With 892 points, Dartmouth skirted past the University of Vermont with 890 points, thanks to back-to-back victories by the men and women's Nordic teams as well as the women's alpine team's win in the slalom race its first event win this season.
"I thought there was no way we could win today, especially with something like a 60-point deficit," women's Nordic coach Cami Thompson said. "I just didn't think we could make that much up, and two of our top athletes were sick and didn't race this weekend."
Despite the loss of Nordic skiers Nils Koons '11 and Rosie Brennan '11,who have each collected a substantial number of points for the Big Green this season, the cross-country teams eased into victories in both the freestyle and classic events.
After Friday's struggles, the Big Green entered Saturday's events with a resolve to recapture the lead. The women's alpine team helped jumpstart the comeback, as a second-place finish from Annie Rendall '13 and a tenth-place tie between Courtney Hammond '11 and Kelsey Roddick '11 won Dartmouth 106 points, just scraping out a win over Vermont by one point.
Women's Nordic captain Ida Sargent '11 continued her win streak, garnering first in both the five-kilometer classic and five-kilometer freestyle races. Sargent has now won six races out of the seven she has competed in this season.
In the men's 10-kilometer freestyle, Eric Packer '12 won his first race of the carnival season, clocking in at 26:10.5 just 0.9 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Wyatt Fereday of Colby College.
Friday's action saw similar results, as the men and women's Nordic teams plowed over their competition, taking first in the classic sprints.
In the women's five-kilometer classic, Sargent took first with a time of 15:37.7. Behind the Catamounts' Caitlin Patterson's second-place finish, the Big Green filled up the next two spots with Sophie Caldwell '12 and Katie Bono '10 taking third and fourth, respectively.
These high finishes gave Dartmouth the most earned points on Friday the cross-country women garnered 135 points.
Meanwhile, the men's 10-kilometer classic win accumulated 112 points, marking its third classic-event win this season.
Captain Patrick O'Brien '10 secured 44 of those points with his third-place finish, while Packer and Sam Tarling '13 were the next Big Green finishers, at seventh and eighth, respectively.
The men and women's alpine teams each tallied 94 points on Friday, in the giant slalom race.
Ace Tarberry '11 continued his stellar season, finishing in second and skiing the fastest single run on the course, with a time of 48.61 seconds.
After winning his first carnival event at the St. Michael's Carnival this season, Tarberry has produced multiple wins and high-ranking finishes.
"It's just another year of experience, training and racing," he said. "I'm another year older and I learned lot. It helps a lot that I'm with the guys on our team, because they're a good group to train with."
Tarberry's finish helped his team secure third place, while the women nabbed fourth.
Corrinne Rotter '12 earned a ninth-place finish in her first carnival race this season, giving the women's alpine team its best finish on Friday.
Concluding this year's carnival season, Middlebury College will host the final competition next weekend in Middlebury, Vt.
The event will double as the Eastern Championships.
Last year, Dartmouth dominated at the Championships at Colby College, winning five of the eight events.
Carnival performances also contribute to individual rankings, meaning that this final carnival will also help determine which skiers will be traveling to the University of Colorado to race at the NCAA Championships in two weeks.
With the added pressure for individuals to rake up points for NCAA qualification, Thompson said that as the season draws to a close, more attention will be paid to individual results.
"Next weekend will mean a lot for individual [qualifications], because it usually comes down to the last weekend," she said. "It's important to see who's getting faster at the end of the season and to take into consideration whether someone can win an event and [for Nordic] if they're good in both the classical and the freestyle."