Clarkson XC does Nationals

What a crazy weekend. Two weeks ago, we had no idea that we would be spending the last weekend before Thanksgiving somewhere other than Clarkson, let alone spending it in Wisconsin at the NCAA DIII National XC Championships. Coming off a career and program best placing at Regionals, Abbie Sullivan qualified for the big show as the top-ranked individual in the Atlantic region, and the top runner from the Liberty League Conference. It was a wild ride there in many ways, with three NCAA Champs rookies making the trip.
Marc Messer photo

After a warm-hearted and chilly-weathered send-off from the team, we faced logistical setback after setback en-route to Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Our airport was about to get hit with a 10” snowstorm as we were supposed to depart, and our first flight was delayed to the point of us being automatically rebooked from our connection to a new flight Friday morning. We scrambled as soon as we could make contact to try and move rental cars around, preparing to make the 2.5-hour drive from Chicago to Oshkosh. As luck would have it, our connection was also delayed just enough for us to sprint through O'Hare terminal 3 and join the boarding line. Except we had already been rebooked. The standby passengers that got bumped from the flight were less than pleased, but hey, we made it. Then that flight spent 45 minutes on the deicing pad, pushing our arrival time back from 10pm to almost midnight. Oh yeah, and we were in a new time zone, so really it was more like 1am. We finally rolled into our hotel at around 12:30, 11 hours after we left Clarkson, and only 4 hours earlier than if we had just driven. *shrug*


We took the next morning to sleep off our travel hangover, rolling down to our hotel breakfast at around 930. From there we planned how are we going to kill the hours before we would be able to officially check in and run the course.

If you’ve ever been to Oshkosh (and you're not from WI), it was probably either for D3XC nationals or the Oshkosh Air Festival. Other than that, there's not a whole lot going on. So we moseyed on over to the EAA museum for a few hours, checking out planes and stuff before the coaches meeting.



Abbie went solo to the course after dropping me and Allott off downtown, and we quickly found our North Country neighbors SLU at the meeting. At least we could follow someone who’d been here before.

Later that night was the NCAA Awards banquet, where we managed to snag a table with other individual runners: one from our hotel (via UC Santa Cruz), and another we found out was sharing a start box with Abbie (via Suffolk). The dinner was good, there were awards, speeches, and lots of denim.


The next morning was a little different race morning than we were all used to. No team, no bus, no team tent, no parents. Just our small travel party, a rental car, our bags, and the short drive to the golf course. And boy was there a crowd for this one.



 I sometimes forget that XC fans are the most physically active fans in any sport.

Marc Messer photo

When the women started, we had no idea what to expect. Abbie had done well at regionals, mixing it up with a top-ranked team. We forgot that now there were 31 other teams that were all similar, plus another 50+ individuals. But it didn't matter, Clarkson was represented at nationals, and it was a great way to cap off the season.
Marc Messer photo

Abbie finished 121/279, ten seconds out of the top-100, twenty from top-75.

Our trip wound down with some nice meals around Oshkosh, and the flights back weren't nearly as eventful as the ones out. At least for us. I hope the Oberlin Women's team made their flights out of O'Hare.

There's so much more about this event that can't feasibly be written down, more than just a "You had to be there" type of story. The people we met, the things we saw, stuff that just can't be given justice written down.

You had to be there, and hopefully next year, I can tell you that again.

Two (and one) Down.

So I was gonna do a recap of preseason, but I never got around to it. My Bad. So here is a little of that, plus a triple race report!

So, to kick off preseason, I decided to try my hand at a 7km trail race at Great Glen Trails as a benefit to my friend and Olympic Biathlete Sean Doherty. It was a good mix of single-track and wide trail, and it was a decent field for a bunch of local runners.
Up and over the bridge! Photo by Meg Skidmore.


The course started with about 200m of wide trail before dropping into the first bit of ST, and had quite a few technical pieces to it, but was still a blast! I ended up first overall (second if you count Sean, who raced as a bandit) in 28:36, and came home/went to school with a sweet new 'Adidas Climatube"

Right behind Sean! Photo by Meg Skidmore.

Following that race, I drove with my dad back to Winooski Park for preseason running camp, which was pretty much the same as last year, but with a few new faces from the seven first-time runners we picked up this season.

After camp, classes started, then that Saturday we had or first race of the season. This is the third time we have run the Shacklette Invitational at St. Anselm College, and it the best we have run as a team to date. The race started out rather slow for this meet, with the leaders going out rather conservatively for the first 5k.

Somewhere around 5k. Photo by Coach Joe Connelly.
After that, though, they picked it up, as did everyone else in chase. For SMCXC, I led the team to 8th place out of 9, with a 41st place finish overall. Our next three (Liam, Ross, and David) were within 15 seconds of me, all above 50th place.
200m to go. Photo by Coach Joe Connelly.
It was a good team effort, and the rest of the top 4 for us were all in their first college race!

Yesterday was the Vermont Technical College Invitational, but this year on a new course. Things went out a little fast (my bad, again), but as a team we were able to hang on and win the overall, with Ross placing third, myself fourth (30:03), Liam sixth, and David seventh.

Fast start. Photo by Vermont XC

This edition of the course started the same as always, with a fast first mile followed by a killer downhill into a cow field. But we then climbed into this campground, which added even more climbing on the loop in there. Also, the course measured long by a bit. But anyways, it was a great race!

I am in much more pain here than the smile says. Photo by Vermont XC
This coming weekend the team has a double effort (at least the nordic guys do), with the Sleepy Hollow TT, followed by our first team appearance at the NYSEF Climb to the Castle!

What a time...

These past few weeks involved some heavy racing, some flying, a lot of driving, and snow...

I never thought about how much time I actually put into my competitions, but having spent almost more time away from campus in the past few weeks than I have on campus, it's been a weird period.
Scott Nichols photo

Things led off with the first Saint Michael's carnival since 2011. It was nice racing at my new home course, even though it was a double classic weekend. The races didn't go all that well, it was bitter cold and snowing all weekend, but I managed a 49th place finish in the 10k, while my relay team placed 28th.

'Twas a cold and snowy day... (Silke Hynes/EISA photo)

Dartmouth was better, much better. Day one was a skate sprint, which, although not my forte, did not go horribly. I ended up 104th overall in the Supertour results (52nd in collegiate). The men's sprint course at Craftsbury is a doozy, with a tough climb through the 1k mark. It was there where I somehow managed to pass the starter in front of me.  Neat.

It was also cold for the sprint. (Silke Hynes/EISA photo)
Day 2 was also skate (a nordic combiners dream). Even better, it was a 10km. When I woke up that day, I honestly wasn't really ready to race. My legs still felt tired from the day before, and it was still pretty chilly. But somehow, everything clicked. 
The Craftsbury 5k Race Loop is one of my favorite courses to ski, and I loved it that day. I ended up 64th in the SuperTour, and recorded my first top-40 finish on the Carnival Circuit, coming in 33rd.
I was the eighth starter. I was the third one across the line. (Silke Hynes/EISA photo)
That night, I was in Salisbury, CT, prepping for the Eastern Ski Jumping Championships the following day. It was a long drive. The jumps went alright, as it was my first time jumping since August. 

In flight. (Scott Nichols Photo)
That night I drove back, in a storm, from Connecticut back to Burlington. Ugh.


Jump to this past weekend. Middlebury Carnival double 10k weekend. 10k classic, 10k skate. This weekend, I had my career best classic finish, a 46th place that felt about accurate. It was cold, so cold that they delayed the start of the race by 3 hours.
Why has it been so cold!!! (Silke Hynes/EISA Photo)

Following this was the 10k skate. Yes. Mine again. I surprisingly did not feel that great, nor did I look great out on course, but I somehow pulled out another top-40, coming in 39th, in a tight group where 30th was only 15 seconds away.
Still cold. (Silke Hynes/EISA photo)
After Midd, I travelled to Holderness, NH for the Cheri Walsh Memorial Classic Race, another 10k and my last shot at qualifying for Junior Nationals. I did well, 38th overall, but not well enough to drop my points. Oh well. Now to focus on the rest of my collegiate season and planning my spring skiing adventures!

.tl