I sent the following "article" to the UW News service and thought it might be a cool thing to put on the blog. I'll add some others later today.
Let me explain how we gauge ourselves in these big NCAA races. We figure percentage back from the winner. In this way we can tell if we are improving from race to race and from year to year. If an athletes is within 30% of the winners at an NCAA race they are automatically qualified for USCSA Nationals.
We have had two NCAA Division I race weekends, each with two races so four total races.
The first race was the Utah University January 4 & 5 and was held at Soldier Hollow, the site of the Nordic events for the 2002 Olympics. There were 10 teams there:
• University of Alaska Anchorage
• University of Colorado
• University of Denver
• Montana State University
• University of Nevada
• University of New Mexico
• University of Utah
• Western State College
• Whitman College
• University of Wyoming
At these races we are the only team that is a club team. All the other ones are full varsity teams.
The first race at Utah was a interval start classic style race. The women did 15km and the men did 20km. The men had an amazing day with John Kirlin, sophomore from Casper, leading the way with a 38th place, only 14% from the winner. He was followed by Jacob Peterson, 52 and 27%, sophomore from Lander, Brian Sebade, 55, senior from Lander and Nicholai Smith, Junior from Chugiak Alaska. The men had a great day and finished only a few points behind Whitman College and Western State College and the top two men were inside the top 30%. The women had a much harder day, the trails at Soldier Hollow are brutal and they took their toll on the women. Gwynn Barrows, sophomore from Laramie, finished as the top UW skier in 39th, 30% out, followed by Freshman Marie Catrwright, Lander and Senior Mae Peterson, Pinedale. The women still managed to beat Western State College by 3 points.
The second race was a freestyle mass start race. The women did 5km and the men did 15km. This was the day for the men to struggle. Only two UW men finished the race: Jacob Peterson, 58 (26%) and Brian Sebade, 61 (30%). Three men are counted in the scoring so they didn’t score as a team. The women had a great day though with Gwynn once again leading the pack in 40 (21% back), Marie in 43rd (24% back) and Mae in 45 (30% back) All three women managed to pre qualify for USCSA Nationals in the race and just squeaked by Western again by 1 point.
On January 19 & 20 there was a dual weekend. The elite racers did the University of Colorado invitational at the YMCA of the Rockies in Granby, CO and the competitive team racers did the Devil’s Thumb Pursuit, also in Granby, CO. This gave the two groups the chance to spend the time between races together.
The CU invite went extremely well with most of or athletes improving their % back. Saturday was the freestyle with the men doing a 10km skate race. The men were once again led by John Kirlin who placed 39 at 19% back. Jacob Peterson, 42 (20%), Brian Sebade, 47 (25%) and Nicholai Smith, 50 (36%). The women had an amazing showing with Gwynn Barrows placing 34 (23%) and Marie Cartwright only 4 seconds back in 35 (23%). Liz Turner, Junior Chugiak Alaska, joined the women for this race and started her season in 40th (31%) followed just 2 seconds back by Mae Peterson in 41st (31%). The women were able to once again beat Western State College by 5 points.
At the same time that the elite group was taking on the division I teams the competitive group was racing in the Rocky Mountain Conference Race (USCSA) in Devil’s Thumb. 4 men and 1 women did this race. Justin Kinner, Sophomore Casper, lead the the cowboy chase beating all the skiers from Air Force and Colorado Mountain College. He was closely followed by Michael Fitzgerald, 2nd , Freshman Laramie, Patrick Richards 4th , Junior Clear Creek, Coloraodo and Adam Kargas 7th , Freshman, Minnisota. Gina Shively was the only cowgirl but she put in a great performance to slide into 2nd behind Meg Heerdt from Air Force.
Sunday’s race was a classic race, 15km for the men and 10km for the women. The men skied very well lead once again by John Kirlin, 36th (20%), Jacob Peterson, 40 (21%) Brian Sebade, 42 (24%) and Nicholai Smith 47, (33%). The double weekend enabled two young skiers from the competitive team to try their hand at Division I competition and Justin Kinner, Sophomore Casper and Michael Fitzgerald, Freshman Laramie, made the most of it placing 45 (28%) and 48 (39%) respectively.
The women finally had a full contingent of 5 women and Gwynn lead the way again with 38 (27%) followed closely by an amazing performance by Mae Peterson, 40 (28%). Marie Catrwright 41st, Liz Turner 42nd and Katie Turner 43rd rounded out the cowgirl team which once again managed to beat Western State College by only 1 point!
The men’s team looks great this season, they are pumped and ready to rock! They are hoping to get revenge on Cornell who beat them by only 1 point for the National Title last season.
The defending National Champion women’s team is struggling a bit. Out of 12 possible racers 4 have had some kind of surgery, one is doing a study abroad and several have had lingering illnesses. Currently there are only 4 able to race who are eligible for Nationals. Despite this there is still some hope for some great finishes from these 4 women. What looked to be a great shot at defending their national title is fading with each surgery but they are looking strong for a top three finish and that would be an amazing recovery considering the hurdles they have faced this year.
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