PSC Nordic Has Strong Performances at ECSC Divisionals
Ripton, VT ~ The Paul Smith's Bobcats nordic ski team entered the championship season with strong performances across the board. The weekend's races started with a 15k Skate Race followed by Sunday's Team Classic Relays at the ECSC Divisional Championships in Ripton, VT at the Rikert Nordic Center.
The men's team wasted no time getting things started on Saturday, as Aidan Ripp (Cloquet, MN) and Nathan Livingood (Falmouth, ME) quickly separated from the field, leading a 1-2 punch while skiing away from the pack. Ripp took home the championship win with a time of 38:59, nearly two minutes ahead of his teammate. Livingood was solidly locked into second, while teammate Gustav Whitcomb (Holderness, NH) battled to the line for a fourth-place finish, getting out-bootkicked at the line as the last to score for the Bobcats. PSC had a number of great finishes after the top-three scorers: Timothy Ziegler (Marquette, MI) was eighth, followed by Diego Schillaci (New Paltz, NY) in ninth , and Logan Jensen (Bemidji, MN) in eleventh who chased back from fourtieth place after a broken pole.
Jessie Church (Bethlehem, NH) followed Ripp's performance, taking an incredible win in the 15k Skate for her first ever championship win. Church's win came at a great time for the women's team as teammates Dolcie Tanguay (Fort Kent, ME) and Kasia Bosek (Alexandria, MN) are in Europe racing for US Biathlon. Church jumped into the leadership position with a steady poise, and her teammates Saylor Landrum (St. Paul, MN) and Emily Cieslewitz (Marcy, NY) both had great performances to propel the women into fourth place on the day.
Sunday's racing was the Team Classic Relay where teams of three alternate three legs of 1.25k, handing off each lap to their teammates. The women's team led the charge on day of racing with Church, Landrum and Cieslewitz teaming up for the relay. The women battled closely, as the top-three teams were separated by less than a minute. The women finished in third place, putting them in a solid position to earn a qualification spot at the USCSA National Championships at next week's Regionals at Mount Van Hoevenberg.
The men's team lined up four teams for the relay; their performances were as hot as the unseasonably warm day. The Bobcats top team of Ripp, Livingoodand Philip Matthews (Half Moon, NY) took home the win, beating out Clarkson and Cornell in the process. The Bobcats 2nd and 3rd teams battled throughout the race, ending up fourth and fifth while showing the incredible depth that has come to represent the Paul Smith's College Nordic Ski program.
Coach Matt Dougherty noted, "It was a great weekend to see the teams focus on some goals and see these incredible results flow out of the process. It's been a very different year for our team with World University Games, teammates in Europe Racing, and a late start to the school year. These athletes have done wonderfully at adjusting and persisting in the hard work that is nordic racing. I am excited for them to continue racing and see what is to come this season."
The Bobcats return to action next weekend at the ECSC Regional Championships which will be held at Mount Van Hoevenberg in Lake Placid Saturday, February 18th and Sunday, February 19th.