Eastern Collegiate Season Kicks Off Tomorrow with Bates Carnival

By: Francesca Kitch

In Division 1 NCAA skiing, there are 3 conferences: the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association (RMISA), the Central Collegiate Ski Association (CCSA), and the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA).

The EISA conference is made up of 11 schools throughout New England and New York. Over the course of 7 weeks and 6 race weekends starting in mid-January, teams compete for glory at “Winter Carnivals”, a Friday-Saturday event hosted by a new school every weekend. These “carnivals” are well-attended, with sounds of music, cheering, and the University of Vermont’s staple chain saw heard on the hills and from the woods. The racing circuit is set to begin this upcoming Friday at the Bates Winter Carnival in Rumford, Maine.

Bates College’s Hannah Grohman durning the NENSA Henchey Memorial Eastern Cup last month. (Photo: Phillip Belena)

As of last season, race distances were fully equalized under the NCAA. Men and women will race the same distance each weekend, from 7.5k up to 20k. Instituted as of the 2024 season, there will also be 2 sprint races, this year with the classic sprint counting towards NCAA qualification.

EISA athletes are of a particularly promising crop this year, with 6 current EISA racers named to the US Ski Team for the 2024-25 season, and 4 more named to US international World Juniors or U23 Championships, while others still compete for Canada internationally.

Cami Thompson-Graves, Dartmouth Women’s Head Coach, looks forward to the season with team excitement about hosting a Winter Carnival in early February and the NCAA Championships in March, especially after their 4th place at NCAAs in Steamboat last March, the highest rank in the Eastern Conference. 3 members of the women’s team qualified for international competitions this year. First Year Maeve Ingelfinger qualified for World Junior Championships in Bergamo, Italy while Senior Nina Seemann achieved a podium in the Classic Sprint at US Nationals last week in Anchorage, securing a spot on the US U23 team after declining her invitation to race in the Tour de Ski. Senior Jasmine Drolet, sister of NCAA champion and Olympian Remi Drolet (Harvard ‘24), qualified for the Canadian U23 Championship team. In their absence during these trips, Thompson-Graves predicts Junior Ava Thurston, member of the US Ski Team Development Team, to step up for Dartmouth, among others. On the men’s side, Junior John Steel Hagenbuch secured another year on the US Ski Team B Team and was US National Champion in both distance events at US Nationals last week. His teammate Luke Allan qualified for the Canadian U23 World Championships team with multiple top-5 overall performances at Canadian Trials. Men’s Head Coach Brayton Osgood echoed Thompson-Graves’ sentiments about the excitement and motivation of the team.

Dartmouth Junior Ava Thurston at the NENSA Henchey Memorial Eastern Cup in Craftsbury, Vermont, in December. (Photo: Phillip Belena)

The University of Vermont is another strong contender in the Winter Carnivals. Head Coach Patrick Weaver laments that due to sickness, team members were unable to be on form for US Nationals this past week, possibly costing them international team nominations. But the season ahead is looking bright: “This group is a very motivated group. The hard work they all put into the training has been infectious, and it has been quite fun to watch them all work so hard together. When we can help create and support an environment like we have on this team I feel like we have done something right.” Senior Haley Brewster, a member of the US Ski Team B Team, is joined by freshman Fin Bailey on the Development team, but Weaver did not rule any other member of the team out of contention for a strong season.

Senior Jack Young from Colby skies into the spotlight as he returns from the Tour de Ski and Period 1 of the World Cup with a 12th-place finish in the Freestyle Spring race in Davos, Switzerland. Colby Head Coach Tracey Cote maintains enthusiasm about the rest of her men’s team and is “excited to see who steps in to fill Jack’s shoes while he’s away.” Young will be missing the first two carnivals.

Jack Young (Colby College) on his way up the final climb of the Tour de Ski in Val de Fiemme (ITA) last weekend. (Photo: NordicFocus)

The Middlebury Panthers have also been making their mark in the east and on the national stage. Senior Jack Christner from Middlebury had an outstanding performance at US Nationals last week, securing a spot at World U23’s later this season. His best finish was 6th place overall in the Classic Sprint. Head Coach Andrew Johnson predicts that Logan Moore, Shea Brams, Maggie Wagner, and Quincy Massey-Bierman–all previous NCAA qualifiers–will be strong contenders along with Sofia Scirica, who qualified for World Junior’s last year and just missed NCAA qualification.

The Middlebury team after a carnival last season. (Photo: Dave Brams)

St. Lawrence University’s Emma Strack also qualified for World U23’s on the final day of US Nationals with an outstanding performance in the Freestyle Sprint.

Aside from the athletes, head coaching changes were made at the University of New Hampshire and Harvard this year. After 42 years as head coach of the UNH Nordic Program, Cory Shwartz retired before this season after coaching athletes to 56 All-American Team Nominations and receiving EISA Coach of the Year Award 5 times. Schwartz’s assistant coach Shane MacDowell stepped into the head coaching role for this season. MacDowell remarks “Following a coach that had been at it for so long and had been pretty successful while doing it, there isn’t too much I am looking to change.” He went on to say that one of the values of the UNH team is its tight-knit nature–“an extension of family” he called it–and by keeping this aspect strong it “not only gives the student athletes a great experience during their time at UNH but also breeds hard work and dedication to the team and teammates.” MacDowell is optimistic about the upcoming season, especially for his women’s team. He predicts Junior Hattie Barker to be “one of the best skaters on the circuit” and First Year Clara Hegan to be someone to watch out for after her 4th place overall finish at Canadian Trials and qualification for the World Junior Championships. MacDowell also credits Fifth Year Jasmine Lyons with the determination to reclaim her success from 2 years ago when she placed 2nd at the NCAA Championships at Lake Placid, hoping for a comeback from her 2024 Senior season when she was diagnosed with mono.

Harvard Head Coach Cate Brams steps into their position after their first year of collegiate level coaching as Denver University’s Assistant Coach where the team placed 3rd at NCAAs in Steamboat Springs last March. Taking over from Samantha Benzing (now MSU Assistant Coach), who spent one year as head coach following longtime coach Chris City’s retirement, they are in the process of rebuilding the team. They are a “small but mighty squad”, and Brams remarks that they aren’t “approaching the season any differently – we’re looking at six weekends of racing with the goal of showing up ready to compete at each and every one.” Brams adds that “Learning a new coach’s process and dynamics for two years in a row is really stressful” their goal being to keep things as familiar as possible to alleviate stress from that change. “My hope is that from there, we build trust between athletes and coaches, and come out of this season with a team that really believes that their coaches support them and have their best interests at heart.” The Harvard athletes have taken this in stride and are fired up to race, led by seniors Tali Wong and Quincy Donley (Captain).

These teams are joined on the EISA circuit by Bowdoin, Williams, St. Michael’s College, and Bates, each of which will bring their own stand-outs and fierce competition to the field.