MMSC/MMWA Women's Program: Has it really been 2 weeks?

I know, I know, it has been far too long. Well, I guess I am just a bit busy this time of year and although I set the lofty goal of a daily blog, I will now revisit that goal and adjust... I will now try to do a once a week blog update. Seems a little more reasonable. We have so much to catch up on I am not sure where to start. We have had some great training days, some difficult weather, a few races sprinkled in and lots to report.

First, we had a fantastic pasta social at the Danzig's! We enjoyed tasty pasta, delicious desserts, Roy the Dog, and some very entertaining charades! Thank you to Molly and her family for hosting us!

We had a weekend of SL's at Smuggs that seemed to be marred by the sickness that swept through the academy as well as some difficult conditions and some trouble finding the finish. Of those that did finish...

Day 1 at Smuggs

Kelsey Chenoweth - 4th (2nd for J2's)

Emma Sahn - 6th (3rd for J2's)

Denali Balser - 7th

Neza Stefanic - 32nd

Sarah Reilly - 34th

Kelsey and Emma on the J2 Podium

Day 2 at Smuggs

Sophie Leiter - 7th

Emma Sahn - 13th (Won 2nd Run)

Molly Danzig - 21st

We then had a group of athletes head to Stratton to compete in the next set of Eastern Cup races with 2GS's and 2SL's. The conditions were ideal for attacking from the back however, you needed to have your skates sharpened...yes it was basically a skating rink for the two GS races. It was an impressive field with the majority of colleges tuning up with one last series before they began their college carnival season.

GS1

Kelsey Chenoweth - 59th

Alita Rogers - 79th

Linley Shaw - 108th

GS2

Alita Rogers - 54th

Kelsey Chenoweth - 58th

Denali Balser - 73rd

Linley Shaw - 95th

Hayley Armbruster - 99th

Issy James - 105th

The SL races offered a nearly equal opportunity to move up in the field with similar conditions...under the 8inches of fresh snow they received! The athletes worked hard to help prepare the hill and the SMS crew did a great job to pull of both days with some challenging weather. Both Alita Rogers and Emma Sahn scored career results with Alita scoring a 45 and 44 point race and Emma scoring a 76 point race!

SL1

Alita Rogers - 13th (3rd for J2's)

Emma Sahn - 38th

Denali Balser - 54th

Courtney Hayden - 59th

Issy James - 91st

Alita, 3rd place J2's

SL2

Alita Rogers - 12th

Emma Sahn - 49th

Linley Shaw - 75th

Alita, 1st place J2's

We then headed to Sugarbush for the MLK Day Race and had some great results! After an hour delay to start the race, the athletes rallied to the finish.

MLK Day GS

Sloane Ross - 7th

Courtney Hayden - 9th

Emma Sahn - 16th

Linley Shaw - 18th

Sarah Reilly - 23rd

Sophie Leiter - 25th

Neza Stefanic - 35th

Molly Danzig - 42nd

Denali Balser - 44th

Caroline Armbruster - 50th

Sam Dyar - 51st

Colleen Cataldo - 61st

Over the last couple of days we have taken our GS skiing back to basics to try and reinvent the turn. We seemed to be getting away from the fundamentals we started with and needed to revisit some basic, key elements to having some success in GS. I must say, we had a phenomenal day training today! Each athlete made progress in their GS skiing today and we are fired up to continue with GS for the next couple of days leading up to the VC GS at Stowe on Sunday! Below are some random pictures from the last few days.