On Saturday both Arielle Filiberti ’07 and Sarah Dewey ’07 had fantastic races at NMH, placing 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Only in her first year of Nordic skiing, Filiberti was impressive, finishing in a time of 19:42 for the 4.5 kilometer (2.8 mile) course, just seven seconds behind the winner. Dewey, having not competed the week before, had a breakout race, coming in at 20:20 and placing 3rd overall. Filiberti began the race towards the front and stayed there. Dewey, on the other hand, settled herself more towards the back early on and then worked her way up to her third place finish. The girl’s team took the meet with a 13-10 win. These numbers are somewhat misleading, as only the top three finishers affect the score; however, all eight Andover racers placed in the top 11, allowing only three NMH skiers to break them up. After Filiberti and Dewey came Roxy Pierson ’07 in fifth, Helen Fitzmaurice ’05 sixth, Morgan Brocolli ’07 in seventh, Kendra Allenby ’05 in ninth, Anna Ho ’06 in tenth, and Betina Evancha ’07 in eleventh. The boys also came away with the victory but their race was somewhat closer, ending with a score of 17-21. Instead of racing one circuit of the course like the girls, the boys turned around after their first loop and went back into the woods to complete a second lap for a total of 7.5 kilometers (4.7 miles). The four scorers for Andover were Miles Canaday ’05 in second with a time of 32:21, Jim Elder ’07 in third with 32:58, Ben Bramhall ’07 in fifth with 35:01, and Ian Schmertzler ’05 in seventh with 35:52. Canaday got a quick start and followed the first NMH skier for the entire race, and finished in the same position that he started. Elder got off the line in fourth, behind NMH’s second skier and followed by its third. In sixth was Bramhall. Not far into the race, Elder flew by the NMH skier, and never looked back. Bramhall managed to pass NMH’s third but fell trying to pass its second on a steep uphill. After wrenching his ski out of the ungroomed snow, Bramhall followed the NMH skier but was unable to catch him. The course on Wednesday also had plenty of uphills, but without downhills to recover on. For this meet the skiers strapped on their classic skis and struggled through a long uphill section before two laps of what was more or less flat. The uphills were not made any better by the conditions, which gave the racers plenty of ice and slush to race on. This prevented them from getting any kick on their skis, ultimately slowing the finishing times. The skiers essentially double poled the entire race for a lack of traction. Next week will be the Lakes Regional at Vermont Academy.
