Co-Captain Elana King-Nakaoka ’14 raced to the finish line and gracefully nipped a Proctor skier to finish in the top ten at St. Paul’s Skate Sprint Race.
King-Nakaoka’s finish helped Andover Girls Nordic finish third overall at St. Paul’s Skate Sprint Race, while Andover Boys Nordic finished fourth out of ten teams in the same event.
The race consisted of three rounds of heats on a 1.2K course.
“It was a different format race than usual because it was a sprint skate race and not just a continuous 5K. Someone who is not as good in a 5K can do well in a sprint race because it is a short burst that requires a fast start. Everyone did either two or three 1.5K sprints and your placement in each heat dictated where you would be in the next heat and your overall placement,” said Olivia LaMarche ’16.
On the Girls team, King-Nakaoka advanced up to the B-finals and finished tenth out of 68 skiers. After a tough first heat, LaMarche earned a top place in the second heat to move to the D-finals.
LaMarche finished second in the D-finals to place 20th overall. Hallie Bletzer ’15 joined LaMarche in the D-finals to place 23rd overall.
Girls Nordic also placed four skiers in the F-finals. Charlotte Berry ’15 took first in the F-finals to place 30th overall. In the same race, Laura Bucklin ’14 finished second (31st overall), Harshita Gaba ’14 finished fourth (33rd overall), and newcomer Abby Czito ’15 finished sixth (35th overall).
“We could definitely all improve on our classic skiing as that is the weakest aspect of the team. We did practice a lot of classic skiing last week though, so hopefully that will show in the upcoming race,” said LaMarche.
On the Boys team, Liam Fortin ’14 led the charge with a 12th overall finish in the B-finals. Co-Captain Sean Burkitt ’14 missed the B-finals by inches and instead took the top spot in the C-finals, where he finished 13th overall.
Greer Sallick ‘14 took home the victory in the F-finals to place 31st overall. Logan Blaine ’14 and Daniel Lee ’14 finished 38th overall and 64th overall, respectively.
“As the race was a sprint race, it was more exciting than the usual 5K. At the very start of the course there was a tunnel that really forced the racers to be aggressive at the start to get a good placement since there wasn’t any room to pass during the tunnel,” said Berry.
“Between each leg of the race, the team would meet up to commiserate our falls and celebrate our successes. It was so much fun to see the new racers learning the basics and the returning skiers getting a chance to compete in an unconventional sprint format,” continued Berry.
This past Wednesday, Andover placed fourth in both the Boys and Girls races against Northfield Mount Hermon.
Andover will skate against Vermont Academy next Wednesday as it makes its run to the NEPSAC Nordic Championships.
