RUMFORD, Maine -- Senior
Kaelyn Woods placed 10th and junior
Tucker Barber placed 23rd, season bests for both Maine natives, to lead a strong performance by the Bates women's and men's Nordic skiing team in the classical technique races at the Bates Carnival Friday at Black Mountain.
Woods (New Gloucester, Maine), a two-time NCAA Championship competitor and the team captain, completed the women's 15K classic mass start race in 47:59.2, good for 10th place among 77 skiers. It is Woods' sixth career top-10 finish in an EISA carnival race.
Junior Maya Seckinger (Winthrop, Wash.) continued her strong season with an 18th-place finish (48:52.2), and junior Zoe McKinney (North Conway, N.H.) completed a veterans' day for the Bates women, rounding out the team scoring in 46th place (52:52.3).
Barber (Wilton, Maine) achieved a career-best EISA carnival finish by placing 23rd out of 78 skiers in the men's 20K classic. Barber finished the course in 1:01:28.2. Sophomore teammate Henry Raff (Hailey, Idaho) also achieved a career-best performance in 26th place with a time of 1:04:44.6. First-year Zander Martin (York, Maine) placed 32nd as Bates' final team scorer, in a time of 1:02:08.2, with first-year Cal Schrupp (Gilford, N.H.) finished close behind in 36th (1:02:40.1).
The Bates women scored the sixth-most carnival points among 15 teams in the event (68), while the Bates men were eighth-best with 53.
Along with alpine racing at Sunday River, Nordic racing for the Bates Carnival will resume Saturday morning with freestyle races at Black Mountain.
