Always a little intimidated before races, freshman Nordic skier Chrissie May always keeps the wise words of her father echoing in her mind before the start of a race. She repeats them over and over, providing a source of inspiration and the basis for a good mental attitude.
"When I start to get intimidated, I just remember the wise words of my dad: 'Ski like a pony,'" May said.
"So when I am on the start line I just tell myself to giddy-up and it's all good."
Her Dad would have been proud on Friday, as May skied to fifth place in the women's freestyle 5-km race to help the Dartmouth team to second place in the Bates tournament behind University of Vermont Catamounts.
The Dartmouth nordies nearly swept the competition for the second weekend in a row, as seniors Erin Quinn-Hurst and Kate Pearson took first and second, respectively, followed by May in fifth.
This was Quinn-Hurst's first skate race victory on the carnival circuit, but she was disappointed that the team lost to the Catamounts.
"Although I wish we could have won the carnival, I am happy knowing that in the races Friday and Saturday, my teammates and I gave our all," Quinn-Hurst said.
The Nordic men also had a very impressive race on Friday, capitalizing on the fast conditions and easy course to put together a solid effort. Junior Brayton Osgood took a personal best fourth place, followed closely by junior Tom Temple in fifth.
Andy Hunter '04 capped off the top-ten in eighth place. Despite the strong finishes, the Nordic men were still not satisfied with their performance on Friday.
"We skied much better than we did last week, but we can ski better," Osgood said. "Our goal is three in the top five; then we'll be satisfied."
While skiing may be a team sport because of the unity of the athletes and the coaches, the competition is strictly individual. The Nordic events on Saturday dismissed this assumption, as the Nordic men and women participated in a special relay that occurs only once a year on the carnival circuit.
"Every relay is special, because they're the only races in which we actually compete as a team," Osgood said.
The Nordic men and women followed their superb performance on Friday with a dazzling display of teamwork, speed and endurance to dominate the competition.
Osgood started the four-person relay in a 6-km classic and skated strong to second place. Quinn-Hurst took the handoff and distanced herself from the field, and they never caught up. Temple followed her, and Pearson held the lead in the anchor position. The other Dartmouth relay team took fifth.
"I think everybody on my [relay] team put in very good performances on Saturday, and it shows when you look at the results," Osgood said.
Unfortunately, the alpine side of Dartmouth's squad had a rough weekend and could not put together consistent results. The skiers were unable to overcome rough weather conditions, including ice spots and soft snow that made for an extremely difficult course.
"We have yet to put together a complete team performance, so I am not at all satisfied," alpine men's coach Peter Dodge said. "Some good individual efforts showed that we can win."
The alpine men had an especially disappointing weekend after no skier was able to connect two solid runs, most evident in the slalom on Saturday.
In the Giant Slalom on Friday, sophomore Matt Hoisington finished second in his second run, but 11th overall due to a disconcerting first run. Sophomore Roger Brown was the highest finisher, snagging eighth after a fifth-place finish on his second run. Senior Dawson Brown placed 13th to round out the top finishers.
They did not fare any better on Saturday, as the rough conditions made for many spills.
"Basically, men's alpine dropped the ball on Saturday with Matt Hoisington the only guy to finish without falling," Roger Brown said. "[This means] that we lost too many points in the overall for the rest of the team to be able to make it up."
R. Brown was especially disappointed after having the fastest time in the first run of the slalom and then falling in his second run.
"It is frustrating for me to know that I could have probably made up over half of our team deficit had I not skied out second run of the slalom," he said.
Four of the five racers ended up hiking in one of their slalom runs, leaving them out of the list of the top finishers. The only one to finish both runs was Hoisington, who took seventh place.
The women's side did much better as senior captain Alison Keller maintained her unbelievable consistency with two more top-five finishes.
Keller has finished in the top five in four consecutive races, as she led Dartmouth in fourth on Friday in the Giant Slalom and fifth on Saturday in the slalom.
Junior Megan Ganong was also on top of her game. She took fifth place on Friday, one slot away from a personal best finish, and 10th in the slalom on Saturday.
Sophomore Emily Copeland led Dartmouth on Saturday with a solid fourth-place finish. She couldn't quite match that success in her other event, finishing ninth in the Giant Slalom.
Next weekend's tournament is at division rival UVM's home mountain, Stowe. The team is anxious to avenge its loss.
"Stowe is a fun place to ski, and UVM will probably feel some sort of pressure to win at their home mountain, so what better place to take back our lead?" Ganong said.
I'm betting UVM will crack under the pressure.
