Inspired by the recent events at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, the Dartmouth ski team staged an impressive comeback to overtake Middlebury for second place at the Williams Carnival. Sophomore Roger Brown and senior Erin Quinn-Hurst were victorious in slalom and classical, respectively.
"Becky Scot of Canada and the American 4x10 definitely give us natives some inspiration and confidence against the Norwegian powerhouse," said Tom Temple '03, who was third in the Nordic classical event.
Vermont managed a first-place finish for the fourth week in a row. Two of UVM's top skiers are from Norway. Temple and junior Brayton Osgood dismantled UVM's Norwegian attack on Friday with third and first place finishes, respectively. This was the Nordic men's first team victory of the season, an impressive feat considering the difficulty of the competition.
"I was pleased with the results. To beat Torgier was one of my goals even though he wasn't in top form," Temple said.
The women turned in an incredible performance as well, with Quinn-Hurst taking first place and senior co-captain Kate Pearson taking fifth. They finished a close second to Middlebury after the first day and, as always, were a huge contribution to the overall team score.
On the alpine side of the circuit, the Dartmouth men turned in a performance worthy of Olympic glory. Brown raced what was perhaps his best slalom race of the season, winning the event for the third time. Matt Hoisington '04 also turned in a solid performance, racing to third in the slalom and seventh in the giant slalom, in which Brown was eighth. Unfortunately, it was not enough to overcome powerhouse Vermont, which was the carnival winner. The Dartmouth team will have one more chance to defeat the Catamounts before the end of the season.
"It's been getting frustrating, but we have one more chance [to beat Vermont] and it would be nice to leave a sour taste in their mouths at the end of the season," Hoisington said.
It was a rough day for the women, most of who were unable to post two strong consecutive runs to break into the top five in either the slalom or the giant slalom. Alison Keller '02 had the best performance of the weekend in both events, as she raced to sixth in the slalom and tenth in the giant slalom.
"Both days I had an upsetting first run and fortunately was able to turn it around for the second run," Keller said. "I just failed to ski two good runs in one day."
Megan Ganong '03 and Emily Copeland '04 broke into the top ten in the slalom, as Ganong took ninth and Copeland netted 10th. The women's giant slalom proved the weak point of the team, as Keller was followed by Lindsay Lockhart '04 in 12th and Tracy Wilson '02 in 14th.
"It was disappointing to lose to UVM again this weekend," Keller said. "They are a tough team, but when we all ski to our greatest potential we can beat them."
The Dartmouth team will have to ski to its greatest potential next weekend when they have their last carnival of the year. Although this week was bittersweet in the close victory over Middlebury and the loss to UVM, it should provide some motivation to steal the tournament from UVM next weekend.
"I think that there have been moments where my team has raced to its potential and look forward to all those moments coming together as we fight to regain the victory over UVM," Keller said.
This will be their last chance.
