We traveled to Crested Butte for the Western State College Division I races. The conditions for both races were fierce with less than 10 degree temperatures and heavy snow. It made the racing extremely tough and we’re proud of the athletes that managed to push through both days!
Friday the men did a 10km interval start classic race and the women did a 5km interval start classic race. This season the men have been better at the classic technique and they didn’t disappoint on Friday. Three men broke into the top 30%, Joe Howdyshell 14%, 32nd place, John Kirlin 19%, 39th place and Brian Sebade 26% with Nicholai Smith just missing the top 30% at 30.95%! The women made huge improvements with the Turner twins, Katie 29.36% and Liz 29.98%, breaking into the top 30% for the first time this season! Gwynn Barrows continued her lead of the team with a 26% finish. Marie Cartwright tied her best classic race of the season with a 31% and Karyn Liebsch, Freshman Maple Grove, MN and Erin Hammer, Senior Lander, got through their first Division I race of the season with 33% and 34% respectively. It was a tough day for skiing but they all raced extremely hard and made improvements.
Saturday the conditions were the same, pounding snow and cold temperatures. Fresh snow is tough to race through and give individuals who start at the end of a race a huge advantage. Unfortunately most of our men started near the front so they were packing the trail for the others. Despite this we had some good finishes with Joe Howdyshell once again getting into the top 35 at 34 and with a great 16%. He was followed by a Post-Doc student, Grigory Kolesov at 23%, Brian Sebade 30% and Nicholai Smith 34%. The women have been competing well in the skate races and Saturday was no exception. Both Gwynn Barrows (35th)and Marie Cartwright (37th) finished in the top 25%, 22 and 24% respectively. This was Marie’s best race of the season, she just keeps getting stronger and stronger! Gwynn also had an extremely solid race, just a little slower than her best race despite feeling extremely tired from the start. The rest of the women competed well with Liz Turner (32%), Erin Hammer (34%) and Katie Turner (37%) rounding out the cowgirls.
It was a tough weekend and despite extremely difficult conditions there were several great races. On the whole the team is getting stronger as they start peaking for USCSA (Division II) Nationals in Black Mountain, Maine.
This weekend will be their last Division I race, the University of New Mexico invitational in Red River, NM. Friday is 5km women, 10km men classic and Saturday is a 5km freestyle for everyone.
The following weekend will be our home race, the Cowboy Chase. This happens on Saturday and Sunday and both races are open to the public. We also have a UW Nordic Team benefit raffle and dinner. Information can be found on our website at http://www.uwyo.edu/ski/CowboyChase.htm
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