Vermont EHS/J2 Qualfier Update with Results

We had a group of eight racing at Grafton Ponds for the Vermont EHS/J2 qualifier this morning. Hamish and Mac represented SMS for the boys, while Issy, Anika, Brooke, Tess, Pippin, & Katharine took to the trails for the girls. The qualifier has two races in one day – classic in the AM and skate in the PM (each race ~3k long). It was REALLY cold out and with wind whipping through the field, it made for one of the colder racing days we’ve had this year. Fortunately, we were very lucky to head a half mile down the road to Issy Pelletier’s house in between races, where her family had an amazing lunch prepared for us and a warm home for us to rest and get out of the cold. Thanks so much to Herve & Mary for hosting us! Thank you to Herve for the great photos as well. More pictures here.

Sverre gives Issy some advice before her race.

Pippin catches her breath on a downhill. She was the 8th ranked J2 in the state today – way to go!

Mac skied really well today: 13th overall with his combined skate and classic results.

Katharine had a great day: 4th in classic, 3rd in skate.

Tess hits the mini-hill in the field – she qualified for the J2 Festival as the 6th ranked J2 in Vermont – awesome!

Words of wisdom from Sver. 🙂

Anika, who leaves tomorrow morning for the J1 Scando trip, was 2nd in the classic race and won the skate race. Awesome results for her final tune up races before she rips it up in Europe!

Issy P was 3rd in the classic and 4th in the skate race today. Issy found out yesterday that she’s been accepted to Middlebury for next fall. Awesome! 🙂

Hamish – 3rd in the classic race and 6th in the skate race – looked strong today!

Gino raced at the Dartmouth Carnival on Friday so he took it easy today and did a distance ski at the race course and cheered on his teammates. Koby, who is getting over a cold, took it easy as well and on the basis of his JOQ results this year will get to race at EHS later this winter.

Brooke cranked it in both the classic and skate race – 1st in the classic and 2nd in skate (1 second behind her teammate). Nice skiing!

Matt is off to Erzurum, Turkey on Tuesday to coach at World Juniors. We’ll miss him while he’s gone!

Manya Gordon, Koby’s older sister, was cruising along in the classic race today.

Scott Mooney always knows where the camera is. 🙂

Hamish (5th behind 3 Woodstock boys and Hans Halvorsen from GMVS, not pictured) and Mac (13th, not pictured) qualified for the Vermont EHS team but both declined their spots on the team – EHS conflicts with Canadian Nationals and is right before Spring Series, two races we’re focusing on this March.

SMS girls go 1, 2, 6, 8 (Brooke, Katharine, Tess, Pip) in qualifying for the Vermont J2 team! The J2 Festival conflicts with Junior Nationals, so Brooke and Katharine will likely miss this event and declined their spots, but Tess and Pip are psyched to rep SMS up at the Festival in Rumford, ME! Nice going girls! Tess was also named as an alternate for the EHS Team.