Three Dartmouth juniors placed in the top 10 of the women's 15K classical race at Mt. Van Hoevenburg, near Lake Placid, New York. Chris Shaner '99 led the Green by finishing in fifth place. Abi Holt '99 finished one spot behind her, and Barb Jones '99 skied to ninth place.
Shaner finished the course in 57:14 minutes, about three minutes behind winner Tessa Benoit from the University of Vermont.
In the 3x5K freestyle relay, the trio cooperated to capture third place, and Jones in particular showed strength with the second fastest leg among all competitors. Coach Cami Thompson felt that the team had a "respectable showing," especially taking recent illnesses into consideration.
In the men's 20K classical Race, Norwich-native Stephen Donahue '99 crossed the finish line in ninth place in a time of 63 minutes and 54.6 seconds, about five minutes behind race winner Thorodd Barken, also from the University of Vermont. Barken finished the course a full two minutes ahead of any other competitor.
The men's relay team placed fifth in the 3x5K freestyle relay. Coach Ruff Patterson felt that the team "just wasn't firing on all cylinders." He attributed some of the problem to "tough waxing" and "skis [that] weren't too great" for the given conditions. Patterson has a relatively light week of training planned for the team, but emphasized that this weekend's race results did not affect the schedule.
University of Vermont teams dominated with wins in both men's and women's relays. The Catamounts also accounted for three of the top four spots in both the men's and women's classical races.
The Alpine races were rescheduled for the weekend of February 7, a weekend with no college carnival scheduled, because of problems caused by the recent ice storm.
Dartmouth skiers head to Sugarloaf, Maine this weekend for the Colby carnival races.
