- 2024 Cross Country Junior Nationals Recap March 28, 2024
The 2024 Cross Country Junior Nationals took place in Lake Placid, March 11-16. Five Ford Sayre athletes qualified to represent Team New England: Caleb Zuckerman (U20), James Underwood (U18), Sarah Glueck (U18), Annelies Hanna (U18), and Lea Perreard (U16). Also of note, in February, Caleb Zuckerman was honored to represent Ford Sayre and the USA for the third time at the Junior Nordic World Ski Championships in Planicia, Slovenia. In the U20 Nordic Combined men’s individual competition, Caleb fought hard in the talented international field and placed 20th overall and 1st American. It was so exciting to have Caleb represent the Ford Sayre Ski Club on the World Stage again, we are so proud of his accomplishments!
Andy Rightmire, the Ford Sayre JNT Assistant Coach joined as a U20 Coach for Team New England.
Ford Sayre BKL graduate, Jack Lange (U20, Dartmouth College) also represented NE at the races.
Monday: 5K freestyle nordic ski
Wednesday: Classic Sprint
Wednesday was a spring day at Mt. Van Ho with both rain and sunshine, soft snow and icy spots. It was a long hard day for competing athletes in the 1.3km sprints with the U20s and U18s events in the morning, and U16s events wrapping up just before 6pm. Lea (3rd U16), Annie (4th U18), Sarah (18th U18) and Caleb (21st U20) ranked in the top 30 in the qualifiers and advanced to heats. James just missed the heats coming in 33rd, with less than 1 second separating 28th-34th place! Lea won her quarter-final heat moving on to semifinals. She ended up in a fast semi-heat where her 3rd place time of 3:52 bested all other times earning her lucky loser status to move on to the finals. Despite a fall, Lea gritted out her finish and came in 4th place on the day, earning another All-American distinction. Similar to Lea, Sarah and Annie found themselves in very fast quarter-final heats. Sarah placed 4th in her heat with a time of 3:21, faster than all of the times in heats 1 and 3 and just missing lucky loser status. Annie came in 3rd in her heat with a time of 3:16, besting all other times, earning her lucky loser status. She moved into a 5th place finish during semi-finals, good enough to qualify her for the B final. Annie ended the day in 10th place overall, earning All-American distinction, a welcome relief after missing the races on Monday due to a respiratory cold. Caleb had a phenomenal sprint day. He competed in the quarter-finals after an impressive 21st in qualifiers in a field packed with college level racers. He ended the day in 29th place after getting tangled up with one of his New England teammates in the quarter finals despite having a blazing fast start in the heat. Jack Lange advanced to heats, placed 2nd in the quarter-finals, 5th in semis and after some brilliant tactical moves came in 1st in the B finals, finishing the day in 7th overall.
Friday: Classic Mass Start
Friday morning saw deteriorating snow conditions, as overnight rain and salting of the course made for slick snow on Van Ho’s unforgiving hills. The day started with the U16 girls, then boys racing 2 laps for a total of 5km in the tricky conditions. Spectators winced at the many tumbles and broken pieces of equipment. Lea ended her race in 10th position, first for team New England. Racing was paused after the conclusion of the U16 boys race as a thick fog rolled in and the course was deemed unsafe. At 1pm, the U18 women’s 10km event took place on a rerouted course, but the intense downhill ending in a hairpin left turn remained, with skiers making their way around the 5km loop twice. At the 3.75km split, Annie was in good position (6th) with the lead pack, but the fall of a NE teammate just in front of her on the notorious downhill resulted in Annie crashing and breaking a pole. After losing all speed going into the uphill and changing poles twice, Annie fought her way back to an 11th place overall finish! Sarah avoided crashing in the precarious snow and steadily worked her way up from 28th position at the 3.75km split to finish in 21st overall! The U18 boys saw James fighting for top 10 ranking- he was 2nd at the 5km mark,with the fastest split of the day! – and ended with an incredible sprint effort to the finish, catching the racer in front of him and placing 11th after prevailing in the photo-finish review. The U20 15km event took place late in the day, with a 4:30 pm start. Jack Lange won the race arriving at the finish line in an impressive 43:09.2. Following Sarah’s tactics, Caleb worked his way up as the race progressed moving from 34th to a final position of 28th with an overall time of 50:23.6! All of the spectating parents and coach Andy were relieved to have the day of harrowing conditions finished with only minor bumps and bruises for those who crashed.
Annie bib 207 chasing down the leader (photos by Phillip Belena)
Annie and James, lucky 11s (L) Annie’s battle wounds (R )
Saturday: Freestyle Relay
Saturday’s relays were nothing short of thrilling!
The NE1 U20 relay team (Mirra Payson, Jack Lange, Greta Kilburn and Finnegan Bailey) finished in 1st. Caleb’s U20 relay team ended in 16th with member Amelia Circosta on classic skis! New England entered 5 teams into the U18 competition with their second ranked team (NE2) made up of 75% Ford Sayre athletes: Annie, James and Sarah paired with Oliver Swabey (Prospect Mountain) as anchor. Annie skied the scramble leg in a smoking fast 8:07.5 (2nd fastest time of all the girls–and 27 seconds ahead of NE1!) tagging off to James in 2nd place. James skied the 3km course in an impressive 7:07.2 maintaining their position (clocking 3rd fastest for all boys!) and tagged Sarah who skied her heart out. Sarah had an early fall, but regained her composure and absolutely powered up the enormous hills finishing in 8:42.9, good for a 3rd place tag off and keeping NE2 in striking distance of 2nd place and well ahead of NE1 who currently sat in 4th. Ollie went for it in the final leg of the race, moving the team back into 2nd position at the crest of the final hill, but the fast skis of the Intermountain division skier proved too much on the final descent into the stadium. Ollie crossed the line in 3rd place and the underdog NE2 relay team celebrated their much-deserved podium position!
The day concluded with the U16 relays. The NE1 team, of Lea Perreard, Matthew MacIntosh, Mary Harrington and Matias Citerella were led out in fast fashion! Lea, skiing the scramble leg, quickly moved into 1st position and extended her lead on the large uphill. A crash on the notorious downhill took away a few seconds, but luckily all equipment was intact and Lea crushed the final ups and tagged off first with a time of 9:00.3 (3rd fastest girls time of the day). Matthew was next out on course and maintained first place position tagging off to Mary. The anchor legs saw a battle between Matias and Ian Carmack (Intermountain Div.). In the end Matias couldn’t match Carmack’s sprint to the finish, but NE1 was thrilled to be on the podium in 2nd place!
Celebrations!
Site: https://mtvanhoevenberg.com/event/xc2024lakeplacid/
Official photos by Phillip Belena: https://phillipbelena.client-gallery.com/gallery/jr-nationals-xc-2024
Photos by Samuel Geissinger: https://zone5photo.com/galleries
Results: https://www.bullitttiming.com/events/USSA-JN-2024
James, Sarah, Annie, Lea, Caleb:
- Caleb Zuckerman represents Team USA at Junior World Championships for the 3rd time March 27, 2024
In February, Caleb Zuckerman (U20) of Norwich Vermont, attended his 3rd FIS Nordic Junior World Championships for Nordic Combined in Planica Slovenia (5-11 February, 2024), proudly representing Ford Sayre and Team USA.
Having won all of his domestic qualifiers and placing first in the US Cup series this season, Caleb is currently ranked as the top JuniorNordic Combined athlete in the US.
The week in Planica started with the mixed team event, where Caleb and his teammates Skyler Amy (Alaska), Alexa Brabec (Steamboat) and Kai McKinnon (NYSEF), came in 7th place after skiing past Italy and Slovenia during the cross country portion of the event. Next came the Individual event on the HS 102 meter jump. In high winds and rain, Caleb jumped to 28th place in a deep field of competitors.
The real excitement came in the 10K cross country portion of the event where Caleb had a great race, skiing up to 20th place overall, his best finish so far at Junior Worlds and the top American. It was so exciting to hear them announce the Ford Sayre Ski Club on the World Stage!
In all, it was a successful season of Nordic Combined skiing for Caleb who has been splitting his time skiing with his JNT team and competing in Nordic Combined events. Of note, in March, Caleb competed for Team New England at the 2024 Cross Country Junior Nationals that took place in Lake Placid (March 11-16).
Continue reading → - 2024 Eastern High School Championships Recap March 25, 2024
Eastern High School Championships took place March 15-17 at Holderness School in New Hampshire. The event takes the top high school skiers from five states – NH, VT, ME, MA and NY – including up to 24 girls and 24 boys for each state team. Ford Sayre athletes represented both VT and NH: Vermont skiers Quinn Uva, Izzy Cellini and Joey Sluka; and New Hampshire skiers Ollie Hanna, Millie Larrick, Noah Branchflower, and Isaac Novosad. Of note, Ford Sayre BKL alums Heidi Davis, Nicholas Van Citters and Wyethe Murray also raced for NH.
Friday’s 5K freestyle took place after a day of rain, leading to unpredictable snow. Ford Sayre skiers persevered, with Ollie taking 2nd in the race. Millie placed 32nd and Izzy 34th. The boys raced next, with Quinn taking 3rd and Noah 9th. Joey finished close behind at 12th and Isaac 29th.
The sun came out on Saturday, and with temperatures in the 40’s, skiers pushed (and especially double-poled) through slow snow during a 7.5K classic race. For the girls, Ollie stayed ahead of the pack and placed 3rd. Izzy and Millie finished 64th and 68th, respectively. When the boys took their turn, Quinn had a huge race and finished first! Joey stayed in the top 10 as the 8th finisher, and Noah and Isaac both raced fast and finished 20th and 27th, respectively.
The “fun” sprint later on Saturday saw big finishes from Ford Sayre athletes: Ollie first in girls and Quinn 10th and Isaac 11th in boys. Millie finished 27th, Izzy 37th, Joey 23rd and Noah 34th.
Sunday’s relay proved exciting with Ollie’s strong first leg giving her NH2 team the early lead. They ended the day in second place, only behind NH1 team. Quinn Uva’s VT1 team placed 6th.
What did this all add up to? A WIN for NH! Team New Hampshire placed first in the overall competition (the last time this happened was in 1995!!), with Vermont following second. And in individual results, Ollie finished first among all female athletes! A huge win for this freshman! And speaking of huge wins, Quinn placed 2nd overall, and the rest of the FS boys finished in the top 20: Joey 13th, Noah 17th and Isaac 18th. Well done, Teams NH and VT, and well done Ford Sayre athletes! Such an awesome way to end the season.
That’s a wrap on the 23/24 season!
Continue reading → - Valley News article: ‘Nordic skiing: Team New Hampshire bests Vermont, wins Eastern High School Championships for first time in nearly three decades’ March 25, 2024
- Recap of 2024 Ski Jumping Junior Nationals in Anchorage, AK March 20, 2024
5 Ford Sayre jumpers and 1 FS alum were named to the Eastern Division team that participated in the Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Junior Nationals (JNs) in Anchorage, AK (Feb 27 – Mar 2, 2024).
Hanover High’s Jai Gregory joined Boyd Schaefer, Caroline Chor, Celia Osborne, Eli Mansur, and Schuyler Clapp (who now skis for NYSEF) but Caleb Zuckerman skipped the event due to scheduling conflicts. In a winter season where snow was scarce, being able to jump consistently for a stretch of 5 days was such a treat.
The FS group consisted of JN first-timers and seasoned jumpers and they did well despite the arctic conditions, achieving a mix of PBs and podium spots.
Schuyler clinched first place in the U-20 Male category in both Individual and Team Ski Jumping, and first place in Team Nordic Combined.
Eli was part of the foursome that earned third spot in Team Ski Jumping.
In the U-16 Female category, Caroline was second in Individual and Team Nordic Combined, and third in Individual and Team Ski Jumping.
JN newbies Boyd and Celia achieved personal bests, rounding up a successful JN trip for the FS athletes.
Continue reading →