With the weather finally cooperating, the Dartmouth ski team is on its way to a fabulous season. Last weekend, the men's cross-country team won the Johnson State College Carnival and the women's team came in fifth. Due to the warm weather, no alpine races were held.
This week, Dartmouth continued to excel on the carnival circuit as the cross-country and alpine teams competed in the St. Lawrence University Carnival in Lake Placid, N.Y.
On Thursday, the alpine teams competed in the Giant Slalom race. The women took fourth place and the men took eighth. The University of Vermont won both giant slalom races.
Friday, the Dartmouth men's alpine team went into the slalom event in top form, ready to recover from the previous day's disappointments. As the skiers flew down the hill, the preparation showed. All the Dartmouth skiers placed in the top 15 in the 59 man race, allowing Dartmouth to win the slalom event.
In first place was Ben Robinson '97, last year's All-American and eighth place finisher at the NCAAs. Team Captain Andrew Martin '96 finished a close second. Jeremiah Thompson '96 took fourth place and JP Daigneault '97, who is the top ranked skier in the east by the United States Skiing Association, finished sixth. Kyle Webb '97 finished eleventh and Joe Gilbertson '97 took 14th.
After recording solid results in Thursday's competition, the alpine women matched the previous day's success by gaining fifth place in Friday's slalom event.
Alpine team Captain Jesse James '95 placed fifth in the race, which was won by Gibson Lafountaine of UVM.
The cross country teams did extremely well at the Carnival in Saturday's 10K Freestyle races. Dartmouth won the men's race and took second place in the women's, behind UVM.
On the men's team, Colter Leys '96 took second place behind Aki Partonen of UVM. Only one second behind Leys was team Captain Cory Smith '96.
"At this point in the season I want to ski consistently, not get sick and train with emphasis on volume rather than on resting for individual races," Leys said when asked if he would alter his training schedule in order to try to beat Partonen, who twice in a row has taken first place from him.
UVM skiers placed first, second and third in the women's race, but Denali Kemppel '96 and Captain Heather Eliassen '95 took fifth and sixth, respectively, only one second apart, allowing the team to place second.
Next week, the Dartmouth teams will travel to Stowe, VT to compete in the UVM Carnival.
