Solid weekend

Well, Oak Hill has come and gone. The races were solid. Friday we put three girls in the top 35, highlighted by A-Devs scoring some points in 28th, then Audrey and Cara in 32nd and 35th, respectively. The rest of the girls had solid showings as well. Mer competed in only her second college race and beat a few skiers. Not bad for probably the hardest 5k loop on the circuit.

In the men's race we had a relatively historic showing, putting two men in the top 40 for the first time since I've been at Harvard (that is to say, 4 years), and probably since the City-Bellizzi era (though I can't say for certain). I rocked a 32nd, my best collegiate finish ever, which was pretty sweet, even though I'm disappointed I was out of the points. Dave was 39th, 24 seconds behind me. Both of us were less than 2 minutes from the top 10 (the race was crushed by Midd's Simi Hamilton, who put nearly 40 seconds into second place). Trev rounded out the scoring in 52nd place, beating some solid skiers from SLU. Anders was right in it, and Cullen had a solid 3rd college race on a wickedly tough 10k. Grundy had a tough fall that put him out of it, but he said the rest of the race went well. As a men's team, we beat SLU for the first time in a long-ass time. And we were close to catching Williams.

Today Oak Hill owned the men's team. With 9k of uphill in an 11k lap, we knew from the outset it'd be a challenge. And, having not previewed the course, we were skiing blind. But whatever, it was a fun day. Trev rocked a 48th, I survived in 49th, and Anders was up there in 52. Everyone had a rough day for various reasons. Props to Cullen for hitting up his first 20k in college, and to Grundizzle for doing the hardest 20k I've ever done in college on less-than perfect pre-season training. C-Nabes, if you read this, we missed you.

The women had another good day today. Audrey got it started with some points in 28th, then Alyssa was 34th and Cara was 41st, a gutsy effort considering after the race she felt feverish and had to go home early. Tannis popped off a great race, thanks to some good skis and an awesome effort. Schulzy got sidetracked by rough skis, but we'll fix that next time. Mer did her first ever race over 10k, and it was on the hardest course on the circuit. Nice going, killer.

And we were joined by some Canadians today. I don't know where they were from, but here's hoping they were from my favorite part of Canada:



-- O