Paul Smith’s College’s Eliot Soderholm shows off his trophy after winning the World Snowshoe Championships in Brillion, Wisconsin, on Dec. 21. (Provided photo)

BRILLION, Wisconsin — In one of the most dominant performances by a single institution in snowshoe history, the Paul Smith’s College snowshoe team swept the junior and senior men’s competition at both the U.S. and World Snowshoe Championships on Dec. 19 and 20.

The event, which saw athletes from 12 states and five nations compete for cash prizes and the title of world champion, was a three-day event starting on Friday, Dec. 19, with the U.S. Championships and ending on Sunday, Dec. 21, with the Santa Ski and Open 5K.

On Dec. 19, the first day of competition, Paul Smith’s College took top honors with Eliot Soderholm of Reston, Virginia, winning the senior U.S. Championship, and Bryce Shannon of Port Jervis claimed the junior men’s competition.

Soderholm won his race in a time of 19 minutes, 18 seconds, calmly and coolly biding his time and dropping competitors as the race progressed. Shannon, a newcomer, earned his title in a time of 22:06, followed by Bobcat teammates Matthew Matis of Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, in 24:06 and Brock Boissey of Cadyville in 26:54.

“As a newcomer to the sport, I am quite pleased with my performance only three races into my career,” Shannon said. “While my sport of choice is still cross country, snowshoeing has a similar feel to it and I believe I will enjoy it just as much.”

PSC head coach Jim Tucker knew the task of getting his athletes ready would be challenging. They had just a month to prepare for the event after finishing the cross country season in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, for the United States Collegiate Athletic Association Cross Country National Tournament in mid-November.

“Knowing that we would be going directly from the fall cross country season to the snowshoe season and with the major events of the snowshoe season taking place in December,” Tucker said. “… I was really working to try and get the students to grasp that they needed to work out more in the fitness center to engage their hip flexors (rowing machine work, cycling workouts) and then really work the hills through the entire fall cross country season.”

Saturday’s World Snowshoe Federation World Championships saw Soderholm become the first-ever Paul Smith’s College student athlete to top the podium in the senior men’s race. The reigning junior world champion, Soderholm, won this race by defeating all competitors by nearly four minutes on the 10K course.

His blistering time of 38:06 puts him on the U.S. Men’s National Snowshoe team. He is also the youngest world champion in history by around eight years.

“I would like to dedicate both my win at the U.S. National Snowshoe Championships and my gold-medal performance at the World Snowshoe Championships in the loving memory of Jake Myer and Brandon Jarvis,” Soderholm said.

The endurance athlete trained extensively for the event, using his junior world title last year as an eye-opener and motivation for competing in the senior event this year with the best snowshoe racers in the world. Over the summer, Soderholm awoke at 4 a.m. daily to train for 90 minutes before his 11-hour shift at work to push his body and mind to the absolute limit.

On the women’s side, the trio of Chloe Freund of Clinton, Morgan Cheney of Pulteney and Olivia Bobbie of North Bangor finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively, in the US Snowshoe 5K event. Freund followed that up with a silver medal in the 10K event in the women’s 20-29 age category, with Cheney earning bronze.

Both Soderholm and Shannon earned spots on the US National team at the senior and junior levels, respectively. Shannon is joined on the U.S. Junior team by Matis, Boissey and Aidan Minihan, bringing the total number of Bobcats representing US Snowshoe on the men’s side to five.

Freund, Cheney and Bobbie were also recognized by earning Collegiate National Team honors on the women’s side. The most the college had had in any previous year was one, with Isaac Leach occupying a spot on the junior team in 2017.

In addition, Paul Smith’s College has now won three consecutive Collegiate Snowshoe National Championships on both the men’s and women’s sides, showcasing the college’s ability to produce consistent results in such a unique sport.