After two second-place finishes at the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) championships in Sudbury, Ont. last month, the Carleton Ravens Nordic ski teams are now looking towards the 2012 Haywood Ski Nationals in Mont Ste-Anne, Que. March 17-24.
Ravens head coach Chris Mamen said he hopes to secure a win on the men’s side — it would be their third in a row — and a medal on the women’s side.
“I still want to see the men win,” Mamen said. “I think they have a really good chance of doing that. At least come second, but I want to see them take the gold at nationals.”
The OUA championships were a good indicator of both teams’ depth this season. The Ravens finished with six individual medals and four relay medals, according to Mamen. He said the team’s strong performance made losing to Lakehead University tough to deal with it.
“It was obviously tough to come second when you’re so close to first place,” he said. “It was only by three points; it was really tough to swallow by everyone, myself included, but it shows how close they are.”
The men’s team, who were the defending OUA champions going into the competition, suffered when star athlete Kyle Power came down with the flu, Mamen said. Power still raced in the five-kilometre individual sprint, and finished, but failed to place.
“Everything for me was pretty difficult,” Power said. “But I tried my best to compete and hold my own.”
The women’s team did “exceptionally well,” Mamen said, losing to Lakehead by 14 points but beating third-place University of Guelph by 94 points. Last season, the women just missed the podium, placing fourth overall.
“I was just thrilled with all the women’s effort,” he said. “Everyone showed up in shape and they were all very disciplined during races and focused.”
Ingrid Hagberg, who was named one of the women’s all-stars, said she was happy with the team’s placement, especially considering the level of competition.
“It was a tough year because the competition was so high, but we showed up to a good standard,” she said.
Hagberg attributed the women’s success this season to the larger number of women on the team.
“In my first two years when I was at Carleton there weren’t that many girls, so it was kind of tough to push yourself against people who were the same speed,” she said.
“But now . . . we’ve got eight or nine girls, all pushing each other at the same speed, so it makes training a lot better because you’ve got people between levels to motivate you,” she said.
Looking beyond nationals, Hagberg said the women’s team can only improve.
“Next year, I’m looking forward to just building on this. It’s a young team, it’s fresher on the girl’s side,” she said.
“There’s only uphill from here.”
