January 17, 2016 (Waterville, ME) – Day two of the EISA Bates Carnival saw competitors battling falling snow and wind in a soft but fast freestyle 5/10k race at Quarry Road in Waterville, Maine. The sun from Friday’s sprint heats had gone, and over five inches of snow fell on course throughout the day’s races, turning climbs to sugar, and making it a race of who could keep their momentum going as the snow piled up. In the end, it was Jack Hegman of the University of Vermont, and Kelsey Phinney of Middlebury College earning their first collegiate wins, after both placing second in Friday’s classic sprints.

The course followed the sprint course from the day before, starting with a climb up a very soft Hero Hill, which led to a fast descent through the stadium before winding its way back along the banks of the Mesalonskee River, with a final gradual climb back into the stadium again. The women would complete three laps of this 1.5km loop, while the men would do six. In an effort to reduce congestion on the course, the Bates organizers chose to expand the starting interval to 30 seconds, allowing more time for gaps to form between racers, which racers said worked well for the women, but the longer men’s race still had a fair bit of lap traffic.

Dartmouth’s Mary O’Connell set the pace for the women’s event early, with bib number two setting a time of 12:37.9, a time that would not be beaten until her teammate Lydia Blanchet, who started nearly 20 minutes later, bested it by 3.2 seconds. Neither Big Green lady would make it on to the podium, with Blanchet and O’Connell placing 7th and 8th respectively. In the end, it would be UVM teammates Alayna Sonnesyn and Iris Pessey coming in second and third, with the fastest sprint qualifier and final starter Kelsey Phinney of Middlebury claiming the top spot in a time of 12:13.0, over seven seconds faster than Sonnesyn.

“I came into today wanting the win and having confidence in my ability to do so,” Phinney said. “But there are a lot of strong and fast women on the circuit so I didn’t know what to expect. Yesterday was such a fun day of heats racing, and battling with Corey in the final got me really fired up for today’s race. I knew I was skiing well during the race today and it felt amazing to get my first Carnival win!”

Pessey, who finished 34th in the classic sprints, came into Saturday’s race looking for redemption.

“I felt really nervous this morning after having a bad race yesterday,” she said. “But I think the big disappointment after the classic sprint has helped me to be more focused on what was more important about today’s race. I wanted to show (the UVM coaches) that they didn’t make a mistake recruiting me.”

For the men’s race, things came down to some of the final finishers to determine the podium. In the end, it was UVM teammates Jack Hegman and Jorgen Grav in first and second, with Dartmouth College’s Fabian Stocek in third. Hegman and Grav set blistering times in the six lap race, finishing in 22:07.5 and 22:09.9 respectively, with Stocek some 7.3 seconds back in 22:17.2.

“I think the course held up really well, but it was extremely crowded out there” said Grav. “I hope it will keep snowing so we can use the whole 5km for the races next weekend and that my shape will keep going up. Today was kind of rough. Really fast conditions despite the snow though!”

Hegman had a similar view on the race, noting that the course, despite the multiple inches of ungroomed snow covering the trail, held up remarkably well to the traffic.

Due to the weather surrounding the venue, many teams sent groups home early. The Dartmouth women were seen loading into their bus as the first male starters were finishing their first couple of laps.

EISA racing continues next Saturday back at the Quarry Road venue for the Colby College Carnival, featuring a 15k mass start classic race on Saturday, followed by a team skate sprint on Sunday.

“I’m so excited for the mass start 15km classic race next week,” said Phinney. “I love the tactics that go into longer races! The team sprint will also be really cool seeing as we haven’t ever done that while I’ve been on the circuit.”