Scott McArt '01 skied to his best finish of the season under the white-covered trees of Oak Hill, while Gusty Swift '01 carved through the soft snow on Worden's Schuss en route to the best Alpine finish for Dartmouth on day one of Winter Carnival last Friday.
The several inches of wet snow that accumulated through midday helped the cross-country racecourse and had limited effects on the Alpine racing hill.
"It was actually kind of painful," said McArt after the 15k freestyle race. "I didn't feel too good on the first lap. I guess everyone died on the second, and I felt a little faster."
McArt skied down the stretch to the finish to a rowdy home crowd, and was visibly exhausted.
The Oak Hill course consists of a steep uphill and downhill section, demanding for even the best and most fit racers. McArt's time was 23 seconds behind Kris Freeman of the University of Vermont, a highly respected racer.
Because the race had a staggered start, the skiers raced against the clock, and could not know exactly how they were doing while they were racing.
Stephen Donahue '00, who had his best finish of the season with fourth in the men's 15k, said, "The course was nice, but it feels good to know that we can chip away at UVM."
Brayton Osgood '03 finished 15th.
"I guess I skied pretty well," Swift said, after she realized she held second place in the women's GS race.
Swift finished three quarters of a second behind Trina Hosmer of Middlebury.
"The falling snow reduced visibility," Women's Alpine coach Bruce Lingelbach said. "But it didn't cause problems."
The larger issue on the racecourse seemed to be the initial pitch on Worden's. Even Dartmouth racers struggled to get it right.
"How you come out of the pitch sets the rest of the race," explained Swift.
G.W. Watts '02, fourth in the men's GS, put down a fast second run because he managed to get the steep section right.
"There's some good compression as you come out of the pitch into the flat section, and that's where you've got to hold on," he said. "I took the second run a little straighter than the first, and that helped."
Since the second half of the GS course is rather flat, racers must build speed on the first drop and let their skis run toward the finish.
Kate Pearson '02 finished sixth in the women's 10k race, and seemed to be excited about the fan turnout.
"Everyone is happy," Pearson said. "There's support."
Her teammates put together a performance that satisfied coach Cami Cardenali. Erin Quinn-Hurst '02 and Sara Donahue '02 were 11th and 12th.
Several skiers pointed to sophomore Louisa Hunker's 16th place finish, her best of the season.
The women's Nordic squad held high spirits, and in a show of team unity, the skiers raced wearing bright pink headbands for Valentine's Day. Ekaterina Ivanova of UVM won the women's race by a full minute, resurrecting questions of whether she will dominate the rest of the season like she did last year, when she won several races by extremely large margins.
Team scoring put Dartmouth 13 points behind UVM and nine behind Middlebury, with respective Day 1 totals of 330, 326, and 317 points.
Day Two
Third place seemed to be saved for Big Green skiers on day two of the Dartmouth Winter Carnival, as both cross-country relay teams and a pair of alpine skiers secured the bronze position in the four races held Saturday.
Jeremy Joseph '00 blazed down the Lowell Thomas trail at the Dartmouth Skiway to cowbells and hollers, blasting slalom poles right and left.
When asked if skiing at home was easier than at other courses, Joseph said, "No way. It's nerve-racking to ski in front of your friends. You come around the bend and see a wall of people. I was so nervous, but it's also so gratifying. Dartmouth Carnival is the only one where you get spectators so close."
He felt fast and looked fast, but was still behind UVM teammates Scott Kennison and Brandon Dyksterhouse.
Dartmouth graduate David Viele '98 won the race, which was his first slalom victory on his former home hill. Because he is considered a non-college racer, his finish did not count against the EISA skiers.
Dartmouth's top men's finisher in Friday's giant slalom, Watts, who broke his thumb racing in Stowe at the Vermont Carnival, did not finish his first run.
"It was my first slalom since getting my thumb cast, and I just wasn't concentrating from out of the start," he said.
Swift found yet another top finish, skiing to third place in the field led by Middlebury's Brooke Laundon and Vermont's Shaina Mulkern.
The sun and crispy snow of Saturday were a stark contrast to the clouds and wet flakes of Friday. Under the cloudless blue sky at Oak Hill, McArt and Quinn-Hurst fought to regain ground on the anchor legs of their cross country relay races, but found that Vermont and Middlebury simply had too much ground and too much speed to be caught.
"UVM and Middlebury skied fast, and it was a little too much for me to make up," McArt said. "Hans [Hanson '00] had a great race. He started his leg in seventh or eighth and really moved up. At the end, he just outsprinted someone."
The second men's 3x5k relay team for Dartmouth had a top-notch performance, kicking-and-gliding to fourth.
"Our number-two team skied very well," Coach Ruff Patterson said.
Sophomore Kate Pearson, known as "the Fairbanks fury," started the women's relay for Dartmouth and handed off second place, which Sara Donahue tried to maintain. However, Ivanova, Friday's freestyle victor, anchored the Catamount women's team, and left the competitors wondering if she could ever be caught.
Ivanova, a biathlete in her native Russia, seems to have sprung back into circuit domination.
"Today was probably the smoothest we've ever handled a race here [at Oak Hill]," said Patterson on Saturday. "There was just great coordination, weather, top quality grooming and equipment. Everything was just perfect. What a life!"
The EISA carnival circuit makes its next stop next weekend in western Massachusetts at the annual Williams College winter carnival.
