UW Nordic Ski Teams Have Mixed Results in Freestyle Sprint at National Championships

For the University of Wyoming Nordic ski teams, the results were mixed during the second day of the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association (USCSA) National Championships Wednesday, March 11, at Lake Placid, N.Y.

 

Despite a few mishaps, the Cowgirls had their best team placing at Mount Van Hoevenberg since 2014 -- third -- in the 1.3km freestyle skate sprint at nationals. They had finished fourth in the 1.3km freestyle skate sprint three years in a row. For the Cowboys, they finished a disappointing fifth as a team in the same race.

 

“Today was a very tough day. Conditions were challenging with very deep, soft snow,” says co-head coach Christine Boggs. “We had some great performances as well as some struggles.”

 

Unlike the longer races, the freestyle skate sprint is broken down into several heats. The women and men each ran an initial qualifier, in which the original women’s field of 67 and men’s field of 75 were narrowed down to the top 30 skiers in each. During the five quarterfinals each for women and men, heats composed of six skiers each were contested. The top two from each quarterfinal as well as two “lucky losers based on time” advanced to the semifinals, Boggs says.

 

The same scenario occurred in the semifinals, with the top two finishers in each of five races for women and men, as well as two lucky losers, advancing to the finals. The top six skiers competed in the “A” final to determine places one through six, with the next six skiers in the “B” final to determine places seven through 12.

 

After some drama and the slush settled, the Cowgirls placed third overall in the 14-team field, with 42 points. They finished behind St. Olaf (Minn.) College, which scored a low winning point total of seven, followed by Paul Smiths College in second with 35 points.

 

In the initial qualifier, Eleanor Veauthier, a Casper sophomore, finished 10th; Leah Ines, a freshman from Holderness, N.H., skied to 14th place; Shayla Babits, a Lander junior, was 16th; and Gigi Mahood, a Jackson freshman, took 21st. Morgan Gelwicks, a freshman from Laramie, finished 37th; and Stella Ordahl, a junior from Hillmann, Minn., rounded out the UW finishers in 47th place.

 

“The women raced hard with Eleanor holding her line and sitting easily in qualifying position through the uphill portions of the race. On the final downhill, she caught her ski in a particularly deep section of snow and went down very hard,” Boggs recalls of Veauthier’s quarterfinal race. “She was far enough ahead of fourth place that she got up and completed the heat in third.”

 

Boggs says the women thought they were done for the day until just two minutes before the start of the semifinals. That’s when they learned Veauthier was a “lucky loser” and would continue to compete.

 

“She didn’t have time to warm up and did her best with no warmup and feeling rough from her earlier fall,” Boggs says. “She placed sixth in the semifinal and then finished 12th on the day with her ‘B’ final placing.” 

 

Of other Cowgirl skiers, Boggs says:  

 

-- “Leah got a bad draw and ended up in a (quarterfinal) heat with three women who would eventually go into the ‘A’ final and placed first, fourth and sixth. She fought extremely hard, finishing fourth in the heat.”

 

-- “Shayla also fought hard and was able to ski to fourth in her (quarterfinal) heat as well.”

 

After all quarterfinal and semifinal race results were tallied, Ines finished 16th overall; Babits was right behind in 17th; and Mahood was 22nd.

 

The Cowboys also had some strong individual performances but were disappointed in their fifth-place team finish. UW scored 54 points, well behind winner Paul Smiths College, which scored a low of seven points. St. Olaf (Minn.) College placed second with 17 points, followed by Western Colorado University in third with 28 points and Colorado Mesa University scored 51.

 

Individually, Jack Jendro, a sophomore from Andover, Minn., led the Cowboys in initial qualifying with a 14th-place finish; Eliot Kramer, a junior from Duluth, Minn., was 26th; and Austin Quillinan, a Laramie junior, finished 28th to give the Cowboys three skiers in the top 30.

 

Hunter Pickett, a Casper freshman, and Drew Crouch, a freshman from Salt Lake City, Utah, were each within a second of qualifying, finishing in 31st and 32nd, respectively. Diego Lobatos, a Lander sophomore, was 35th; and Kaleb Simonson, another Lander sophomore, took 40th place.

 

“Jack was stellar in the quarterfinal, winning his heat and easily advancing to the semifinals,” Boggs says. “Austin placed a close fourth in his heat but did not earn a ‘lucky loser’ advancement. Eliot was skiing incredibly, holding at tight third in his heat when he tripped in the soft snow and lost his place. He ended up fifth in his heat but skied the best sprint of his life.”

 

In the semifinal, Jendro took off hard to lead the group but, at the top of an early hill, he tripped and ended up in fifth place. After getting back up, Jendro caught up to the group but then was boxed out, with all four of the men in front of him blocking the path. Jendro was able to get past the four skiers, but it wasn’t enough for him to qualify for the “A” final, Boggs says.

 

“He went on to a solid 10th place on the day” after Jendro finished fourth in the “B” final, Boggs says.

 

After all quarterfinal and semifinal race results were tabulated, Quillinan ended up 20th and Kramer was 24th.

 

“It is on the tough days that we most need the support of our community and friends. It’s easy to win. It is much more difficult to keep on fighting when it is hard,” says co-head coach Rachel Watson. “Thus, we are more grateful today than any other day for our support crew and our team’s cohesion.”

 

Results for the freestyle skate sprint races were delayed a day, due to several inconsistencies with the heats, the individual overall rankings and, consequently, the team results. Boggs, who serves on the USCSA executive board, also has a role of certifying race results.

 

“I and some of the graduate students who came as part of our support team had to go back through the video footage to check and correct some of the results,” she says. “It was a laborious task that took us about four hours.”

 

After a rest day Thursday, both UW teams will be back in action today, competing in the 15km skate mass start race.