Friday’s races at Black Mountain in Rumford, Maine
challenged racers to navigate Black Mountain’s trails twice for the men’s
10-kilometer or once for the women’s 5-kilometer classic competition.
Temperatures well above freezing coupled with the infamous High School Hill
located 4-kilometers into the course challenged racers to hang tough and
allowed new champions to emerge and upsets to occur in both the men’s and
women’s competitions. Ultimately, it was Eli Honeig of Williams College and
Sadie James of Bates College who took individual wins with the Williams men and
Vermont women taking the team honors. Bates College reclaimed the Chummy
Broomhall Cup.
The Williams men, who have been at or near the top of the
EISA all season, showed top form and placed five racers in the top twelve
including the top two finishers overall. Early on it was Williams’ Braden
Becker who posted the top split ahead of teammate Honeig. As the race wore on,
Honeig responded and went on to claim a nine second victory in 28:56. Becker
finished second to claim his best ever EISA finish. Third place went to
University of Maine Presque Isle’s Connor Hyynuk. Fourth and fifth place went
to a pair of Dartmouth skiers in Fabian Stocek and Callan Deline.
While both Honeig and Becker rose to the occasion in
Friday’s tough conditions, Honeig emphasized that even skiing close to the
lead, it was hard to feel strong. “I didn’t know that I was doing well on the
second lap, I was feeling very tired.” On successful tactics for the warm
racing, Becker emphasized that, “taking the downhills aggressively and staying
relayed on the climbs was key.” Both felt that aggressive skiing was critical
to success and believed their strong early splits propelled them to eventual
top placement. Both Honeig and Becker were excited with their team’s dominance
and felt that it was a long time coming saying, “The whole team has been
completely focused this past year, we decided then that we wanted to be the best
team in the EISA.” With one goal arguably achieved, Honeig added another to the
list, “Williams Men’s Nordic is going to win NCAAs.”
The other major story of the men’s race was the surprising
third member of the men’s podium. Prior to Friday, Connor Hyynuk had yet to
finish in the top-20 of an EISA race and his school had yet to finish in the
top five. One race later and Hyynuk stormed to the podium, turning heads in the
process and leading his team to third. “I knew it was going to be a hard day
and the race would take a lot of guts, I just threw down and went for it.” In
the end, Hyynuk’s gutsy effort paid off. He summed up his result simply, “This
is absolutely the best ski race I’ve ever had.”
The men’s team competition was won by Williams College with
134 points. Second place went to Dartmouth with 111 points. Third place went to
University of Maine Presque Isle with 91 points.
In the women’s race, University of Vermont’s Alayna Sonnesyn
looked among the early starters and established a dominant lead ahead of the
field. Soon after however, James was on course and blazing her was to a
dominant first EISA victory in her home carnival. James crossed the line in
16:05, twenty-one seconds clear of the field. Second place went to Sonnesyn and
third to her teammate Iris Pessey. Fourth place belonged to Olivia Amber of
Colby College. Fifth place went to Bowdoin’s Hannah Miller.
For James, the win was made sweeter by where it took place.
“This is my home course, and I love climbing, and I love High School Hill” she
said, “It’s my last race, so it’s an amazing feeling to finish out my EISA
racing here.” James has been slowly climbing up the results page throughout the
season. To make it to the top she felt that it was important to keep it simple.
“I just wanted to stay relaxed and have fun,” she said, “It’s also the Chummy
Cup and that definitely added some fuel to our fire.” As part of the Chummy Cup
winning team, James was thrilled, “It’s exciting to have it come back to our
school.”
Sonnesyn and Pessey echoed the thoughts of others on what it
took to succeed in a short distance race in warm conditions. “I knew it was
going to be a hard day,” Sonnesyn said, “It felt like a slog and I want in
preparing myself for that.” Pessey explained that rather than focusing on
place. Technique was critical to her success. “I wasn’t expecting this, I was
focusing on staying relaxed when my coach ran up next to me and told me where I
could finish.” Both credited their success to staying tough in the races final
minutes on the smaller climbs back toward the stadium. Going into the NCAA
Championships, both Sonnesyn and Pessey have their eyes set on top team
results. “It’s great to be racing at home. We feel prepared, we feel ready.”
The women’s team champion was the University of Vermont with
122 points. Second place went to Bates College with 94 points. Third place went
to the University of New Hampshire with 91 points.
In addition to competing for NCAA regional honors, many
skiers had another goal in mind on Friday. The day’s classic races served as
the competition for the 2017 Chummy Broomhall Cup which is awarded to the top
scoring Maine College when out-of-state finishers are removed. When asked about
the importance of the cup, one coach kept it simple, “It’s a big deal.” It was
Bates College that rose to the occasion and took the cup from defending
champion Colby College with 248 points to Colby’s 222 points.