Last weekend, 8 CNSC U16’s traveled to the annual New England U16 Championships at the Mountain Top Inn and Resort in Chittenden, VT. These championships are the pinnacle of many young athletes’ seasons and feature a jam-packed series of four races in three days. Friday afternoon was a 5k freestyle race, Saturday morning was a 5k classic race followed by an afternoon freestyle sprint, and Sunday was relay day! Teams from New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, and New York are vying for the coveted J2 Cup (what U16’s used to be called). There are also guests skiers from the Midwest, but they do not count in team scoring. The first three races are run in a wave start fashion, with a skier from each state starting each minute.

Fresh of the bus on Friday afternoon, the CNSC juniors didn’t show any signs of weariness and jumped right into the competition with some speedy results.

5k skate

Girls

8. Anna Isselhardt

10. Ayla Bodach-Turner

51. Margaret Voisin

Boys

7. Orion Cenkl

19. Charlie Krebs

42. Linden Stelma-Leonard

46. Alan Moody

67. Sage Grossi

On Saturday morning, with beautiful classic skiing conditions, the racing continued.

5k classic

Girls

11. Ayla

21. Anna

45. Margaret

Boys

4. Orion

30. Charlie

35. Linden

53. Alan

78. Sage

With only a few hours to rest, the athletes readied themselves for the fast and furious sprint competition.

Sprint

Girls

7. Ayla

10. Anna

54. Margaret

Boys

9. Orion

21. Linden

36. Alan

38. Charlie

61. Sage

On Sunday, everyone participated in the relay race. It was the most exciting relay format of all: mixed gender and mixed technique! The teams were each made up of two girls and two boys.

Relay

11. Orion

17. Sage

19. Ayla

20. Anna 

23. Alan and Linden

31. Charlie 

37. Margaret

At the end of the day, the victorious state was crowned, and it was Vermont! Congratulations to all these racers for shining throughout an entire tough race series! See the full results here.