Burke, Vt. - After an unscheduled 'bye week,' the Colby alpine team's season restarted with the University of New Hampshire carnival. While the race would usually have taken place at Mittersill, a lack of snow forced the race to be moved an hour north to Burke Mountain. Burke, the host of Men's Nor-Ams and Eastern Cups earlier in the season, sports a challenging hill and almost always fantastic conditions, making it the perfect place for stop two of the EISA circuit.
A few inches of snow overnight greeted racers as they unstrapped their skis in the morning, but a solid surface existed underneath, and it promised to be a good race. Boston College got the drill for the first run setting a rhythmical 27-meter set down the steep and unrelenting Training Hill. It was clear from inspection that fall-line, charging skiing would be rewarded.
The women took to the hill first and showed that they will be amongst the top GS teams in the conference this year. They placed four skiers in the top 30, led by
Ella Spear, who sat third overall in the conference standings after the Bates Carnival. Spear took advantage of bib number two to deliver a stellar first run that put her right in touch with the leaders. She was followed by teammates
Hannah Soria,
Carissa Cassidy, and
Lydia Riddell, who all moved up considerably from their start position and were poised to take advantage of a cleaner course second run.
As the snow began to groove up, the men got their shot. Challenging snow and a fast set left the Mules struggling, but
Chauncey Morgan showed good consistency putting another run in the top 30.
Tucker Strauch sat just outside of the flip in 31st. A nasty crash for
Patrick Coughlin resulted in a DNF (did not finish), but he was ok despite some blood and ready to avenge his performance tomorrow.
A slightly 'turnier' set was in order for the second run as hosts UNH changed things up. The set was just what the doctor ordered for Riddell, who finished with the second fastest run of the second run moving all the way up to 7th place. A solid second run for Spear saw her finish in 8th, giving her a second top 10 finishing, keeping her amongst the best in the overall standings and all but solidifying a spot at NCAA championships in March. The third women's scorer was Cassidy, who got her first top 15 finish as a Mule.
The men charged hard on the second run, but some mistakes hurt their efforts to move up. Still, Morgan finished in the points again in 25th. Also scoring for the Mules was
Tucker Strauch in 31st and
Cam Owens in 37th.
After the opening day of racing, the Mules sit in fifth place, trailing Middlebury, Dartmouth, UNH, and the University of Vermont. However, the women's team's performance on the day landed them in second place, ahead of all teams mentioned above, except for Dartmouth. They will get another crack with the Slalom tomorrow. That race can be followed live on https://livetiming.usskiandsnowboard.org or on the FIS app.
WOMEN'S RESULTS (PDF)
MEN'S RESULTS (PDF)
