National Junior Olympics
2004

  

Mid-A started off with a bang at the first race, the sprints. The sprint has traditionally been a strong point for the Mid-A team, at the Junior Olympic and even the National level. This January, three former Mid-A skiers- Scott McArt, Tim Weston, and Colin Mahood- were all top-ten at the U.S. Senior Nationals in Rumford, Maine. In Lake Placid, skiers went off at 15 second intervals on the fast .8-kilometer loop, with the top 24 skiers in each class advancing on to the elimination heats. Thirteen skiers from the Mid-A division advanced on- Stephanie Crocker, Sophie McClelland, and Megan McClelland for the J2 girls, Simon Thomas-Train for the J1 boys, Elissa Reidy, Laura Dewitt, and Marljine Cook for the J1 girls, Kevin Hart and Mike Hart for the OJ boys, and Annelies Cook, Leah Ricci, Taylor Leach, and Alex Jospe for the OJ girls. Soft snow in the stadium made things tricky, causing some spectacular falls, which certainly made it an exciting day for spectators. Annelies Cook and Ricci managed to make it past the quarterfinal round, with Cook advancing to the A-final for a bronze medal finish, and Ricci advancing to the B-final for an 8^th place finish. Both girls earned All-American honors. Additionally, Crocker and Kevin Hart finished in 10^th place, which also earned them medals.

Fueled by some encouraging results from the sprint race, Mid-A continued with its winning ways at the longer distance classic on Wednesday. With a hard under-layer of ice, a thin layer of new-fallen snow, rising temperatures, and sunny skies, it could have been a waxing nightmare. However, with the hard work and expertise of our coaches and wax testers (Bill Brooker,Bernie Gardner,Dave Matthews,Chris Klein and Julie Zimmerman), Mid-A hit the wax and was able to ski off to another successful day. For the J2 girls 5k race, Sophie McClelland and Megan McClelland finished 5^th and 6^th. They also received All-American honors, along with Audrey Mangan, who finished 16^th. In the J1 girls 10k race, Laura VanAlst finished in 10^th place, which was also good enough for All-American. Annelies Cook proved that despite the fact that she is a biathlon skier, she can still classic ski with the best. She finished 6^th in the OJ girls 10k race, also earing All-American. Leach was right on her heels, with an 8^th place finish. For the J1 boys 15k, Thomas-Train skied an impressive race, earning the silver medal and All-American honors, nearly 30 seconds ahead of the third place finisher. Scotty McClelland earned a 7^th place medal in the OJ boys 15k race, also receiving All-American honors.

Friday’s race, although a skate race, proved to be equally as tricky of a waxing day as Wednesday had been. The morning started out sunny, but midway through the J2 races, the sky suddenly turned dark, and a snow squall set in. The slow, new-fallen snow made the challenging Olympic course even tougher. In the J1 girls 5k race, VanAlst plowed through the snow for an 8^th place finish, and another All-American award. In an extremely tight J1 boys 10k race, where the top thirty boys skied fast enough to be named All-American, Thomas-Train finished 8^th. Scotty McClelland also made All-American again, by finishing 14^th in the OJ boys 10k race. The skate races were the toughest day for Mid-A, but in comparison to other years it was still very successful.

The final race, the relays, proved to be a spectacular ending for Mid-A. The J2 girls started out the day and got the crowd moving. Sophie McClelland scrambled, setting the team up for contention by coming into the stadium in 4^th place. With the second fastest split, Mangan skied a spectacular second leg, making up 40 seconds and bringing the team to less than a second out of first place! Megan McClelland was able to hold on, and in a photo-finish sprint, beat out the Intermountain, Pacific-Northwest, and Far West divisions for a bronze medal podium finish! As if the J2 girls had challenged the rest of the team to see who could put on a better show, the OJ girls answered back even louder. Leach got the team out to a solid start in 5^th place after the first leg. She tagged off to Annelies Cook, who skied another strong classic leg, and brought the team up to 3^rd place, only twenty seconds off the lead and 18 seconds out of second place. VanAlst set out on the anchor leg, with a three-time All-American from the week, Natalie Joffe of the Far West division, right on her heels. With Joffe leading VanAlst most of the way, the pair moved past the Alaska and Rocky Mountain teams that had been in front of them. Making her move at the top of grueling Harry’s Hill, also know as Russian Hill, VanAlst was able to leave Joffe behind as well. With the fastest split time for her leg, VanAlst crossed the finish line in first, bringing the first gold medal relay finish to Mid-A since anyone on the team can remember! It was quite fitting to have it done in Lake Placid, the site of The Miracle (the U.S. Olympic hockey team’s success over the supposedly-unstoppable Soviet hockey superpower in 1980). As the underdogs, on our home turf and in front of many family members and friends, Mid-A triumphed with two stunning relay finishes and an overall amazing week.