In another heartbreakingly close weekend, the University of Vermont edged Dartmouth out of first place by an extremely narrow five points at the Williams Carnival. UVM finished with 704.5 points and Dartmouth ended with 699.5. Middlebury placed third with 621 points.
Mike Sinnott '07, a member of the men's nordic team, was devastated by the news of the close score, but is confident in the capacity of all the members of the Big Green ski team to step up the competition next weekend at the final carnival of the season in Middlebury.
"We skied fast this weekend, just not quite fast enough," said Sinnott, "next weekend will be different. UVM should be scared."
On Friday the Dartmouth ski team faced a couple inches of fresh snow over an icy base creating tricky conditions. The alpine races took place at Jiminy Peak in Williamstown, Mass., on courses that were frozen and windy but held throughout the entire race providing fair runs for everyone.
In the giant slalom, Christin Lathrop '05 had a strong race, finishing third in the intercollegiate field. She was followed by Courtney Calise '07, who finished seventh, while classmate Alex Fucigna '07 skied through the blowing snow to 15th place.
On Saturday, Calise obliterated the field and came back to win the slalom in 1:32.80, three seconds up on the slew of UVM skiers who finished 2-3-4 and 6. Dartmouth's next skier was Sasha Acher '06 in ninth, Hannah Tsai '08 in 10th and Lathrop in 11th.
In the men's giant slalom, Evan Weiss '06 finished sixth, closely followed by Dave Chodundsky '08 in seventh. Eric Kankainen '05 was the Big Green's third top-10 finisher in the race, tying for 10th place.
In the men's slalom, Chodounsky finished second, once again stepping up his game after a blunder on the second run by Weiss. Kankainen finished fourth and Peter Anderson '06 finished 18th.
At Prospect Mountain in Bennington Vt., the nordic team had a strong showing on Friday despite brutal hills and multiple crashes. The women's team continued their streak of dominance to take places 1-2-4 in the 5 km freestyle race. Liz Harrington '05 trampled the loose snow and won the race in 15:33.6, while Alison Crocker '06 was about nineteen seconds back in second place. Susan Dunklee '08 finished fourth behind Vermont's Kate Crawford. Elsa Sargent '08 finished seventh. Proving just how brutal the conditions were, Chrissy May '05 whipped out hard on a hairpin turn of glare ice and had to be taken to the hospital with a wrenched knee.
The men's race followed the carnage of the women's race on the 10 km freestyle course. The Big Green finished all six skiers in the top sixteen. Sinnott skied light and strong to finish third. Ben Koons '08 was seventh, followed by captain Eben Sargent '05 in ninth and Sam Naney '06 in 10th.
"We had a strong day, despite the difficult grooming conditions," said men's nordic coach Ruff Patterson.
On Saturday, the Big Green nordic team thrashed the competition in the 3-by-1 km relays. Each skier raced three legs of a one kilometer classical course. The Dartmouth women's team consisting of Elsa Sargent, Harrington, and Crocker won the race with a healthy 38-second lead over UVM's trio that finished second.
In the men's race, the UVM squad of powerhouses Lowell Bailey and Ethan and Ryan Foster handily won the race after gaining a strong lead in the first leg. Dartmouth's trio of Koons, Sinnott, and Ben True '08, finished in second place, just 32 seconds back. Confirming the depth of Dartmouth's nordic team, the men's B team of Naney, Zach Hall '06 and Eben Sargent finished fifth.
Next week the neck to neck completion comes to a close at the EISA Championships hosted by Middlebury College. The nordic races will be held at the Rikert Ski Touring Center and the alpine races at the Middlebury Snow Bowl.
