Loon Mountain GS

This race was the final GS race of the season. For some on the team, it was the final GS race of their careers. It was carried out in typical New England fashion with a little new snow and lots of hard, hard ice underneath. The MIT coach set a super turny upper section (which gobbled many skiers) and then the course really opened up on the bottom section. There was one left footed turn that gave many in the top seed some trouble. Thanks again to Meaghan who sent me this report on the women's performance:

"The course was challenging and at times bulletproof, but once again our top consistent girls pulled through with great finishes. Krista, Anna and Sophie all finished in the top 15. Blaine finished as our fourth scorer for the team with a 22nd place finish and Kimbie also had a great day of GS as well placing 35th."

The men had some difficulty with the hard snow in the morning, but for second run they seemed to pull things together a bit more. The course was hardly changed for second run (as you will recall it was Super Bowl Sunday). There were some hard times again for the People's Captain Antonio del Balzo who lost a ski on the fourth gate on the first run. A tough season for him to be sure. We are hoping that he will step it up for "The People" this next weekend. Dow had a strong first run that put him within striking distance of the flip 30. We are hoping that his GS hiatus next year to train for the Olympics will bring him well within that group. Adam Axler pulled what was a popular move on Sunday of leaving a pole in the start. While his pole was later returned, the corresponding deduction in time was not made.

As for the videos that I had been hoping to upload, I have not been successful yet it getting the camera to work with my computer. I am hoping that it will work out this next week. In the meantime - please check out the photos (Pat's, Waterville GS )that Dave Casey has uploaded for us. Remember that all the photos are listed on the bottom right of this page.

Thanks to the parents who came on Sunday and a special thanks to John Gillis '07 and John Van Slyke '00 who made a day trip from Boston just to watch our men and women race. The value of passionate alumni cannot be underestimated. Thanks guys for coming out and we hope that we'll be seeing both of you at Slush Pool Party 2008.

We hope to see lots of parents for the final regular season race. It has been a fantastic year and we are hoping that we can translate a great week of training into some great results.

(Photo of DR Richardson '08 at WV GS)