After weeks without training on snow, Andover Nordic had its third meet on Wednesday away at Holderness. Notably, Co-Captains Remy de Saint Phalle ’23 and Sam Gallaudet ’23 secured first in the Boys relay race.
Rex Tuller ’23 highlighted de Saint Phalle and Gallaudet’s strong performance and teamwork. Tuller noted that the duo’s pre-race plan allowed them to win the entire race.
“I think Remy and Sam stood out as the best duo, and I think there are many reasons for that. One is because they had a strategy going into the race, knowing their competition. Since there were two races, a semifinal and a final, they were able to go on and execute their plan and win the whole race,” said Tuller.
de Saint Phalle highlighted the team’s improvement, despite training without much snow. With a wide range of skill levels on the team, de Saint Phalle was impressed with the high level of effort. He highlighted James Snow ’25 as being one of the stand-out skiers, regardless of this season being his first time on skis.
de Saint Phalle said, “I feel like the whole team stood out today. Over the course of this year, I have seen good improvements across the board. Even though we have not been skiing on snow that much this year, I feel like there has still been a steady improvement, especially on the girl’s side. I would also like to shout out James Snow, who showed his abilities and skills on the snow today.”
Gallaudet has noticed dramatic improvement in the team since the start of the season. He enjoyed the meet at Holderness due to the support he received from fellow teammates.
“I think the race was fun and everyone was really supportive. It was a team race, which required everyone to work together well to be able to succeed. Overall, the team showed improvement which boosted everyone’s confidence during and after the meeting,” said Gallaudet.
According to de Saint Phalle, it has been challenging to address the team’s weaknesses amidst the lack of snowfall. Instead of skiing on snow, the team has focused on running and conditioning.
“Because of the lack of snow, the team has only been able to practice on the snow around four times making it difficult to prepare for the conditions in these meets. Instead, we try to do a lot of running to get people to their best physical standards. Cross-country skiing is a very physically demanding sport so we try our best away from the snow to get ready for every race,” de Saint Phalle said.
Looking ahead, Tuller expressed that the team is eagerly hoping for snow to fall. He believes that the snow will help the team overcome their weakness and allow them to continue their training and preparation for future events.
“I think it’s hard to name any specific weaknesses. Without snow, it has been really hard to stay in skiing shape and hard to replicate the feeling of moving your skis on the snow. The only way we really get any time on the snow is by traveling. I also feel like the lack of attention is getting to us because our team needs a source of motivation and inspiration to keep pushing ourselves. We need to be able to see and feel the progress we are making, otherwise, it becomes discouraging,” said Tuller.
Andover Nordic will be racing at the Lakes Region Championship at Vermont Academy on Wednesday.
