Western athletes hit podium at Nordic Nationals

By Kieran Nay, Western Colorado University Mountain Sports 

This past week, Western Colorado University sent its Nordic Ski Team to Lake Placid, New York to compete in USCSA Nationals. On the men’s side, the Mountaineers finished the three days of racing in third place with 113 points behind Paul Smith’s College (70), and Clarkson University (68). The women finished a strong seventh place in a stacked field. With above average temperatures and rainy weather, our teams persevered through these challenging conditions. 

“Our skiers raced well in extremely adverse conditions, with temperatures topping sixty degrees and pouring rain on our sprint day. It was awesome to see stand-out performances from Conner Nilsen, Hannah Cryder and Maddy Rosenberger in the Classic Sprint,” says Spencer Warejoncas, head Nordic coach.

The first day of competition consisted of a 7.5 km individual freestyle race. For the women, Rosenberger led the way for the Mountaineers with a ninth place finish. Teammate Cryder finished in 20^th. For the men it was Nilsen who led the team with a strong fourth place finish. Teammates Albert Hesse and Tyler Hippchen placed 14^th and 15^th, respectively.

The second day saw Western take on the classic Sprint with five athletes on the men’s side qualifying for the heats. Warm conditions, tricky wax and a couple of unfortunate falls led to four of our five qualifying athletes missing the semifinals. Nilsen had a strong day finishing in sixth place. On the women’s side, it was Cryder and Rosenberger who finished 8^th and 9^th in the B final. Eirwen McClish, who has been recovering from injury, rounded out the women’s team with a 41^st place finish.

The last day of competition saw another difficult day for the Mountaineers in the 15km classic race. A broken pole took defending champion Hesse out of the lead pack early. He managed a 21^st place finish on the day as the third scorer for the mountaineers. Graydon Walker had a standout day, characterized by strong climbing to finish seventh place. Nilsen led the way for the Mountaineers with a sixth place finish. In the women’s race, Cryder and Rosenberger finished 23^rd and 26^th, respectively. 

The Team Freestyle Sprint Relay saw both teams perform well with a second-place finish for the men and a seventh-place finish for the women. The men’s team consisted of Nilsen, Walker and Hesse, while the women’s team consisted of Cryder, Rosenberger and McClish.

The Individual Overall Combined results, which compiles the standings from all three individual races throughout the week, included Nilsen in fifth, Hesse 13^th, Rosenberger 14^th, Cryder 16^th, Walker 16^th and Hippchen 20^th. Over three individual events, and in the overall standings, Western posted thirteen All-American results and fielded six academic All-Americans. This concludes a very competitive season for the Mountaineers, finishing among some of the strongest collegiate Nordic teams in the nation.