn 28 who had Marie hot on her heals! All four women who started were in the top 32! We'd never had that before! The second lap went even better with Gracey moving up to take the first ever top 20 place since 1993 with 19th. Kari also moved up 26, Marie into 28th and Gwynn 29! Four women in the top 30 and 1 in the top 30!
It was an amazing race and an amazing weekend! Everyone is now pumped for the Cowboy Chase, February 21 & 22, and USCSA Nationals, March 3-7. USCSA Nationals will be on those same trails and the athletes have a huge advantage having raced them this weekend.
We hope this is the first of many such races!
The weekend started out a little rough when the temperature dropped more than 15 degrees, necessitating re-glide waxing 17 pairs of skis on Friday morning. This was in addition to kick waxing the skis as well. Rachel worked on the kick while Ashley and I blasted through the glide as quickly as possible. The race was a 5km (women) or 1okm (men) classic inverval start race.
he women started at 9am and the temperature hadn't warmed up 2 degrees in the last 3 hours we had been at the venue and watching the thermometer. This made the kick for the women really easy and we ended up going with an extremely old Swix Special Blue that had bomber kick and was rocking fast. You can't even buy that kick anymore so hopefully we don't face this scenario often! The glide was also pretty easy, Fast Wax Tan. We love it when the temperature is in the Fast Wax Tan range because despite tons of testing we've not found anything better between 12-18F. We know most of the teams won't have Fast Wax so we know our skis will be good on those days!
Anyway, the women went out and had a great day, with Gracey busting into the top 30 in 28th and Kari (33) and Gwynn (36) solidly in the top 40. Morgan had a slightly off day but still managed 41. Marie didn't have a great day but thanks to new skis from the Snow Mountain Nordic Center we'll be looking for some better finishes next time! The women beat Whitman by 5 points and Gracey was within 7 seconds of Whitman's top girl, the closest any Cowgirl has been all year!
The men arrived to the frantic activity of re-waxing. While there were only 5 women to rewax there were 9 men and that takes some time. The coaches were unable to get out to cheer the women because the men had too many skis! We managed to get through the glide waxing, once again Fast Wax Tan, and on to the kick. The course was crazy because the snow varied from windblown, dry, cold snow in the valley to warm, wet, corn snow up on the top of the course. It was a kick waxing nightmare. Luckily for the men Rachel was up to the task. Not only was the course variable but it started warming up fast, 10 degrees between 10-11am!
The combination was crazy with the first starters on 3 layers of Rode Multigrade blue, 2 of Star Top Blue and 1 of Start Black Magic. The men did not start all at once so the men who started further back needed different wax and gradually it went from 3 layers of Rode Multigrade Blue and Rode Weiss mixed, 2 of Start Top Blue and 1 of Start Black Magic to 3 layers of Rode Multigrade Purple, 2 of Start Top Violet and 1 of Start Black Magic. It was a crazy time but we got everone waxed and started on the course for another great race.
The men were lead by Evgeniy in 25 who had a great day despite the fact that his skis were soft and the wax wore off before the hills on the second lap. He was followed by Eliah (31), Daniel (33), John (38) and Matt (40) in the top 40. Jacob had another impressive finish, after being out all fall recovering from ACL surgery, in 43 and was followed by Grigory (47), Justin (49) and Willie (50).
The men beat Whitman by 14 points and were huting bigger game being only 16 points behind University of Denver and 18 behind University of New Mexico. All the teams at this race are fully funded, varsity teams and our athletes love getting in there and being the underdog.
Saturday's waxing went a little better, with our knowledge of the local weather paterns at Devil's Thumb. Although the forcast was for warmer temperatures we went with Fast Wax Tan again for glide and it paid off. Although we arrived early, in case we had to rewax or put on fluoro's, we tested wax after wax as well as fluoro's and structure only to find that what we had on was the best we could do. Yay! No rewax for the 10 men in the race!
Saturday's races were exciting mass start skate races, the men doing 15km and the women 10km. With the men ready to go and only 5 women to glide wax we had a chance to see a little of men's race and it was so exciting! Zhenya got a great start and was with the lead pack at the start and by the end of the first 5km lap he was sitting in 21st! A great race! Eliah was having a bit of a tough race but the beauty of having such a strong men's team is that John chose this day to have his best race of the season. Dan & Joe were also skiing well followed closely by Justin, Jacob, Matt, Grigory and Willie. For the second lap we weren't able to see much of what was going on but when the men started finishing it was amazing! Zhenya had pulled up and finished in 17th! John had held on for a solid 31st, Eliah and Dan in 35 & 36, Joe in 38, Justin, Jacob and Matt 39, 40 and 41. Grigory and Willie rounded out the Cowboy attack in 44 and 45. Zhenya's 17th was the best UW men's finish since the NCAA team was cut in 1993 and he was only 1:25 back from the leader (3%)! He lead the men's team to the best team day since 1993 as well!
The amazing and exciting day only got better when the women took to the course. We had been testing glide consistently since 6:30am and Fast Wax Tan with HWK HFW 2 mixed on the back 1/2 of the ski and no fluoros was rocking but 25 minutes before the women's start the fluoros started running and panic was on! We got all the skis waxed with just 4 minutes to go but it was well worth the effort as the women matched the men's effort! Gracey's skis were so fast that she was passing other racers in a tuck as they were skating! Since there were no more skis to wax for the day the coaches were able to get out on the course and it was wonderful!
The first lap Gracey cruised by us smiling and looking strong in 22nd place, the best place by a woman to date! She was followed by Kari in 28th and Gwynn 28 who had Marie hot on her heals! All four women who started were in the top 32! We'd never had that before! The second lap went even better with Gracey moving up to take the first ever top 20 place since 1993 with 19th. Kari also moved up 26, Marie into 28th and Gwynn 29! Four women in the top 30 and 1 in the top 30!
It was an amazing race and an amazing weekend! Everyone is now pumped for the Cowboy Chase, February 21 & 22, and USCSA Nationals, March 3-7. USCSA Nationals will be on those same trails and the athletes have a huge advantage having raced them this weekend.
We hope this is the first of many such races!
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Article from UW News Service
Here's a great article and picture, courtesy of Barbara Cartwright, put out by the UW News Service.
UW Nordic Ski Teams Win Twice - February 3, 2009 (UW News Service)
UW Nordic Ski Teams Win Twice - February 3, 2009 (UW News Service)
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Can you smell what UW is cookin'?!
As Christi stated in the previous post, the last weekend consisted of USCSA qualifiers in Leadville and Frisco,Co. I can only think of a few terms to describe the weekend; stellar, complete domination, and as my high school coach used to say, " Take them out back to the wood shed". This weekend not only showed how strong and competitive we are in the Rocky Mountain conference but in the greater Wyoming/Colorado skiing community. The winners of the collegiate races happened to also be the winners of the races overall.The team also took a major portion of the top 10 spots...Utter domination! Not only did our athletes dominate but man did our coaches lay down the hammer! Christi and Rachel both rocketed to the top of their respective race, and delivered great race skis for the whole team, including my 2 pairs as Christi had mentioned ( I feel bad about it, but you guys made me feel like a world cup racer having pairs of skis race waxed to test out. Thanks so much!). We also had athletes who love putting their bodies into the garbage can so much that they opted for the 20km instead of the 10 km. Oh and guess what, they continued the weekend domination! Ava and Zhenya showed me what domination really was, pushing through a long race with still the determination to sprint to the line. Major props to you guys!
I am honored to be all of yours' team mate,
Adam
I am honored to be all of yours' team mate,
Adam
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