Trudging through the wind and snow at Prospect Mountain in Woodford, Vt., the Middlebury Nordic ski team added another impressive performance to their season at the Williams Carnival this past weekend. Both the men’s and women’s teams were runners up in the 3 x 5K relay race, helping Middlebury place fourth overall at the competition.
The Williams carnival was just a continuation of the enormous success the Nordic team has had this year. In all five carnivals to date this season, the nordic team has played a major role and has yet to finish outside the top five. The team has been especially propelled by two skiers: Shea Brams ’26 and Jack Christner ’25.
Brams and Christner have dominated the competition this season, with each garnering an Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association Nordic Skier of the Week award. Brams earned her award on Feb. 7 following an impressive performance at the Harvard Carnival, where she won the 15K mass start and came in fourth place in the 7.5K free skate. Meanwhile, Christner won his accolade a week later after his performance at the Dartmouth Carnival where he finished second in the 15K mass start and fifth in the freestyle sprint.
In addition to winning Nordic Skier of the Week, Brams has been consistently one of the best skiers in the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association all season. She has finished on the podium four times this season and has three event victories.
Brams credits the work she and the rest of the team have put in all year as the root of her success. Starting in May of 2023, the team has completed 15-25 hours of training a week including strength training, roller skiing and running track.
“Every person values how they are going to perform,” Brams said. “Every person cares a lot about training.”
Perhaps surprising based on her success, Brams has had a somewhat unique path to Division One skiing. While many DI skiers are from mountainous ski towns in the west or from rural pockets of Vermont, Brams hails from the Boston suburb of Belmont, Mass. Because of where she grew up, Brams got her start in Nordic skiing on mostly man made snow on a golf course.
“I think people who come from the West, where mountains are gigantic, might view Middlebury mountains as hills,” Brams said. “But for me, coming from a place that's full of traffic and city, this is like a dream.”
Christner does not share Brams’ experience of developing as a skier in a suburban area — he grew up in Ripton, Vt. — but, just like her, he has steadily been successful in Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association skiing this season. In ten races this season, Christner secured a top ten spot in eight of them.
In his third year of collegiate skiing, Christner feels that his years of experience are paying off and leading to good results.
“As you get older in skiing, you get more confidence in your race ability,” he said. “You know who everyone is and how the system works.”
Christner, Brams and the rest of the Nordic team will compete at the Middlebury Carnival this weekend at the Rikert Outdoors Center. After not hosting a carnival last year, Middlebury’s Carnival will serve as the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association Championships this year and give Middlebury skiers a long awaited opportunity to compete in front of their classmates.
“This is kind of the highlight of our year,” Brams said. “We hope to get a lot of students out there for the races.”
