Kicking off the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association Carnival Season, the men and women’s ski teams placed second out of 16 teams at the Bates Carnival competition held at Sunday River Resort and Black Mountain for alpine and nordic, respectively. Maine from Jan. 16 to Jan. 17. The Big Green finished with 854 points and trailed the University of Vermont’s team, who earned 914 points after winning both slalom races.
“The team performed well,” women’s alpine skiing head coach Chip Knight said. “There are always some nerves to start the season, but we overcame those with good overall results.”
On Friday, the team scored 426 points with several strong performances, including three podium finishes in the men’s 20K Classic and the women’s giant slalom races. In the 20K Classic, the team tallied 125 points and defeated the Catamounts in the event by 27 points.
Patrick Caldwell ’17 led the men’s Nordic squad in the 20K with a time of 59:33.1 fora second place finish behind Carleton University’s Colin Abbott, who finished only five seconds ahead of him (59:27.7). Rounding out the top 10 finishers, Fabian Stocek ’17 placed fourth with a time of 59:53.6 and Silas Talbot ’15 completed the course in 59:58.7 to earn sixth place.
The women’s Nordic team tied for fifth with Carleton in the 15K Classic with 75 points off of a seventh-place finish by Corey Stock ’16 (49:48.8), a 21st-place finish by Cara Piske ’18 (52:18.7) and a 23rd-place finish by Carly Wynn ’15 (52:41.2).
Libby Gibson ’18 began her collegiate career with a second-place finish in the women’s giant slalom after recording the fastest run in the field of 58 competitors with a time of 1:05.03 and a combined time of 2:13.16 for her two races. Gibson’s final combined time was just 0.24 seconds out of first place behind Vermont’s Elise Tefre.
Also in the women’s giant slalom, Foreste Peterson ’18 scored the second-fastest first run with a time of 1:07.51 and the third-fastest second run to earn third-place (2:13.31), while Kelly Moore ’18 placed 13th with a combined time of 2:16.55. Vermont finished ahead of Dartmouth, 122-118, in the event.
The women’s competition was a new experience for Gibson, she said.
“I felt some pressure,” Gibson said. “But, I was very excited to land on the podium and contribute to the team scoring.”
On the men’s alpine side, Brian McLaughlin ’18 posted a combined time of 2:11.54 in the giant slalom to earn fourth-place while teammates Dylan Brooks ’17 finished in sixth-place (2:12.07) and Ben Morse ’14 placed 12th (2:13.01).
The Big Green found itself trailing Vermont by 21 points after Friday and attempted to surpass the Catamounts in the second day of competition. The squad fell short despite a strong overall effort and four individual podium finishes on Saturday. Men’s Nordic continued dominate with a first-place team finish with 129 points in the 10K Free.
After a successful first day, Caldwell finished in first-place, more than 45 seconds ahead of the next skier with a solid time of 23:17.5. Talbot finished in 24:15.6 to earn third place while Stocek placed seventh with a time of 24:30.4.
“I’m pleased with my individual races and the team results,” Caldwell said. “The 20K race definitely fired me up for Saturday’s race.”
Women’s Nordic earned 95 points and tied for third with the University of New Hampshire Wildcats in the 5K Free off of a third-place finish by Stock (14:11.1) and 16th and 19th place finishes by Emily Hannah ’16 (15:01.5) and Julia Harrison ’15 (15:10.8), respectively.
In women’s slalom, Maisie Ide ’16 placed second among the collegiate skiers with the second-fastest first run time of 53.30 and a combined time of 1:47.85. Riding the high from Friday’s success, Peterson earned fourth-place with a time of 1:48.33 by posting the second-fastest second run time (53.82). Nicole Anderson ’17 placed 17th with a time of 1:52.49, bringing the alpine team’s score to 112 points for a second-place finish behind Vermont.
Dylan Fisher McCarney ’15 led the men’s alpine team in slalom with a time of 1:45.88 and a seventh-place finish while Morse finished 13th (1:46.25) and Sam Macomber ’16 placed 14th (1:46.35). The men tallied 92 team points and a third-place finish behind the Catamounts, who scored 135 points and recorded four of the top five times in the event.
“We have seen steady improvement,” men’s alpine head coach Peter Dodge said. “We will continue to work on refining technical and tactical skill.”
Looking ahead, the ski team will travel to Stowe Mountain Resort in Vermont, where they will face the Catamounts again in the UVM Carnival this upcoming weekend, Jan. 23-Jan. 24.
