Sectionals 2012 !

Sectionals is the 2nd biggest day of the year when it comes to High School Skiing here in NY. Their is a lot on the line and as usual you find out what people are made of. You could win every race of the year but when it's on the line will you come through? This year the 2 most dominate skiers in Section 5 did just that ! Eric and Alyssa have been on top of the results list all year and Monday was no different ! They are both deserving champions and representatives of their High School programs. Lucky for us they are also part of Rochester Nordic Racing ! They have been a part of the program almost from the start and it is a testament to themselves, family, friends, and coaches that they have been able to be successful !

(Alyssa and Eric 2012 Sectional Champions !)

One of the reasons that Sectionals is such a pressure packed event is that you throw all the season results out the window and it's a one day showdown to qualify for states. If you finish in the top 12 your headed to the big show if not your a spectator. You could argue that it is not fair or you don't like it but that's the way it is !

Luckily in a sport like nordic skiing hard work is often rewarded and this year was no different. It was pretty obvious in many ways that the athletes who have been making an effort to become better are doing better.

This year R.N.R athletes were stacked in the top 12. On the girls side Alyssa led the way claiming the over all victory Margot had a repeat performance from last year and finished 3rd, Colleen had arguably her best race of the year to finish 4th, Emmy was 6th, Jenna 10th, Maggie 11th and Hanna 12th, Just out for the 2nd year in a row finishing 13th was Katie ! Sara also had a great race finishing in 18th followed by Megan in 27th and Jenna in 29th.

The biggest story of the day was that the Mendon girls were ahead of HF-L in the team score. I'm not sure when if ever HF-L had not won sectionals on the girls side? So the overall came down to the relay the next day where HF-L was able to get the victory and secure the Sectional Title ! ! Congratulations to HF-L !

(Top 3 girls from the distance Race Alyssa, Riley, and Margot. )

The picture below is from the top 3 teams in the relay race. HF-L had 3 teams in the top 4 places but only one scores so Webster was 3rd ! I really like this picture because EVERY GIRL EXCEPT 1 attended an R.N.R Practice this SUMMER ! ! A picture is said to tell a 1000 words but this one probably reviles more than that!

(Top 3 Relay Teams)

Girls State Team ! Lot's of familiar RNR faces !

On the boys side of things Eric led the way winning the race ! I'm not sure if he is the 1st Champion from Webster or not ? I will have to ask coach Weston but Eric has brought Webster back in a big way the last couple of years ! Just behind Eric was Langton in 2nd, Gavin in 3rd, Peter in 4th, Conner in 6th, Tommy in 8th, Jack in 11th and Marco in 12th ! Yea your reading that correctly 8 R.N.R'ers in the top 12 !! YAHTZEEEEE ! The boys of the summer have been rocking all year long and sectionals was no different great to see them make the show ! Woody had a good race and was 14th less than 10 seconds out of 12th! He has had a great season and will be working hard this summer to make his way in to that top 12! Scott also had a great race finishing 19th, Mike was 29th I think he was a little disappointed but will be back to fight again at JN's !

(Boys top 12)

As with the Girls the Boy's title would be decided by the Relay and the biggest surprise of the weekend was the Pittsford Boys knocking off HF-L to win the team title ! Piitsford has been knocking on the door recently and they were able to make it happen. Congratulations to coaches Gorbold and D'Hont ! As with any high school program the coaches put in more hours than anyone and they were rewarded today !

(Boys relay team bringing home the trophy ! All 3 of these guys were a part of the summer program so it was pretty awesome to see them win ! Also to note is that they all will be back to defend next year !)

I'm lucky to have the opportunity to coach all of the athletes of R.N.R and without the help and support of all the high school coaches that would not be possible. The reason R.N.R was started was to raise the level of skiing within the Mid-Atlantic division and I think we are doing that one stride at a time ! Thanks for all the support and congratulations to all of the coaches, athletes, friends and families !

Next stop Lake Placid for the State Championships !

www.rochesternordicracing.com

Eastern Canadian Champs !

(Nakkertok !!)

This weekend the R.N.R team faced a tough decision we could head to Trapp's and race the Eastern Cup with the rest of the North East or we could head to Ottawa and race the Eastern Canadian Championships with all of Canada. Both races would offer great competition and the deciding factor ended up being the travel time. It takes about 4 1/2 hrs to get to Ottawa and about 7 to get to Trapps so it was off to the great North and a little racing across the boarder.

(Marty During the Mass Start)

Upon departing a quick check at the registration revealed over 700 racers ! ! ! ! Not only were the fields deep but they were talented. Their were a handful of athletes which have been on and off the Canadian World Cup squad as well as many of Canada's up and coming stars. We knew it was going to be a quality weekend of racing!

(The new Madshus Equipment being brought out by Greg Christie's one of them best shops in the Business ! If you need a pair of boards these guys have them and lots of them )

The scene in Canada was off the HOOK to say the least with Kershaw winning the World Cup the excitement at the venue was overwhelming. It was hard not to get engulfed in the experience. Even though we were racing in a foreign country it's hard not to treat Canada like the states but this had the feeling of a European Country with the excitement, athletes, spectators, and atmosphere just killing it all weekend.

(Chad during the mass start)

Copyright to the Musicianonskis !

As for the races they went about as well as they could have for us. Without having a FIS licence we were starting in the back of the pack on both days which really did not turn out to bad since the course was a FIS certified 5k you got to mix it up with everyone. The course itself was what you would expect from and FIS course HARD ! A little bit of everything including long climbs technical descents and rock hard tracks ! It was quite a change from the flat 1k loop that we have been skiing on.

(Jason during the mass start)

Copyright the Musicianonskis !

The 15 skate was first and went decent for everyone Jason 66th Chad 83rd Marty 96th out of 150 starters. On Sunday we raced in the 30k classic. Since we were not part of the mini tour we started in a mass start after the top 40 started in a pursuit interval start. Again we started in the back and it was game on when the gun went off. The race went well and was a great tune up for the Gatineau Loppet next weekend we ended up Jason 58th Chad 80 Marty103 out of 134.

(On the back line ready to break some SH)(*&&^*()

On a side not Eric headed to Trapps to keep an eye on the rest of the NY and led the way both days flying the colors for RNR !

(Eric on the line at Trapps flying the flag in the states ! )

Until next time ! RNR

Up Next Section 5 State Qualifier for the Juniors and the Gatineau Loppet for the big boys !

R.N.R protecting our house !

Last weekend Rochester hosted the first and last Junior National Qualifying Races of the year. Unfortunately due to the lack of snowfall the first 5 qualifiers had to be canceled leaving only the Rochester race remaining. In an effort to do the best with what they had the Mid-Atlantic Committee added a race on to the scheduled classic race and a SUPER Qualifier was created ! !

(Getting the classic boards ready to rock, with all of the R.N.R' ers racing it was a good tune up for JN's)

Historically the Rochester is the most poorly attended races due to it being the last race and also due to the fact that Rochester is a hike for those in the North and Eastern part of the state. This year however if you wanted to go to Utah you were going to have to go to Rochester !

Unfortunately like most of the state Rochester was lacking in natural snowfall, however unlike most of the state we have a Nordic center with a 1k man-made loop. This loop sits atop the Bristol Mnt Alpine area and without it I think we would be up a creek !

(Katie)

Saturday's race was also a section 5 high-school race so the loop was busy with over 100 athletes getting dizzy with the boys doing 8 laps and the girls doing 6 laps.

(Margot and Tommy out on course)

Sundays race was not a high school race but provided plenty of competition as section 5 is one of the most competitive areas within NY State and most of the top athletes came out to race, as well as some senior and masters racers.

As this was our home course we were not taking any prisoners ! We wanted to let people know this is out turf and we were going to put up a fight to qualify as many athletes as possible to this years team ! It has been a focus since June 1st for most of these athletes and they had one weekend to show what they were made of and they DID !

It was awesome to see the results that everyone was able to achieve and also that all of the hard work had paid off !

(Mike and Chad)

The entire weekend the J2 boys led the way going 1,2,3 each day with Petter and Tommy each taking a win Conner ended up 3rd each day to complete the R.N.R J2 podium sweep !

The J1 boys also represented the top step of the podium both days with Langton winning the skate race just getting the best of Eric who finished 2nd. On Sunday Eric left nothing to doubt by winning the classic race by over 1 min.

(Eric striding his was to the overall victory)

Not to be outdone Alyssa and Margot went 1,2 in the J1 girls race on Saturday. On Sunday Alyssa finished 2nd with Hanna in 3rd !

Over all the weekend went incredible well and we were able to qualify 14 athletes and 1 coach (Steve Mangan) who is still an OJ skiing for Dartmouth and auto qualifying to the Junior National Team ! !

all I can say is YEAH BUDDY ! ! ! ! !

Here is a link to the team naming and results

https://sites.google.com/site/midaxc/home/announcements/2012mid-ajuniornationalteamnamingandpoints