EHS Championships
March 25, 2025
The conditions at the start of EHS were exactly opposite those of U16s. Athletes arrived at Black Mountain of Maine to blue skies and a balmy 50 degrees. The unclouded sun beamed down on the ski trails, causing the snow to transform into slush and creating some slow, grueling conditions. Athletes got very familiar with these conditions, and every single race proved itself to be harder than the last.
Despite the challenges, not a single complaint was heard! Athletes put their game faces on and reminded themselves that they’d skied in these conditions before, and they knew what to do.
Friday, Skate 5k Individual Start
Things happened fast as athletes arrived at the venue around 12:45, and the first race kicked off at 3pm. Boys went first, then girls, to take 1 lap of the Black Mountain 5k course. The first 1.5k was all downhill, then1.5k of uphill, then some rolling terrain before skiers tackled the infamous high school hill (a very steep, long climb) and descended into the finish.
Every athlete laid it all out there and gave it their all, and we saw some great results, with Calvin, Jared, Hannah, and Leigh landing in the top 20. Rowan, Tor, and Lukas W all jumped up in the results from where they were seeded. Even with these successes, the team was left hungry for more, and took that hunger into Saturday’s races.
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Iris and Adam both skied great races and demonstrated impressive grit in the slushy conditions… and opted for the hi-vis yellow race top #twinning.
Saturday AM: Classic 7.5k Mass Start
Saturday started off a little cooler, but by 10am when the races started, the snow had returned to its natural “mashed potato” state.
The boys went off first again, followed by the girls. Although the chaotic snow conditions led to some mid-race tumbles, everyone made it out of the start clean. Today, the team broke into the top 10, with Sam in 9th, Leigh in 7th, and Hannah in 9th. Jared and Adam were hot on the top ten’s tails, with 14th and 16th place. Other highlights included Rowan’s epic comeback from the crash that put him in the back of the pack (100th place) on lap 1, where he persevered through laps 2 and 3 to put down the 36th fastest lap time for the third lap - talk about negative splits! Iris also put down negative splits between her second and third laps. Nolan and Zach both exceeded their seed spots in the race, while Avery Miller hung with a pack of MA skiers and had a big leap from the skate race the day before.
After the morning’s races, athletes went inside to change, get off their feet, and refuel for an afternoon of sprinting.
Saturday PM: Skate Sprint
The conditions continued delivering surprises, this time in the form of streams of water flowing across the course and exposed mud revealing itself as the snow melted. Luckily, the NENSA and Black Mountain crews were on it, and they were shoveling snow to patch up the course non-stop throughout the races.
The team continued their upward trajectory, with Sam landing on the podium in 3rd place, Jared in 8th, Rowan in 17th, and Polina in 12th, Leigh in 15th, and Hannah in 20th. Jasper and Lukas C finished 0.5 seconds apart, with 5 others finishing within that same second. Anneka skied her best race of the weekend, jumping up 12 spots from her seed placement - especially cool since this was Anneka’s first race-weekend back after a couple of months off due to injury.
Saturday activities didn’t stop with the racing – the team headed to the local Rumford high school for the banquet and awards ceremony. After day two, team MA was in 4th place, just behind team ME, and athletes got excited for a chance to move into 3rd place using Sunday’s relays.
Sunday: Mixed team relay
Athletes are reminded over the course of the weekend that, although skiing is an individual sport, during EHS they’re a part of a collective team effort to represent their state together. There’s no better way to reflect the spirit of the collective effort than with a team relay. Each team of four had two girls and two boys, where one skier from each gender would ski a classic lap, and one skier from each gender would ski a skate lap. Classic first, then skate. It was evident during the relay event that athletes were digging DEEP for their teammates, and loud, enthusiastic cheering drowned out any pain skiers felt as they dug deep into the pain cave.
Going into relay day, athletes knew that it was possible to overtake Maine in the team rankings, and they raced with extra grit in hopes to accomplish this. At the awards ceremony following the relay, the team waited in suspense as the placements were announced. One huge cheer erupted as the team learned they had done what they had set their minds to! In the end, team Mass ended up in 3rd place, and more importantly, having developed friendships and camaraderie with fellow Massachusetts skiers that will carry over into future racing!
