January 16, 2016 (Waterville, ME) – After being moved from Black Mountain of Maine due to a sudden lack of snow, the 2016 Eastern Intecollegiate Ski Association (EISA) season got off to an exciting start on Friday with the Bates Carnival as Dartmouth’s Corey Stock and UVM’s Jorgen Grav from Norway took home the first wins of the season.

Held at Quarry Road Recreation Area in Waterville, ME, Friday’s races were a set of fast classic sprints featuring the top EISA racers. The 1.5 kilometer course featured a tough hill right off of the start, known around Waterville as Hero Hill, followed by another kilometer of flat and rolling field along the banks of the Messalonskee River.

The day started off cold with the mercury hovering around -8*C for the women’s start. Middlebury’s Kelsey Phinney set an unmatchable qualifying time, taking 4:04.17 as the first starter, carrying bib #1 with her all the way to the afternoon heats. Maddie Watts of the University of Vermont  was second fastest through the qualifier in 4:09.57, with Stock coming in third, 0.72 seconds back. Rounding out the top 5 were Alayna Sonnesyn of UVM and Olivia Amber of Colby College.

In the slightly warmer men’s race, Alexis Morin from Quebec’s University of Laval set the early pace with bib #1. The Rouge et Or skier finished the course in 3:27.54, relinquishing the lead 18 skiers later to Cole Morgan of UVM who finished with the fastest qualifying time of the day, with a time of 3:25.29. Peter Holmes of the University of New Hampshire pushed Morin down one more place with a time of 3:27.34. Morgan’s teammates Jack Hegman and Grav completed the top 5.

In the heats, Phinney again proved to be the one to beat, winning both her quarter and semi final handily, besting Bowdoin College’s Hannah Miller both times. Sonnesyn, Amber, Watts, and Stock would each win their quarterfinal as well, advancing to the semifinals with Taryn Hunt-Smith and Emily Hyde of Dartmouth, Mary-Kate Cirelli and Stephanie Kirk of UVM, and Katrin Larusson and Lizzie Gill of UNH.

After Phinney and Miller in semi-final 1, Amber crossed the line to punch her ticket for the A-final, with Sonnesyn, Cirelli, and Larusson going to the B-final. The A-final was filled by Stock, Watts, and Hunt-Smith, while Hyde, Gill, and Kirk topped up the B-final roster.

Morgan won his quarter-final over Dartmouth’s Fabian Stocek, who was one of the few men to don skate skis for the CL sprint event. When asked about his decision after the quarterfinal, Stocek noted that the hill may not be worth double-poling in further heats, and switched to classic skis for the semi-final. The top 5 men all advanced to the next round, and were joined by Stocek, Oscar Friedman of Dartmouth, Henry Harmeyer of UVM, Andrew Egger of Colby, Eli Hoenig of Williams College, Sean Cork of Bowdoin, Patrick McElravey of Middlebury, and Eirik Fosnaes of UNH.

In a UVM-heavy first semi-final, Grav out-lunged Hegman and Morgan across the line, sending all three to the A-final, with Stocek, Harmeyer, and Egger moving on to the B-final. The second semi-final saw Morin, Holmes, and Hoenig moving on to the A-final, leaving Friedman, Fosnaes, and Cork to fill the B-final.

Both the men’s and women’s A-finals saw very tactical starts, with Stock and Phinney taking charge of the women’s race early on, then attacking at the top of Hero Hill. Stock moved Phinney into second for the first time all day on the descent, and held on to take the victory by a ski-length. Watts would come in shortly after to complete the podium.

After the race, Phinney appeared very pleased about her day. “After being in Houghton last week (at US Nationals) and a couple of crazy travel days, I didn’t really have expectations leading into today,” commented Phinney. “It was also nice having an all-college sprint for the first time in my career.”

The last time the EISA had a sprint that wasn’t partnered with a NENSA Eastern Cup or a USSA Supertour was held at Jackson Ski Touring in 2012, on day one of the UNH Carnival.

Grav attacked multiple times in the men’s A-final to take home the victory for UVM after a very tactical-looking start to the race. His teammate Hegman joined him on the podium in second, with Morin finishing third.

“I took the heats more tactically than others, trying to save some energy for the final,” said Grav. “And in the final, it seemed like the other guys weren’t going as hard as they could, so I used that to my advantage.” Grav pushed hard over the first hill to establish a gap behind him. Once the rest of the field caught him at the end of the lap he surged again to minimize any rest the field might have enjoyed to claim the win.

This race marks Stock’s first collegiate victory, while Grav can add this one to his three previous wins.

Mens Results here.
Womens Results here.