Last week, Gustavus College cut their varsity nordic skiing program with no warning, claiming that because the sport is not sponsored by the MIAC (Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference), the school has decided to allocate funds and resources toward the sports that do compete in the MIAC. For those of you that aren't from Central Region, the nordic ski teams compete in a conference called the CCSA (Central Collegiate Ski Association) which was formed once the MIAC discontinued its sponsorship of nordic skiing in 2004-05 due to low numbers of schools with nordic teams. Competing in the CCSA is what qualifies us for NCAAs, just like the MIAC for other sports in Minnesota. With Gustavus choosing to cut their nordic program, there are now only two colleges in Minnesota with varsity nordic programs (St. Olaf College and the College of St. Scholastica), and only seven varsity programs in the Central Region. After the performances put on by Central...
While Tom, Nora, and Elise were out at Soldier Hollow for Senior Nationals, the rest of the team hit up Battle Creek and Theodore Wirth for some citizen races. Thankfully, Coach Zach Hudson, Mark Skildum, and helper Ian Gunsolus were able to assist in waxing and coaching for the weekend. The team raced strong. For many of the freshmen, this was the first time they had raced 25k in one weekend! We pulled off some strong results, with both Liam John and Evan Kendall finishing in the top 10 in their age group men's pursuit, and Emma Lee finishing 2nd for the F19-29 women and 5th overall. We had an insanely large number of people racing- 18 on Saturday! Pretty sure this beats any attendance record St. Olaf has ever had. It was a good weekend. (Pictures and results below). Next up is an alumni race this weekend, and then back to Battle Creek for the first college races. RESULTS Men's 10K Classic Women's 10K Classic Men's 15K Skate Women's 15K Skate Overall Men...
Well, I left Utah two weeks ago today, but I'm pretty sure I'm still up in the clouds somewhere, because I definitely haven't come back down to Earth yet. First off, I'd just like to acknowledge the fact that this entire season was a dream come true, and my experience at NCAAs was just the icing on the cake. It's nearly impossible to try to put this season (and my ski career at St. Olaf) into words, but I will try my best. Honestly, it wasn't until Thanksgiving camp out at West Yellowstone that I felt mentally prepared for the racing season ahead of me. Until that week, I had spent the fall going through the motions, showing up for the workouts, and following the routines I had created throughout three years of college training, all because it was what I was supposed to do. After the lack of a racing season last year due to injury and illness, and a summer of putting training on the back burner for an absolutely amazing internship opportunity, I had legitima...
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