Skiers of the Week: US Nationals & Montana State University Invitational

So many good things happened in this long race series that we struggled to determine who and how to make this selection. Should we give it to Will for his great skate race? How about Mason for a very good sprint qualifier? In the end we decided on honoring two of the athletes who managed to get through ALL the 5 races in just 8 days, a truly impressive feat when you consider that the total for the men in this series was 71.5km and for the women 46.3km!

Three UW Nordic Skiers rose to this impressive height and produced some very good racing in the process.

Meghan in the 20km Classic at US Nationals

Meghan Kent hit the first race of US Nationals hard. Despite the temperature being extremely cold and the snow being extremely slow Meghan just put her all into it and pushed! It paid off with a very good finish in which she took down several NCAA Division I athletes! The second race was a classic sprint and Meghan jumped into this despite having borrowed boots that were too big. She once again skied well and competed well with the other college racers. The final race was brutal, rough conditions and an dropout rate that was staggering. Despite all this Meghan skied through it all and just kept fighting. She ended with quite a good finish after battling with several college racers.

We then moved from the relative heat and rain of Utah to the pristine cold of Montana for the Montana State University Invitational. While the field shrinks an increadible amount in these races the quality difference is hardly noticeable as many of the RMISA teams have athletes who compete well at US Nationals. The first race of the weekend was the 5km Freestyle. Meghan skied to an extremely respectable 40^th place, beating several D-I skiers in the process. One of the best parts was watching how she learned to ski the downhills better during the race itself! The final race of the series was the brutal 15k classic mass start. It’s a tough course with multiple loops and an incredible field. She once again showed her grit and determination as she battled with athletes and passed them on the uphills only to lose them on the downhills. Very frustrating but she learned every lap and by the end was skiing even better than when she started!

This series was brutal and Meghan never waivered, just skied right through it all and was absolutely incredible! It’s tough to imagine that she learned to ski only 5 years ago!

Sam cresting the top of the course in the 20km Classic at MSU

The second athlete who we are honoring today is Sam Wiswell. This is the man who after a few too many hours the week before we left started this series tired. Finishing all the races, especially this level of races, in this scenario is truly beastly!

The first set of races were a little up and down for Sam as he was tired but his first try was very solid. The first race was a 10km skate and he skied very well, without much snap, but definitely competed well with the other college racers. It was a little short for our distance monster but he started warming up after about a lap. The second race would have to be considered on of Sam’s least favorite as a classic sprint. Despite this he skied extremely well, crushing the uphills and working through the tired legs. Finally Sam got to his best race at these Nationals, the 30km classic. While many people fear this long classic race and the drop out list was two pages on the results Sam truly shined. At the end of the race the first thing he said was, “That was fun!” I don’t even know how he was still standing after the two weeks he had previously but he somehow managed it with a smile. While Sam never felt great during these races he skied strong and hard and pulled out some good times!

After just two days off Sam was in action again in the 10km skate in Montana. He skied super well in this race taking down multiple quality racers on his way to a 150 point race! Most of the skiers in the races this weekend did NOT do the 30km just 3 days before! He once again felt pretty tired but skied through it and was great! Despite feeling the wear of 50km Sam once again stepped to the start line for the 20k Classic. Sam is our distance beast and despite feeling tired and ending up between skiers completely alone for most of the race he still skied to a good race with his usual amazing attitude.

In addition to this amazing series of races both of these young people are taking the course taught by Rachel & I, Nordic Skiing and Climate Change. When they weren’t tearing up the ski trails they were reading about climate change, finding amazing climate change songs, poems and art, and working on their individual projects.

It had been a long journey and some of the most competitive racing of the year but these amazing scholar athletes came out of it stronger, smarter and with their positive attitudes intact. That is why they

ROCK OUR WORLD!