Team Nordic Flexes Muscles Before Nationals

SBA Team Nordic has ambitions beyond Saturday's state championships, to be sure. Fulfilling the pre-season team goal of qualifying every SBA racer for Junior Nationals, the entire team will be departing Friday for Fairbanks, Alaska, to race against the very best in the country.

Saturday, though, was a chance to make a team statement versus its peers in the state, and - after a season of some health adversity for a number of SBA Nordic racers - it still turned out to be a blue-and-white day yesterday at Auburn Ski Club. Please enjoy the photo below, then scroll down for the full story of marmot muscle flexing.

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Statement: delivered!
Katrin Larusson took top-of-the-podium honors with impressive first-place finishes in both the classic and skate races, and the girls' team again garnered enough season points to repeat as Nordic League Varsity Women champions. The results sheet appeared to be printed in Sugar Bowl blue and white, with SBA's Danielle Nivinski third, Camille Hartley fifth, Bria Riggs sixth, Elise Hardy eleventh and Savannah Blide twelfth.

Sam Zabell had the strongest showing for the boys' team, racing to a third-place overall finish with a particularly strong skate race. Peter Carroll placed sixth, Casey Jobe eleventh, and Skyler Mullings thirteenth. The boys finished second on the season among Nordic League Varsity Men.

The Fighting Marmot congratulates both the boys and girls Nordic ski racers and wishes them - along with the entire Far West team - the very best against the very best in Alaska. 

Two-Time Olympic Skier and Former NFL Player Makes A Virtual Campus Visit

SBA student-athletes were treated to a virtual visit from two-time Olympic skier and former NFL player Jeremy Bloom at Monday's All School Meeting.

Bloom Skyped with our students from his office in San Francisco, fielding questions about his mogul-skiing days, juggling academics and athletics as a high school and collegiate student-athlete, and the connection between the commitment required to be a successful athlete and his success with his most recent business ventures. 

His virtual visit came about thanks in part to a student-led effort to create a guest-speaker series on campus. Senior Brian Francis has taken the lead now in successfully scheduling two guest speakers, the first being Janet Hardy (mother of SBA's Elise, '14), manager of the U.S. Army's Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory. Hardy visited our campus in the fall to talk to our student-athletes about how a love for skiing and snow put her on the career path that led her to study snow and ice for the U.S. government at its Hanover, N.H. laboratory. Click HERE to learn more about Hardy's visit.

Francis said that the idea of an All School Meeting Skype session with Bloom was born when the two met at a U.S. Ski Team fundraising event in San Francisco late last fall.

"I heard he was going to be at the fundraiser and was incredibly excited, because I knew about him balancing football and skiing, something I had tried to do early in my high school career," said Francis.

"I think that what the students really took away from his talk is what is capable in the world if one is really determined..., and the idea that the only way to succeed is to fail, but to learn from those failures."

On behalf of the entire SBA community, The Fighting Marmot thanks Mr. Bloom for his engaging virtual visit.

Scene On Campus Pic of the Day

Elise Hardy ('14) cheers on SBA ski racers with her vuvuzela

Nordic Marmots Strong on "Home Snow"

For a full photo essay of our home race, please click HERE

Sugar Bowl played host to a high school Nordic ski race Friday, with some impressive results for SBA racers both at our well-attended and spirited "home snow" race as well as on Sunday at Tahoe City Cross Country's Junior Nationals Qualifier. 

Head Nordic Coach Jeff Schloss was kind enough to offer the following summary of season highlights thus far. Thank you, Jeff, and congratulations to team Nordic on a very strong start to the season! 

"The 2012/2013 Nordic race season is still in the early stages, with races running all the way until the middle of April, but things are off to a great start for the Fighting Marmots' Nordic squad. In the CNISSF school league, SBA captured first place for women and second place for men in the opening race, the Kirkwood relay. The SBA team of Danielle Nivinski, Elise Hardy, and Katrin Larusson dominated the race with a win by over a minute, and the young J2 boys with Peter Carroll, Skyler Mullings, and Sam Zabell skied to a strong second place. In the SBA home CNISSF race on January 11th, all SBA athletes who raced placed in the varsity top ten, including Katrin Larusson in first, Camille Hartley in ninth, Savannah Blide in tenth, Sam Zabell in fourth, Peter Carroll in sixth, Skyler Mullings in ninth, and Casey Jobe in tenth. In Far West racing, SBA athletes have been very strong in the Junior National qualifying races, with age-group wins from Katrin, Sam, and Danielle, as well as strong qualifying races from almost the entire team. On the National front, the older girls of Katrin, Danielle, Elise, and Bria have been racing at the U.S. Super Tour races in West Yellowstone, Montana, the Bozeman Super Tour (Katrin) and U.S. Nationals in Soldier Hollow, Utah (Katrin, Danielle, and Elise). The biggest highlights of these races have come with Katrin winning the J1 girls classic race in Bozeman and coming in fourth for J1 girls in the skate sprint at U.S. Nationals. Some goals for the team this year include trying to qualify the entire team for the Junior National Championships in Fairbanks, Alaska, putting an SBA athlete on the podium at Junior Nationals, winning the CNISSF league for women, and coming in top two for men. Finally, we would like to see every SBA athlete feel that they have improved significantly from last year. The season is young, but we feel we are on the way to achieving our ambitious goals!"

Steeling Themselves for The Hike Ahead

Our inaugural, experiential-learning Trips program (click HERE if you missed that post) isn't until late April, but SBA student-athletes are already prepping for their various field experiences. Recently, each of the five trips groups met to detail the curriculum that trip leaders have developed to enhance the learning experience. The Lost Coast of Northern California group will be backpacking 24.6 miles along one of the nation's only coastal wilderness areas. To prepare themselves for this experience, the group is reading Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods. 

Student-Athlete-Animals!

SBA art students this week contemplated the following profound and soul-searching question: "What is my spirit animal?"

Before beginning to paint their respective spirit animals, student-athletes filled out an on-line questionnaire designed to determine what their spirit animal might be. Results were based upon student responses to such reflective questions - in this case designed to gauge one's degree of independence from family - as the following: "How often would you visit your family if you lived in close proximity?" According to her responses to the questionnaire, the spirit animal of Elise Hardy ('14) of Vermont would be a horse. 

Scene on Campus Pic of the Day

Fall Festival Piñata Bashing

Love of School and Country on Display at "Gaper Day"

Day Two of Spirit Week was dubbed "Gaper Day" and featured our annual Fall Festival events (stay tuned for the iMovie production). Judging by the face paint and attire of Vermont's Elise Hardy ('14) today, she is one country-and-school-loving Fighting Marmot! 

Tahoe Adventure Orientation, Days 1 and 2

Here's a brief report from the field at Orientation 2012...

Our first stop was at Treetop Adventure Park at Granlibakken Resort. The park features a variety of ropes courses and zip lines, from green to black diamond. Noteworthy: a curious bear came to watch our Fighting Marmots on the ropes. Fortunately for our student athletes they are so fit that apparently they proved unappetizing to our furry friend.

Next stop: Sugar Pine State Park. Many thanks to Kirk Hardie and Will Richardson of the Tahoe Institute for Natural Science for guiding our hike through the forest and the many lessons on the Tahoe Basin ecosystem. Thanks, too, to Ambrose for the campfire Mark Twain reading last night.

Today's highlight has without question been a paddle from Baldwin Beach to the majesty of Emerald Bay. Winds were calm for the morning paddle but kicked up in the afternoon, providing a nice tailwind out of Emerald Bay. Unfortunately, rounding the corner out of Emerald Bay that tailwind turned into a headwind, making for a challenging return paddle. 

Pictured below: Elise Hardy, Nordic newcomer from Vermont, finds warmth in the sand at Baldwin Beach.

Tonight features goal setting and the formulation and articulation of our annual string of hopes around the campfire. Tomorrow we hike Ellis Peak. Go Fighting Marmots!

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