On Wednesday, Andover Nordic competed at the Dublin School after its previous Friday competition was canceled due to the sickness spreading around campus. At Dublin, the team faced a new tournament-heat style of 1k sprint racing compared to the usual 5k distance. Despite the change and sickness affecting the team, Andover was able to have new and more experienced skiers alike succeed on the course.
In the last few days, the team kept the shorter races in mind when working in practice. Captain Sage Preston ʼ25 described the team’s ability to hone in on skills like “pick-ups” during practice, so they would perform well on race day.
“‘Pick-ups’ [are] when you pick up speed and transition from a steady state to a high-intensity state. That was something we were working on in the past couple of days, which was pretty good especially since we now actually have snow to practice on,” said Preston.
At the race, the team saw stellar performances from skiers of all levels. Matt Robinson ʼ27 highlighted the skills performed by fellow first-year teammate Carlos Felipe De Siquiera-Castro ʼ27.
Robinson said, “Carlos… We haven’t seen him go out double-pulling like this before. At the beginning of a race you have to double pull, and he was in first for a long time which was really impressive.”
Preston noted the various achievements that occurred all across the board. Specifically, she pointed out the performances of Luke Williamson ʼ25, James Snow ’25, Brandon Horne ʼ25, and Emily Wu ʼ25.
“We had some people come out at the top of their very last heats, which was good. Some people got into high heats, which they didn’t anticipate getting into. Luke Williamson and James Snow both got into relatively high heats. In addition, Brandon Horne and Emily Wu… both ended up at the top of their heats even if they were lower ones. It was just a good environment. It [was] a fun time. We did only have one girl racing today, and that was Emily, and she killed it,” said Preston.
Preston also highlighted the team’s connection that has grown throughout the season, describing the bonds that have grown between teammates, and how Andover has created a cohesive team unit.
“We’ve all just grown a lot closer especially once we transitioned out of a lot of the running that takes place in the early season where we split off into our own groups. We’re all spending more time together when we’re actually on the snow and figuring things out, especially because a lot of the people are new and need tips from others, stuff like that. Being able to learn together, as a team, how to ski has brought us together because people are always giving others tips, we’re not splitting up as much, we’re just doing workouts as a group, which has been fun,” said Preston.
With a team dominated by newcomers to the sport, Sophie Staii ʼ25 emphasized the team’s overall goal to improve every day and at each race. Despite facing obstacles, its central aspiration is to keep putting in effort and getting better.
“A lot of people were sick with the flu… [A big goal is] making sure that we all are coming back as a team and being able to practice, and also for a lot of the newcomers to show off what they have learned. I’m pretty sure there are a lot of people who are new this year, or at least there were a lot of people who graduated last year who were a big part of the team. So, [a goal we have is] giving everyone’s best from what we have learned throughout the season, especially since we’ve had snow,” said Staii.
Andover Nordic will compete next at Green Woodlands on Wednesday.
