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The Dartmouth
July 28, 2025 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Nordic team leads skiers over historic Carnival weekend

02.14.11.sports.WeeklyCenter3
02.14.11.sports.WeeklyCenter3

On the men's Nordic team, the trio of Sam Tarling '13, Eric Packer '12 and Nils Koons '11 continued to deliver strong performances. In both the 20-kilometer classic event and 10-kilometer freestyle competition, Tarling and Packer finished first and second, respectively. Koons placed in the top six in each event.

"The courses are very hilly and technical, which allows for some home-course advantage," Tarling said. "We were very lucky this year with so much snow, the conditions were perfect hard and fast."

Packer echoed Tarling, noting that the courses at Dartmouth are "legendary" for their challenging climbs and descents.

"Knowing the courses well was definitely a huge advantage," Packer said.

In the 20-kilometer classic, Tarling and Packer approached the finish line neck and neck. Tarling edged out his teammate by only a tenth of a second and beat UVM junior Franz Bernstein by a full second.

"We were pretty stoked to finally get the individual wins from UVM, as well as post the top Nordic team scores both days," Packer said.

The Big Green women's Nordic racers enjoyed success as well, particularly in the 15-kilometer classic competition. Dartmouth boasted four of the top six finishers in the event. UVM junior Caitlin Patterson won both women's Nordic events.

Rosie Brennan '11 paced Dartmouth with a second-place time of 52:28.8 in the competition, followed closely by teammate Annie Hart '14. Stephanie Crocker '12 and Erika Flowers '12 finished in fifth and sixth place, respectively. Flowers and Brennan also both placed in the top three in the five-kilometer freestyle event.

Close behind Flowers and Brennan in the competition was former Dartmouth captain and All-American Hannah Dreissigacker '09, who raced as an individual at the Carnival.

"Being familiar with the course is definitely an advantage," Flowers said. "Oak Hill has some long tough climbs and tricky downhills so knowing how the course is set up and having lots of practice skiing the s-turns is definitely helpful. The course favors skiers who are strong both physically and technically."

"UVM has a great team this year," Brennan said. "We can no longer rely on the strength of one part of our team, every section needs to hold their own in order for our team as a whole to overtake UVM. They are a great example of a team that uses everyone to score good points, not just one section."

While Dartmouth outperformed UVM in the Nordic events, the Catamounts were able to accumulate enough alpine points to overcome the Big Green.

"UVM is really strong all around," Packer said. "Their alpine team in particular seems to be untouchable this season."

At the Dartmouth Skiway, UVM skiers won three out of the four weekend events the women's and men's slalom and the men's giant slalom. Courtney Hammond '11 took the top spot in the women's giant slalom with a combined time of 1:57.21.

UVM freshman and former Norwegian National Team member Jonathan Nordbotten continued his excellent year with a win in the men's giant slalom. Sophomore Robert Kelley, who won the men's slalom race, finished a close second in the giant slalom event.

A 12th-place finish by Peter Ankeny '12 in the slalom event paced the Big Green. Trevor Leafe '12 also delivered in a strong fourth-place performance in the giant slalom.

"The giant slalom course is deceivingly tough and requires a lot of strategy and practice to really master it," Erin Fucigna '12, who placed 11th for the women in the giant slalom event, said about the Skiway. "There's not a lot of room for mistakes, like there might be on some of the other hills on the circuit. The slalom is also a tough hill because there are unique terrain changes, so knowing the hill definitely works to our advantage."

The Big Green women's alpine team held its own, as Annie Rendall '13 placed second in the slalom to complement Hammond's first-place effort.

"The women's alpine team had a really great weekend," Sabrina Chiasson '12 said. "We grabbed our first two podium results of the season and were very close to winning as a team on Friday. I think this past weekend will give us the confidence we need to take our skiing to the next level, and hopefully that is a level beyond UVM's."

Team members interviewed by The Dartmouth said they hoped students acknowledged the ski team's presence during Carnival weekend festivities.

"We chose to celebrate by showcasing all the hard work we've been doing in training," Brennan said.

The sport's culture involves a number of unique traditions for skiers to enjoy over the weekend.

"After the last race on Saturday, all the different ski teams exchange valentines with their carni crush,'" Flowers said. "The [Dartmouth Outing Club] also puts on an awesome barbecue after the race with tons of crazy types of meat including whale this year. Also, traditionally the freshman boys don green mohawks and the girls hot-pink hair for the Carnival races and the week of Carnival."

Dartmouth will next travel to the Middlebury Carnival in Middlebury, Vt., as it looks to improve its season record.

"Finishing second doesn't bother us," Tarling said. "We are all putting in great efforts and solid results. [UVM] has a fantastic team this year."