Friday, April 8, 2016

Season Ends

Since my last post, a whole lot has happened. After my first World Cup, I took some time off to let my body recharge for the end of the season. After my break, first up was Nor-Am Finals in Aspen Colorado. We had 1 Super-G race and 1 GS race. The Super-G was first and it really didn’t go my way, skiing out of the course about halfway down. Luckily, I had one last Nor-Am GS race to redeem myself. I skied well first run and finished the run in 4th place. Second run, I skied well all the way to the 4th to last gate and ran into some trouble. I ditched almost all my speed, but luckily the finish line was close enough to not effect my time too much. I finished 12th on the run, but 6th overall for my best Nor-Am GS of the season! The Nor-Am circuit definitely did not go as well as I was hoping this year, but it felt good to end it with a solid race, and be 10th overall on the season in GS. This will put me in the top seed for next year’s first races!

After Aspen we went over to Sun Valley, Idaho for US Nationals! First up was the Super-G. After not finishing in the Aspen Super-G, I really wanted to do well in this event. I had a good start number, and I was feeling it! I skied the upper half of the course really well and at the second interval, I was just .01 seconds off Tim Jitloff (the guy who ended up winning). But, unfortunately I had a few grindy turns near the bottom of the course that cost me a full second. Nevertheless, I was thrilled just to finish, and finishing in the top 5 wasn’t all too bad! The next day was the GS race. It was a beautiful day to be ski racing, at 40 degrees and sunny in one of the greatest ski towns in America. The course set was very challenging, but I liked how much terrain the trail had, and I was ready to send it. But luck was not on my side that day. About 1/3 of the way into my run, the plate under my binding completely ripped off of my ski, resulting in a fall. It was an amazing, fun weekend in Sun Valley, and I can’t wait to go back there in 2018. Next year’s US Nationals will be held in Sugarloaf, ME!

For the last races of the year, we went back over to Aspen. Every day it was sunny and 50 degrees, a spring skier’s dream. 3 of the 4 races did not go very well. But in the last GS race of the year, I had 2 solid runs with a field full of US Ski Team athletes and college racers, and ended up winning! My last race of the year, I scored a career best 10-point result! It was an amazing year coming back from 2 years of injury, and it felt amazing to end it with the best race of my career.

Before I sign off for a couple months, I want to say thank you to Wachusett and everyone who donated to World Cup Dreams or Rally Me. I also want to thank my coaches Ian Lochhead and Brad Saxe, lifting coach Michael Bingaman, Technician Toyo, and physical therapist Sarah Gillespie. You all have truly kept my dreams of making the Olympics alive, and I can’t wait to keep working toward that dream next winter! Couldn’t do it without you! Now, I am at Dartmouth for my second term as a college student!

Here is my Super-G run from US Nationals.