Winter Term Athlete Journal: December Term In the Books!
By: Hugh Dempsey and Riley Kern
After a very fun and successful fundamentals camp in Colorado, eighteen athletes returned to Lake Placid to make some last minute improvements before the beginning of the race season.
The Winter Term crew at Copper Mountain
Our daily life at the OTC is very jam packed with tuning, study halls, academic time, and workouts. From when the we wake up at 6:30am until we go to bed at 9:30pm, our days are filled with constant handwork, dedication, and fun.
Our Winter Term crew during Iron Chef night at Copper!
After one week of training at Whiteface, the u16s and u19s geared up for their first races of the season. Some of the u19s headed up to Stratton Mountain in Vermont, while other u19s and the u16s had a GS race Saturday at Whiteface, and a slalom race Sunday at Gore. At Stratton Mountain, our two u19s that raced were Benjamin Taber and Johnathan Neron. Ben’s top finish was 47th place in slalom and Johnathan’s best finish was 30th place in both GS and slalom.
Ethan Henja (NWS/NYSEF ’16) is one of two PG athletes taking part in Winter Term this year. We’re able to learn alot from watching our older teammates train and compete.
At the Whiteface GS on Saturday the 17th, our top finisher for the ladies was Inez Burkard, achieving 3rd place for the u16s and overall. For the men, Hugh Dempsey got 1st place for the u16s, and overall got 7th while Magnus Sheffield claimed 3rd for the u16s and 10th overall.
L-R: Magnus, Riley and Sunniva hiking for bonus laps while training early season slalom on Copperopolis
On Sunday the 18th, Jane Baumer claimed 2nd place for the u16s and 3rd place overall. On the men’s side, Riley Kern got 3rd for the u16s and 16th overall.
Hugh Dempsey during early season GS training at Copper
After a busy week, all of the athletes are looking forward to heading home for the holiday break. Winter Term starts again on January 2nd, and we can’t wait to get back to it!