NCAA's coming up!

The past two weekends we had the final two carnivals of the year, first at home and then the final weekend, EISA championships, in Rumford, hosted by Bates. Racing at "home" was a new feeling for me, as last year our home carnival was hosted at Trapps due to low snow, and until college skiing, the idea of a truly home course was foreign to me. I've raced numerous times at most venues in the East, and several out West, so I know them all really well, but it's not quite the same as really racing at home. Skiing the course we train on all year, with so many of our own friends and family and fans lining the trail is really so different from any other race. Skiing up the biggest hill, lined with our people on our course was really exhilarating.

Most exciting though is that next week WE are hosting NCAA's, so to get to have those at home with all the best collegiate skiers from across the country is going to be awesome and I'm really lucky to get to be here to have that line up in my time at Middlebury! It's something I always imagined would be a possibility, that I'd get to be racing NCAA's at home, while I was here, something that's been in the back of my mind since I first visited Middlebury as a prospective student and learned that we had gotten the bid. To be in the final days before the race now is both exciting and a bit overwhelming, that it's actually here.

It's amazing to see how hard the community is working to pull it together, from the crew at Rikert making sure the snow will hold up, and our coaches putting in endless hours of organization over the last weeks and months, and all of the supporters who will be out volunteering to put on a seamless event. As the athletes who get to just go out and ski, we are forever indebted to them.

Nordic races are Thursday and Saturday and Alpine are Wednesday and Friday! Stay tuned on the NCAA website as well as the EISA skiing page!

The TEAM!

Middlebury 5k classic

Carnivals

Two weekends ago, I got to race in my first carnival of the season at UVM. Despite low snow, the races went off really well, and it was really fun weekend!
Results are always at EISA skiing, and check out these race reports by teammates on the Middlebury Blog: Day 1 and Day 2 

Also, Annie and I took some time to right posts about our trip to Europe, so if you still want to read more about that, here are the links to Part 1 and Part 2.

This past week, I got sick and so I didn't race Dartmouth carnival last weekend, but getting to go and cheer for our team all day was really exciting. Racing you don't often get to watch very much, so to spend the whole day out on skis sprinting around the course to try and cheer at as many places possible was really fun! On the bright side, although I was sad not to race, it got me really fired up to race this weekend, at our home carnival.

This week marks the first of the spring semester, so that's always a bit of a transition, going back to full time class again. But, more than anything I'm happy to be back with our team, getting fired up to race on our home trails this weekend. Several years' work has gone into building the new Tormondsen family race course, and installing a new snowmaking system that will make the whole loop skiable in any condition, so to see that all come together for the our home races is really, really exciting.

World Juniors 2013

Here's a quick post, check out the articles linked below for more- fasterskier did a great job following us for the races.

After a week long precamp in Ramsau, Austria (the most beautiful skiing I've ever done!) team USA headed to Liberec for the week of racing. It was a great week, complete with several top 10, 20, and 30 results from our team. The coaches and wax techs did a phenomenal job with organization and our skis, making it a really smooth week for us. I can't thank them enough for that.

With six juniors and four start spots per race, we all got to do two races, so I was in the classic sprint and the 10k skiathlon, as well as the relay. We had an awesome group this year, so it was great to get to share the experience with so many fun people!

It was especially fun for me this year, having been to world juniors two years ago, and Youth Olympics last year, this time I finally felt comfortable racing against the Europeans. I felt like I belonged there, and I think that definitely contributes to beginning to race fast over there. It was also really fun as I started to know people from other countries that I've met in previous years, it's fun being in the start line and getting to recognize more people!

Thanks to everyone at home who have been loyally watching live results and cheering us on from afar! Next up is UVM carnival this weekend, it's great to be back home with my team!

Check out these articles from the week on fasterskier.com!

Junior Sprint:
http://fasterskier.com/article/saxton-14th-in-world-juniors-sprint-to-lead-four-americans-in-the-top-30/

Junior Skiathlon:
http://fasterskier.com/article/mooney-takes-26th-to-lead-u-s-in-world-juniors-skiathlon/

Relay day:
http://fasterskier.com/article/u-s-finishes-junior-worlds-with-10th-12th-in-relays/

Notes from the week:
http://fasterskier.com/article/goodbye-liberec-the-next-generation-of-north-americans-reflect-on-worlds-experience/

Week recap:
http://fasterskier.com/article/weekly-roundup-juniors-week/

And these two pos I did for NENSA and the NNF, thanks for their help funding the trip!

NNF
https://www.nationalnordicfoundation.org/2013/01/from-the-athletes-heather-mooney/

NENSA
https://www.nensa.net/news/index.php?id=5862

and....pictures!

Hallie and Brooke sent me lots of luck from home:)

Ramsau...

sprint starts with the Annies

Annie and I

Ash  and I were reunited! (she went to SMS for a couple years, but lives in Australia, so we don't get to see her very often!!)

Corey Stock and I have raced against each other forever, it was really fun to be on a team with her here!

battle of the flags

classic portion of the pursuit

relay!

Back to Middlebury

I'm super psyched to be back at school with my team! So for now I won't be updating too much....check the Middlebury Blog for updates and pictures!

YOG ends with a bronze medal!!

Friday was a day I will never forget. I’d been looking forward to the relay race all week, especially after the sprint, knowing it was our last race, a final chance to test ourselves on this big stage of Youth Olympics. As much as I had thought about that race, I never could have imagined that I would come down with a cold the night before. I was really upset to be sick in the morning when I woke up, I didn’t want to let my teammates down…everyone was looking forward to the race, and for any one of us to mess it up would mean ruining it for everyone. We were all counting on each other. So, as Sverre suggested, I went out and just tried to ski smooth, and see what I could do. If I had been feeling great, I probably would have gone out hard, as I typically do, and blown up in the soft snow. But, smooth was the way to go in the fresh snow, and it turned out all right! 

Anna led us off with a strong first leg- she skied 3x2k laps, shooting twice, and didn’t have to ski any penalty laps, tagging to me in 8^th. I only lost us one spot, dropping down to 9^th after 2x2k, when I tagged to Sean. Sean too skied really well, and didn’t ski any penalty laps either. His first time through to the range, apparently other people were taking more time and missing, and he jumped all the way up to 2^nd! He held that for his final two laps, and tagged to Paddy to finish it off. Paddy skied really strong, and although the Russian (who won the classic distance race) caught up to him, the two of them went back and forth, ultimately ending up a little less than a second behind in the final sprint. That made us THIRD!!!

I couldn't believe it when Sean moved into 2^nd, I ran down along the course, and sprinted around cheering as much as I could. Places were a bit spread out, and when Paddy started, we all realized there was a chance we could get a medal. I didn’t want to think about how it would end up…just held my breath and cheered as loud as I could…and he held on, and we made the podium!! We were all shocked, but everyone skiing consistently, and it turned out that was the key to the day!! After the race, there were lots of interviews (one with Eurosport!) and the mascot ceremony at Seefeld. It really didn’t hit me for a while, I was so excited, but it didn’t sink in for a while, it still doesn’t seem real. That night down in Innsbruck, we received our medals, along with all the other medalists from the day…that was kind of one of those moments you always dream of, and then to be standing up on the stage and actually receiving our medals so cool…I don’t think I have words for how that felt!  The best part was being able to stand up there with three teammates, proudly representing USA!!

Yesterday were the closing ceremonies. There were a few speeches, and some more dancing and fireworks! They talked about how the Olypmic spirit would live on in all of us, even though the Games were ending, that was kind of cool! It was really sad though when they announced that the Games were closed, and extinguished the Olympic flame. Afterwards we all headed down to Congress for dinner, and “clubbing”, a big dance party in the cafeteria. There were lots of lights and very, very loud music, and it was fun, but it didn’t even come close to the JO’s dance:)

Overall, Youth Olympics was a fantastic experience! I feel like I was finally getting used to it and meeting lots of people just as it was ending, but the entire time was definitely an awesome time, definitely a once in a lifetime experience that will stay with me forever. I didn’t think it was going to be a big deal going into it, but coming out of it, it definitely felt like the real deal! Even if it was the “Youth” Olympics, the Olympic spirit was present, and to get to compete in the mixed relay with the biathletes (the first time that’s been done) in a historic day for all of us was amazing. Thanks to all of the volunteers and organizers that worked so hard to make it such a great experience for all of us!

The next Youth Olympics are in Lillehammer, Norway, so I hope now that we’ve been to these ones, people will get excited about it, and that it will be even bigger and more fun than ours was! For now, I’m headed home to rest up before joining my team again to get into some college racing!!

 

 

the start of the relay

 

Paddy pulls it in!!

 

we were 3rd!!! 

 

 

 

medals ceremony

 

closing ceremonies

YOG Skate Sprint

Today we got to start the prelim at 3:45, as it was getting dark, so the heats were under the lights!! I had a good prelim, qualifying 23rd, and Paddy qualified 18th! I was really excited for the heats because I knew I would just get stronger. I knew if I could have a good start, I could stick with the other girls, and I did have a really good start, I was 3rd going into the hill! But then, a girl's ski connected with my pole and it broke. Luckily Tim was at the top of the next hill with a spare, and I was able to get it quickly, but just the time of moving out to get it lost me a few seconds that were impossible to make up on the fast course. It was my first time breaking a pole in a race, so I guess I'm lucky that its never happened before. It was pretty disappointing that my experience was about dealing with breaking a pole rather than getting to race the heats though. I had been looking forward to this race ever since I found out I made Youth Olympics last spring, but I guess I learned today that you can't put all your hopes into one race, because you never know what can happen! But, that's sprinting, and today I wasn't lucky.

On the bright side though, Paddy was really, really lucky...it was more him just being fast than luck, but he qualified through the heats as second lucky loser, twice! He made it to the final, and finished 5th!!! That was really exciting!!! When they were on the course, the announcer called out "Who's cheering for the American?" and we were all yelling and screaming for Paddy...the announcer went on to find out who was rooting for the other countries represented in the final, but we could tell he was most excited that there was an American!!

 

#1 fan

Sverre reminding me to get forward on the uphill- it looks the same, right?!

 

finishing the prelim

 

start of my heat

posing with Yoggl, the mascot

 

Paddy killing it in the heats!

 

psyched after the race!

 

the secret skis of the day

Now we have the relay with the biathletes on Saturday, and closing ceremonies on Sunday...it's going by so fast!

All photos from the SMS blog (taken by Brooke) and Dave McCahill (FasterSkier)
Check the SMS blog for more photos, and FasterSkier.com for an article about the race!

Also, here's a link to video footage from the classic race, they caught me at the finish and Paddy on one of the hills!
YOG Women's 5k
YOG Mens' 10k

Mountain Adventure!

This morning, Paddy and I joined one of the "Cultural Education Program" activities to go on the tram up onto the mountain that rises out of Innsbruck. We've been able to see the station up there all week, and were really excited to get to see the view...needless to say, it was fantastic! The goal of the CEP is to get athletes to meet each other doing different activities, and to learn something. This activity, "Mountain Snow and Fun" was mainly for team building, so we built some ice sculptures, did some tandem skiing, and at the end we got to do the "zipflebob"....sledding! But mainly we got to go up into the mountains, and that was really cool!! The International Olympic Committee film crew was up there, and they asked to do an interview with us, so we got in front of the big camera and they asked us some questions about skiing and training and our time here in Innsbruck. It was my first time getting videoed for an interview, so it was pretty exciting!

enjoying the view, and the sun!

mountains....

This afternoon, we skied around the sprint course for tomorrow, and practiced different parts of it to figure out what will be fastest. The prelim starts at 3:45 our time, so it will be a fun race under the lights if we make the heats!!

sunset from the stadium!

getting ready to go!

thanks to Brooke for the skiing pictures from today!