The Big Green's Nordic team concluded the Carnival with the 10-kilometer free technique race, where a victory for the women and a second-place finish for the men pushed the Big Green into the lead.
Returning from a two-week break and reunited with six Nordic skiers who competed in the World Junior Championships and Under-23 Championships in Germany, the Big Green traveled to Stowe, Vt., to defend its title as the Vermont Carnival winner.
While Dartmouth dominated the Catamounts' carnival last year, gliding past the hosts by 120.5 points, the team struggled this year and just slipped away with its closest win of the season.
TDartmouth took first in the St. Michael's Carnival two weeks ago, and during the break the team found time to regroup before returning to the slopes.
"The two-week break helped a lot of us get caught up on work," women's alpine co-captain Hayley Jones '10 said. "Not having to think about midterms and papers as much definitely intensified the focus on race day and reduced some of the stress."
This weekend's carnival also brought a change in the skiing schedule the competition was stretched out to three days instead of two with the Nordic teams not starting until Saturday.
After Friday's races, which saw the men and women's alpine team ski the giant slalom, the Big Green sat in second place with 209 points, behind Vermont.
The men helped contribute to this high standing by placing second in the giant slalom. Trevor Leafe '12 and Ace Tarberry '11 produced the best finishes for Dartmouth on Friday, placing in third and fourth, respectively.
Tarberry continued his top-racing form on Saturday, winning the slalom event for his first collegiate slalom-carnival win.While the overall team fell to fourth place in that event, the women remained stagnant in third place, as the teams racked in 102 points each.
"Our men's alpine portion did particularly well, and we scored more points than our women's alpine team and the men's Nordic team," Tarberry said. "We're really excited about that since it usually happens not so much."
Courtney Hammond '11 secured her team's best finish on Friday in the giant slalom, coming in at sixth, with a total run time of 2:07.26. Catamount sophomore Megan Ryley finished with the winning time of 2:05.47.
As the alpine teams are still searching for their first event win this season, consistency in both runs is a main goal, Jones said.
"Right now it seems really important for us to keep momentum going in both runs," she said. "A lot of us have great single runs, but are struggling to put two together, and that is a key part of alpine skiing."
In Saturday's slalom event, Hammond improved to a fourth-place finish and also raced the third-best run time of the entire event her first attempt clocked 51.02. Her combined total of 1:43.55, however, could not match Ryley's time of 1:42.16.
The slalom race also saw rookie Annie Rendall '13 and Kelsey Roddick '11 take ninth and tenth, respectively an improvement in standings from the previous day of racing for both skiers.
In hopes of catching up to Vermont, the Nordic teams opened up their carnival racing on Saturday with the men and women's teams taking on the 10-kilometer and five-kilometer classic, respectively.
The women's Nordic team again took first in the classic race, acculumating 135 points, as captain Ida Sargent '11, one of the six skiers returning from Germany, finished first with a time of 16:27.10. Rosie Brennan '11, who was also in Germany, took third, followed by Katie Bono '10 in fourth.
The cross-country men, meanwhile, missed first place by six points, placing second behind Middlebury College.
Nils Koons '11 took second in the event, clocking in at 30:02.7, while Eric Packer 12, who also returned from Germany, was the next Big Green finisher, at sixth.
With the Nordic teams waiting until Sunday to complete their events, Dartmouth again found itself trailing the hosts even after cutting its deficit from 66 points to 27 points.
With a strong performance from the Big Green Nordic teams, however, Dartmouth collected 230 points on Sunday to secure an overall victory. Vermont, on the other hand, picked up only 195 points on the final day of competition.
Hosting the Dartmouth Winter Carnival next weekend, the Big Green now have the chance to pick up another carnival victory on its home slopes.
A lack of snow on the Dartmouth Nordic trails will send the Nordic team back to Stowe to race. The Dartmouth team will still act as host by running and organizing the event, however, according to Nordic skier Sophie Caldwell '12.
The alpine events will be held at the Dartmouth Skiway in Lyme, N.H.
When the Big Green has hosted carnivals in the past, the Nordic events are normally held at the Dartmouth Cross Country Ski Center's Oak Hill in Hanover.
Last year, Dartmouth cruised to a victory on its home trails with 921 points, a full 79 points ahead of second-place finisher Middlebury.
The races are scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. both Friday and Saturday, with all four teams racing on both days.
"We're always excited to compete there and we think it's going to be a good race," Tarberry said. "We hope people will come watch us compete."
With this weekend's victory, the Big Green remains undefeated in this season's carnivals. Dartmouth has taken first in every carnival since the Vermont Carnival in February 2008.
