4-28-06: One other thing
After I wrote the last update, I realized something that
I forgot, and some other important stuff has happened. First off, I
forgot that last Friday I partook in a date auction to help raise money
against cancer. I was thrilled at the price I went for. A girl actually
paid $70 to go on a date with me! It was very exciting and low key. I
was one of the few single people being auctioned off. Mainly, groups of
people were auctioned. Pretty much, it was a fun way to convince people
to donate "large" sums of money to fight cancer. But still, $70!!! I had
the highest bid for a while (until it got crazy near the end), and was
one of the top selling single guys.
Also, and more relevant to my life, I am pretty sure I know where I will
be living next year. I was excepted to live in the East Wheelock Cluster
(best dorms on campus, I'm told). I think I know who my room mate for
next year will be. Room draw (when I actually learn which room I'll be
living in) comes up next week.
Well, I guess that's all I have to say (unless I forgot something else).
Later,
Glenn Randall
4-24-06: Track Season
Well, spring has come to New Hampshire, and they say
April showers bring May flowers, so May better be really beautiful. Our
team captain jokes that any track meet in New England is the Cold and
Rainy Invitational. I have run two track meets. On April 15, I ran at
the University of New Hampshire in the 5000m. This is 12 and a half laps
around the track. It was a pretty small meet. I got second, but my time
of 15:39 was not particularly fast. To put it bluntly, I ran faster than
that in high school cross-country races (not on a track), and split
faster than that in some 8k cross-country races during the fall (also
not on a track). I came back the next weekend to run at our homemeet,
the Dartmouth Invitational. Again, I ran the 5000m. This was a bigger
race (not huge, but bigger). I placed 5th with a 15:10. This was a big
PR, and I ran a very consistent pace throughout the entire race. It was
exciting, and I hope to continue to improve in the next few weeks. Coach
has not named the roster for Heptagonal Championships in two weeks, but
I can definitely hope.
As far as my classes, I am enjoying them. My physics class is a lot of
fun, and we learn about really cool stuff. Did you know that you can set
up your personal computer to help in computer intensive projects such as
trying to detect gravity waves or trying to better understand
biochemistry when you aren't using it? Really cool! I can help with
research that I don't even understand! We are learning about special
relativity right now. Special relativity is also really cool. My math
class is complex (literally, it is Complex Analysis). As a freshmen with
not much math background, it is kind of hard to be in a class with a
bunch of senior math majors who complain about the homework being too
easy. But I am learning some really amazing things about numbers. It is
hard to visualize numbers that aren't real though. My history class
consists of reading books written by, among others, Walt Whitman and the
professor who is teaching the class. I don't even want to think about
how many times I have fallen asleep while reading my prof's book (don't
tell him though!). But it does give a good case for the usabilty of
learning by osmosis, considering that after falling asleep on the book
once or twice, reading it just seems to repeat itself, but maybe that's
because I can't remember what I read before I fell asleep.
Well, take it easy back home,
Glenn
3-30-06: Finals, Spring Series, start of spring
term
Hey All,
Well spring term is here, and I've started track season. My first race
is probably next weekend (as in April 7ish). I'm taking some very
interesting classes. I have a first-year writing seminar entiltled
"Patriotic Gore, Violent Sacrafice in American Culture." It is about
nationalism, the Civil War, the idea of dieing for ones country as being
a very honorable thing to do, and how all of these relate. I'm really
interested to see where this one goes. I'm also taking Functions of a
Complex Variable. Not quite so excited about it. It's a math class that
I'm not really sure what to expect from. My other class is Introductory
Physics III: Modern Physics. This one should be a lot of fun. It goes
into the more interesting parts of physics that I haven't quite dealt
with as much.
Last term, my finals went pretty well. I got a B in Honors Intorductory
Physics II (there is no honors section for my current physics class),
and a B- in Mathematics for the Physical Sciences. Because I was gone a
lot for skiing, I didn't take any other classes. Speaking of skiing, I
had a week of skiing action over spring break. I went to northern Maine
for International Spring Series (so named because Canadiens showed up?).
I raced in 5 races, but I'll skip the first four (they weren't very
glorious or exciting for me) and go on to the 5th, 50km Nationals. This
was a classic mass start that traversed four laps of a 12.5 km loop for
a total of 50 km (31 miles). It was really bad snow conditions, so
everybody skied pretty slow. I ended up making a big surge the last half
and passing about 5 or 6 people to move into 7th. All around, a good
race.
Well, I should get back into getting into the spring term.
Later,
Glenn Randall
3-11-06: NCAA Results
Today wrapped up the NCAA Skiing Championships. I raced
in the 10km classic on Thursday. The end of the race was very painful,
and I lost a lot of time in the last few kilometers to come in 18th. I
was the 5th or 6th American, and the 4th easterner.
Today was the 20km mass start freestyle. I started out the race near the
back, but with only 39 racers, I wasn't too worried. I was more patient
in this race than I ever have been before, and steadily worked my way
up. At about 13 km into the race, I caught the lead pack. I stayed on
them for several kilometers, and suddenly found myself leading NCAAs! I
panicked, charged, and then, thinking that the other 5 guys in the lead
pack were all still right behind me, slowed up so that I wouldn't just
pull them along and make myself tired. I learned later that I had
actually split the pack, and that only one or two other skiers had
stayed with me, until I slowed down and everybody caught back up. The
guy right behind me yelled something about me slowing down, but I just
thought he wanted an honest pace, not that we'd actually done something.
Oh well, live and learn. A couple kilometers later, another move was
made. The lead pack strung out, and two skiers started to fall off.
Then, with 2 kilometers to go, two University of Colorado skiers made a
major move. Only a skier from the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA)
was able to stay with, and I fell back. I was soon passed by another CU
skier. Coming into the stadium, I passed him back and sprinted for the
finish line. The CU skier passed me and took fourth, but I beat a skier
from the UAA (the second American in today's race) by a very small
margin. Top 10 recieve All-American honors, so I am now an All-American
skier.
To make the day better, between our men's and women's nordic teams,
Dartmouth moved up from 5th place to finish 3rd overall in the team
standings, passing the University of Vermont (UVM) in the men's race,
and then later in the women's race, gaining more on UVM and passing
defending champions the University of Denver, to finish behind only the
University of New Mexico (who won two years ago), and CU, the host
school. Dartmouth had All-Americans in every event, and for the 5th
strait year, had a guy win the men's slalom title.
Well, I go back to campus tomorrow, and have finals for the next two
days. Wish me luck.
Note from webmaster: You can wish Glenn luck at
Glenn.Randall at Dartmouth dot EDU
02-27-06: NCAA
Last weekend, I raced at EISA Championships. On Friday,
I had a 20km mass start freestyle race. I worked my way through the pack
after a less than stellar start, and ended up 4th. Dartmouth men went 2,
3, 4, 5, 6, 10. Dartmouth women went 2, 3, 4, 10, 11, 17?.
The next day I placed 6th in a very close 10km classic. Dartmouth, once
again, dominated, with the winners of the men's and women's races, and
three people in the top 4 of both.
The big news (for me), though, is that I made the NCAA Championship
team. I will be competing in Steamboat Springs (yes, Colorado) on
Thursday, March 9, and Saturday, March 11. I greatly look forward to
these races. The races will be held at Howelson Hill (where the ski
jumps are). Thursday is a 10km classic, with the first starter going out
at 9:30. Saturday is a 20 km freestyle mass start, with the entire field
starting at noon.
Thanks for all of your support this year,
Glenn Randall
02-20-06: Carnival
I'm not sure if I've told everybody about Dartmouth
Carnival, so I'll tell you all about life since I got back.
I got back to a ton of homework. I had 2 midterms within 48 hours of
arriving on campus and did a lot of work. I did very well on my physics
midterm, getting a 90%. On my math midterm, I was slightly below
average, but since I took it things are going a lot better. I didn't say
anything about the Dartmouth Winter Carnival (sort of like a winter
homecoming, but for skiing!) because I spent Carnival Weekend either
skiing or doing homework.
The Dartmouth Carnival is our home ski race, so it's kind of a big deal.
We had 2 races in 2 days, a 20km freestyle mass start, and a 10km
classic. In the 20km, I got a really bad start, and had to pass almost
the entire field, which is hard to do in a freestyle race on narrow
eastern trails. I ended up working my way up to 9th place. The next day,
I placed 5th, the top Dartmouth skier. As a team (men's and women's
alpine and nordic), we placed 3rd.
We had no snow, so the Dartmouth Carnival was held in northern Vermont.
There is actually still no snow in Hanover.
This last weekend we raced in the Williams Carnival (all of the eastern
collegiate ski races are called carnivals. Originally, Dartmouth planned
their Winter Carnival around the ski race, and soon other schools
started having their own carnivals). At Williams, we raced a 10km
freestyle and a 3x5km relay. I placed 6th in the freestyle. Dartmouth
men went 1, 2, 6, 7, 11. One of our women won the women's race, while
another who had been leading fell into a pond and lost well over a
minute. In the relay, I was the last skier for the 2nd team. This meant
that wherever I finished, we finished. Our first two legs fell, the
second fall happening right before my eyes as I prepared to start my
leg. I started in 13th place with a group of 3 other teams. I passed all
three of them, dropped them, but could not catch anybody else. We ended
up getting 10th. As a team , we placed 2nd.
02-05-06: Report from Junior World
Championships
Slovenia is a small country bordering Italy, Austria,
Hungary, and Croatia. Slovenia won it's independence from Yugoslavia in
a 10 day war in 1991. Just thought I would say that so you all know that
Slovenia is indeed a country.
We came to Slovenia for Junior World Championships. Slovenia is a very
small country, and we stayed about a half hour's drive away from the
race sight in Medvode, in a beautiful town called Bled. This meant
driving across a fair amount of Slovenia to get to our races, because
Slovenia is a very small country. We spent off days skiing at a place
that we couldn't pronounce, so we called Polka-polka.
We were able to know the courses very well in spite of this, because the
courses, like the country, were small. A 3.3 km loop was the long loop,
encompassing everything of substance from either 2.5km. During the
ladies 4x3km relay, a 1.65km course was used. Snow was very sugary and
got chewed up after one race. As guys usually raced last, this meant we
had really soft courses.
My first race was a 10km classic. It was run on 3 loops of the 3.3km
loop. As the ladies had already raced and I was bib #68, this meant that
by the time I started snow was soft, and by the time I finished, every
uphill had at least ankle-deep powder/dirt/sugar. About half way through
my second lap, an event that summed up my race occurred. I went to pass
another skier, fell in the sugar (I'm still not sure if he was to blame
or if it was my fault), and my binding somehow opened. My ski started
gliding back down the hill that I had just climbed halfway up (I had
really fast skis that day). I jumped after it, skiing/running down the
hill. Luckily, a spectator or coach quickly grabbed the ski and gave it
to me. This cost me 10 seconds at most, but during that 10 seconds I was
passed by a "train" of skiers, many of whom I never saw again. The race
was just not a good race. I went hard, I just wasn't going as fast as I
thought I should. I ended up in 59th place. Matt Gelso, however, was
16th (don't quote me on any finishing positions, I don't remember
results that well), a very strong finish.
Two days later I skied a 10km+10km double pursuit. What this means is
that I started with a mass start classic, and after 10km, changed skis
and poles and skated 10km into the finish. We did 4 loops around the
"classic" 2.5km, and 4 more loops around the "skate" 2.5km. I had a very
good starting position due to my low FIS points, but made very little of
it and dropped probably 40 positions from my bib number in the first 1/2
km. I steadily worked my way back up, at one point battling for 25th
place. Again, I had very fast skis, and knew that anybody who was a few
seconds ahead of me going into one of the short downhills was going to
be right with me at the bottom. I have no idea how my exchange went,
because there was a steady stream of people coming into the exchange
zone, and I didn't recognize anybody from before or after I switched
skis. I dropped places during the skate portion of the race, and ended
up in 39th. Earlier that day, Liz Stephen had tied for 7th, the best US
result in two days, when Morgan Smyth had placed 7th in the sprint,
which had been the best US result since Bill Koch.
About three seconds after I crossed the finish line, a race official
asked me, "Randall?" I was then informed that I had been randomly chosen
for doping control. The man would not let me out of his sight, or let me
eat my lunch or drink from my Nalgene. I wandered around, wishing I
could cool down and grabbing my change of clothes. By this time, team
leader Katie Gould was with me to make sure that all of the testing went
all right. When we got to the van to go to the doping control center, it
was locked. We then switched officials to an overly friendly man who
spoke quite a bit of English. I was the only random choosing of the day,
and the top 3 were yet to arrive (maybe they were allowed to cool down),
so I drank the controlled water with Katie and the overly friendly
official, who I think was actually the head of doping control. Katie
told me to always check that everything was sealed, and encouraged me to
drink a lot of water, because she had to get back for the combined
races. Soon, I was ready for the testing. I won't go into the details of
the blood or urine testing, but I had to do everything other than draw
my own blood (I'm not exaggerating) in order to assure that nobody
tampered with the samples. I was given a choice of several bags of
testing material to choose from, and had to sign a lot of papers. When I
got back from testing, I realized that I had forgotten to get my skis
and poles out of my exchange box. I ran over, and they were gone. I went
to the jury trailer, where I found my skis, but I never expect to see my
poles again.
With these results, I made the relay team. This was a 4x5km relay, with
two legs of classic followed by two legs of skate. Matt Gelso skied the
first leg and handed off to me. After my 5km, I handed off to Matt
Johnson, who skied 5km and handed off to Mike Hinckley. Matt had a great
start, and was right with the top teams at the start of the first lap.
Apparently he fell, and came in a little bit behind. I kept us in a
fairly similar position to our starting position. I don't know what this
was, but I do know that we finished 15th. Nothing too interesting
happened to me during that race, which was a pleasant change. For me,
however, a 5km is a sprint race, and I am not a huge fan of sprinting.
To make things a little more difficult, I had no classic poles, as they
had disappeared two days before, and had to borrow poles. As my coach,
Ruff Paterson says, "Improvise, adapt, overcome." Notably, the ladies
4x3km relay placed 5th, the best ever relay result for the United States
at Junior Worlds, a tie for the best relay result at a World
Championship event (tied with the 2002 Salt Lake Olympic Games Men's
4x10km relay), and the best ever finish at a World Championship event
for US women. This team of Morgan Smyth, Sadie Bjornsen, Alexa Turzian,
and Liz Stephen really skied well.
As a closing, the Superbowl really looses a lot of it's excitement when
you can't understand the German commentary.
01-25-06:
OK, I know it's been a while, but that's how things go.
My last race at nationals was a 21st place in the 15-15km double
pursuit. That means I skied 15km mass start classic, switched skis
midrace, and finished with 15km skate. That topped off an 8 day period
of 85km of racing. I was the only junior who raced, and the 3rd U-23. I
ended up being 2nd in the standings for U-23 Grand Champion, which is a
standing compiled of your best 3 races. I went to to Colby Carnival, but
got sick after the sprint, so not much to say there. Just so you all
know, a Carnival is an Eastern collegiat skiing race. The name dates
back to Dartmouth's Winter Carnival, which is always the same weekend as
the ski races at Dartmouth. I guess everybody just wants to be like us.
Well, now I'm in Slovania for Junior World Championships. There is a
link to an article about it at
www.dartmouth.edu (yes, Dartmouth's homepage!). Things are going
well here. The people are really nice, but it's pretty cold out and I
haven't been able to wander around town. But the mountains around here
are really beautiful. The Alps stretch into Slovania. Most everybody
else went to Austria for a short trip (we're only about 25 miles or so
from the border by driving). We're on the Italian border, and this
morning, many of the people who got up early because they thought it was
the middle of the day or something walked into Italy.
In case you get this e-mail after they change the Dartmouth News list in
the corner of the homepage (there are a lot of noteworthy things that
happen at Dartmouth. A 38-year-old alum qualified for the Olympics in
two (yes, 2) sports, and apperantly they just made a breakthrough with
yeast and antibodies and stuff), you can find the article at:
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~news/releases/2006/01/23.html
01-25-06:
JANUARY 20,
2006
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Juliann Fritz,
[email protected]
U.S. NORDIC
TEAMS ANNOUNCED FOR JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
PARK CITY, Utah (Jan. 20) - Twenty-six athletes, including 13 cross
country skiers, led by Liz Stephen (Montpelier, VT/Burke Mountain
Academy) and Morgan Arritola (Fairfield, ID/Sun Valley SEF) who each
collected two medals at the U.S. Cross Country Championships, have been
named to represent the U.S. Ski Team at the Junior World Championships
later this month, U.S. Nordic Director Luke Bodensteiner announced.
The announcement came after the conclusion of the U.S. championships at
Soldier Hollow, the 2002 Olympic venue. Cross country selection was
based on results at the championships, he said. In addition, 13 athletes
and two alternates were named for the J1 Scandinavian Cup races in Voyr,
Finland.
The Junior Worlds cross country team (with age, hometown, club
program):
Men - Nate Berry (19; Chugiak, AK/Eagle River Nordic/Montana State),
Matt Gelso (17; Truckee, CA/Far West Nordic/Auburn Ski Club), Jack
Harris (20 on Monday; Bellevue, ID/Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation),
Mike Hinckley (19; Anchorage, AK/University of Denver), Matt Johnson
(19; Anchorage, AK/Middlebury College), Glenn Randall (19; Collbran,
CO/Dartmouth College) and Max Treinen (17; Anchorage, AK/Alaska Winter
Stars).
Women - Morgan Arritola (19; Fairfield, ID/Sun Valley SEF), Sadie
Bjornsen (16; Winthrop, WA/Methow Valley Nordic), Tazlina Mannix (19;
Anchorage, AK/APU Nordic), Morgan Smyth (19; Vernon, VT/Northern
Michigan University), Liz Stephen (19; Montpelier, VT/Burke Mountain
Academy) and Alexa Turzian (17; Sun Valley, ID/SVSEF).
In addition, five nordic combined athletes, five jumpers and three women
jumpers were named to compete at Junior Worlds.
The nordic combined skiers heading to Junior Worlds include: Bryan
Fletcher (19; Steamboat Springs, CO/Steamboat Springs Winter Sports
Club), Peter Freire (18; Lake Placid, NY/New York Ski Education
Foundation), Willy Graves (19; Putney, VT/National Sports Academy),
Skyler Keate (18; Park City, UT/National Sport Foundation) and Logan
Oxford (19; Park City, UT/NSF).
Junior Worlds ski jumpers are: Nick Fairall (16; Andover, NH/Andover Ski
Club), Mike Glasder (16; Cary, IL/Norge Ski Club), Anders Johnson (16;
Park City, UT/NSF), Johnny Lyons (17; St. Paul, MN/St. Paul Ski Club)
and Trevor Wert (17 on Sunday; Steamboat Springs, CO/SSWSC). The women
jumpers are: Elizabeth Anderson (16; Park City/NSF), Brenna Ellis (17;
Park City, UT/NSF) and Abby Hughes (16; Park City, UT/NSF).
Named to the J1 Scandinavian Cup cross country racing trip:
Men - Tad Elliott (17; Durango, CO/Durango Nordic), Ben Fick (17; Marine
St. Croix, MN/Nordic Works), Ian Havlick (17; Boulder, CO/Boulder
Nordic), Noah Hoffman (16; Aspen, CO/Aspen Valley Ski&Snowboard Club),
Alex Howe (16; Gilford, NH/Gunstock Ski Club), Patrick Johnson (16;
Anchorage, AK/Alaska Winter Stars) and Reid Pletcher (17; Hailey, ID/Sun
Valley SEF).
Women - Jennie Bender (18 on Thursday; Johnson, VT/Northeast Nordic),
Rosie Brennan (17; Park City, UT/NSF), Ase Lunde Carlson (16; Bozeman,
MT/Bridger Ski Foundation), Kate Dolan (15; Bozeman, MT/Bridger Ski
Foundation), Elise Moody-Roberts (16; Cape Elizabeth, ME/BMA/New England
Nordic Ski Association) and Jamie Woelk (17; Gunnison, CO/Crested Butte
Ski Club).
Former U.S. nordic program manager Katie Gould will be team leader for
Junior Worlds, which begin Jan. 31 in Kranj, Slovenia.
01-09-06: Hi all,
I know it's been a while, but I didn't feel like there was a whole lot
to write about until just recently, and I was busy or had limited/no
internet access. After West Yellowstone, I came back to campus for
finals. I had two final exams and a final paper. Then, I left for a ski
camp in Canada. Here, I got to know the ski team guys pretty well and
got in some good skiing. I came back from Canada and spent 8 hours on
campus, from 8pm to 4am. During that time I accessed my grades. I
received an A- in Writing 5 (Expository Writing), a B+ in Physics 15
(Honors Introductory Physics I), and a B- in Math 15.1 (Mathematics for
the Physical Sciences). After getting a little sleep, I got on the 4am
bus to Manchester Airport. From there I went to Salt Lake, where my dad
picked me up and we drove to Heber City. This was somewhere around the
18th of December. I spent time just preparing for Nationals with my
folks and a few family friends until January 1. We had Christmas dinner
in a Holiday Inn Express. On the 1st, I moved in with the Dartmouth team
at another hotel. My first race was a 30km mass start freestyle. This
means that everybody started at once, making for a somewhat tactical
race, and we all skate. It was a very tough day, and the winner skied
really fast, lapping well over half of the people who started. These
people were pulled from the course, because in this race, if you were
lapped, you didn't get to finish. Over 110 people were entered, probably
80-90 started, and 39 people finished. Dartmouth had 3 of these people.
I placed 13th, the first person under 23 years of age and the first
collegiate. Dartmouth's second skier, Mike Sinnott, was the second
person under 23 and the second collegiate. The next race was a sprint,
which I didn't race in. Dartmouth had good results in this race. My next
race was a 15km classic. In this race, as in most others, one person
went out every 30 seconds. I started well, but fell a few miles into the
race and did not finish very well. I placed 37th, and was the 3rd person
under 20. The next day was a 10km freestyle race. In this race I was
11th place, 7th American, 3rd person under 23, 2nd American under 23,
and 1st person under 20. This race went well. Because of this race, I
qualified for Junior World Championships in Slovania. I have a race
tomorrow, and then I go back to campus and try to somehow pass my
classes. Then I will go to Junior Worlds in late January and early
February.
Later,
Glenn
12-1-05: Sorry I didn't write sooner, I wanted to
wait until my first ski races, which were right after Thanksgiving, and
I've been really busy or catching up on sleep ever since. After
Regionals in running, I started doing a lot of rollerskiing to get ready
for ski season. The Friday before Thanksgiving I flew to Salt Lake City
and my dad and I drove to West Yellowstone through the night. West
Yellowstone has interesting races. The Thanksgiving race is the first
big race in the lower 48 every year, so a lot of people come. Usually,
most of the top skiers in the country come, as well as several colleges,
groups of high schoolers, independent racers, and every major
professional team in the country. Also, there is a ski camp for people
who aren't as good during the week. All of this equates to several
hundred, if not a thousand, skiers, most of whom are on snow for the
first time that year and are skiing 2 times almost every day. Trails get
packed with people. Also, every year the restaurant in the Holiday Inn
runs out of food during Thanksgiving dinner.
On Monday, I learned that the running team finished of the season by
getting 15th at NCAAs. This is a very good finish. The next day, we
picked up Ben True, who was 32nd at NCAAs and 25th of the people with
full teams. He was riding in a van that was hauling a trailer when we
picked him up at the bus stop. That night, my dad picked up my mom as
Ben and I ate chicken parmisan with the members of the Dartmouth Ski
Team who had come out.
My first race was a sprint. I was far back in 85th place, but I never
have been a sprinter. Results are at
http://www.yellowstoneskifestival.com/results/sprint.html
Sorry that it isn't a hyperlink, I don't think BlitzMail does
hyperlinks.
My second race was a 12km classic. It went better. I was 17th, and beat
the next eastern collegiate by almost a minute. There was fresh snow on
the ground and the tracks were kind of sloppy. Results for this race can
be found at
http://www.yellowstoneskifestival.com/results/classic.html
I have since gotten back and classes have ended. I have final exams on
Saturday and Sunday, and I leave some time around Wednesday or
something.
Also, congratulations to Alison Crocker, a Dartmouth senior who was 4th
in the sprint, 3rd in the classic, qualified for World Cups, and is also
a Rhodes Scholar. People like her make the rest of us here at Dartmouth
feel like we are not doing well. We are, just not quite that well.
Glenn Randall
