Prospect Mountain, Woodford, Vermont

March 7-9, 2025

Team New Hampshire won the New England U16 Championships! This is only the 3rd time that New Hampshire has won the cup in the last 25 years… and possibly in the 33 year history of the event.

The 2025 U16 Championships were hosted by Prospect Mountain in Woodford, VT. Each New England state and New York qualified up to 24 of their fastest boys and girls in the U16 category (ages 14-15). This year, teams from Midwest and Ontario joined in.

Athletes traveled, roomed and dined with teammates from their territory. They raced four events in three days: 5k Skate, 5k Classic, Skate Sprint, and a Mixed 3km relay! With the exception of the relay, the races began with a wave start, with one athlete from each territory.

Overheard on Saturday: “Isn’t it cool to be here with kids from other places? Normally we compete with them, but now we’re together on the same team!

17 Ford Sayre Skiers (recent BKL graduates or current JNT members) represented Team New Hampshire:

Caroline Chor, 8th grade, Hanover
Anna Davis, 8th grade, Lyme
Lila Marchetti, 8th grade, Norwich (1st in the 5k Skate and the Skate Sprint, 6th in the Classic Distance, 2nd in the relay and 2nd individual overall!)
Lilian Van Citters, 8th grade, Hanover
Jasper Breton, 9th grade, Lyme
Hannah Eck, 9th grade, Hanover
Ingrid Groff, 9th grade, Hanover (9th in the Skate Sprint)
Rhys Jones, 9th grade, Hanover
Olin Walker, 9th grade, Lebanon (2nd in the Relay)
Nelson Barabas, 10th grade, Hanover
Mallory Eshbaugh, 10th grade, Lebanon
Isaac Fellows, 10th grade, Hanover (3rd in the 5k Skate and 2nd in the relay)
Grace Healey, 10th grade, Hanover
Annabelle Norris, 10th grade, Lebanon
Grace Weinstein, 10th grade, Hanover
Hannah Eck, 10th grade, Lyme

Lila in particular, had a phenomenal weekend given that this was her first U16 championship. She placed 1st in the 5k Skate and the Skate Sprint, 6th in the Classic Distance, 2nd in the relay and 2nd individual overall!

Pictured: Ford Sayre skiers from NH, holding the New England cup.
Front row: Lily Van Citters, Anna Davis, Ingrid Groff, Lila Marchetti, Caroline Chor, Grace Weinstein.
Back row: Isaac Fellows, Rhys Jones, Olin Walker, Mallory Eshbaugh,
Also pictured: our very own Coach Hilary McNamee, Co-Lead for Team NH

On Team Vermont, these siblings of Ford Sayre skiers also did their state proud:
Mary (Kasia) Sluka- 12th in the classic, 18th individual overall out of 112
Nick Cellini – 5th in the freestyle, 17th individual overall out of 119
Kasia and Nick also placed 6th in the mixed relay, together with fellow VT teammates.

Event recap:

Prospect Mountain still had impressive natural snow for March – and impressively gusty winds! Staff & volunteers came out in force – with NENSA – to welcome skiers, coaches, wax crews and fans.

The first race of the meet was a 5K skate race on Friday afternoon. Six Ford Sayre skiers finished in the top 20: Olin (4th), Isaac (11th), Rhys (18th) for the boys; Lila (1st), Mary (18th) and Caroline (19th) among the girls. Jasper and Nelson crossed the finish line 58th and 86th. Hannah finished at 26th.

Ingrid, Annabelle, Mallory, and Lily came in 40th, 43rd, 46th and 49th place, followed by Grace Healey in 51st and Anna (72nd) and Grace Weinstein (82nd).

Saturday morning saw temperatures dip after a snow squall that filled the classic tracks with powder. The snowy tracks were a problem for skiers in the first few waves of the classic 5km race, resulting in slower than expected times for them. Rhys finished 23rd, Nicholas 36th, Isaac 46th, Olin 51st, Jasper 55th and Nelson 97th. In the girls’ race, Lila suffered a pole malfunction and lost it somewhere on the course but amazingly still managed to cross the line in 6th place.. She was followed by Caroline, Annabelle and Ingrid in 23rd, 25th and 28th place; Lily and Mallory in 30th and 35th; followed by Grace Healey (44th), Hannah (55th), Anna (69th) and Grace Weinstein (71th).

After the morning race, athletes refueled for the afternoon with hot meals and baked treats served up by parent volunteers.

The skate sprint took place Saturday afternoon: a fast and challenging course on Prospect Mountain’s former alpine hill. One athlete reflected after her race: “I had more in me than I’d realized.”

Lila took 1st place for the second time this weekend and Ingrid arrived in10th, Caroline in 16th. Lily placed 27th, Annabelle 31st, Mallory 38th; followed by Grace Healey (47th), Anna (53rd), Hannah (61st), and Grace Weinstein (64th).

The skiers could finally relax on Saturday evening when they enjoyed a taco dinner with their team, followed by the awards. In the individual awards, given for the overall performance in the 3 races, Lila was 2nd! (podium photo in the Nensa recap here).

The skiers’ favorite race – the fun mixed relay – concluded the championship on Sunday morning. This event brought together 2 boys and 2 girls per team, with a mix of skate and classic techniques. Spectators enjoyed the high-energy mass start and an exciting handoff between each leg of the competition.

Here’s how the relay teams fared:

*FS names in bold

2nd – NH1 Olin Walker, Lila Marchetti, Isaac Fellows, Skyah Mclaughlin
7th – NH2 Rhys Jones, Elena LaRoche, Bridger Ekstrom, Madeline Ronci
11th – NH3 Ezra Boisseau, Mallory Eshbaugh, Andrew Clarner, Ingrid Groff
13th – NH6 Jasper Breton, Corva Hannon, Abe Hankens, Caroline Chor
16th – NH4 Sawyer Kress, Annabelle Norris, Ren Huston, Hannah Casey
26th – NH7 Sam Polson, Lilian Van Citters, Ben Lewis, Grace Healey
38th – NH11 Nelson Barabas, Pearl Marvel, William Tindall, Anna Davis
39th – NH10 Kelby Frenkiewich, Grace Weinstein, Luke Hennessey, Molly Flynn