The Dartmouth ski team placed second in the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association Championship, hosted at the Bates Carnival this weekend. The team which beat the University of Vermont for the first time this season at last week's Middlebury Carnival fell to the Catamounts with a team score of 874 points in the last carnival of the regular season. UVM scored 1,017 points.
"I think we had a strong finish to the season, and saw some of the best individual performances of the season both today and yesterday," women's Nordic team member Erika Flowers '12 said.
The men's and women's Nordic racers carried the team on both days of competition, placing multiple top-10 finishers in each race. On Saturday, the men's team had four top-10 finishers in the 10-kilometer freestyle event, and swept the first two places.
Eric Packer '12 crossed the finish line first with a time of 27:58.0. Scott Lacy '13 followed, finishing in second place with a time of 28:40.0. Erik Fagerstrom '14 took fifth place in 28:45.5, while Gordon Vermeer '12 finished eighth with a time of 29.44.2.
The men's Nordic team also took several top spots in the 20-kilometer Classic. Packer won his second first-place finish of the carnival with a time of 1:01:33.2. David Sinclair '14 took fourth in 1:02:11.9. Fagerstrom and Vermeer finished in 11th and 12th place, respectively.
"The men's cross-country team had a great weekend and we were really excited to win both days," Packer said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth. "We were missing two of our top skiers, but the younger guys really stepped it up and filled their shoes."
Nils Koons '13 and Sam Tarling '13 both missed the competition. Koons is competing at the World Championships in Norway and Tarling was ill during the week.
The women's Nordic team also performed well, securing three top-10 finishes in the five-kilometer freestyle event on Saturday. Flowers took fourth place with a time of 15:42.3, followed by Rosie Brennan '11, who finished in a time of 15:45.7. Sophie Caldwell '12 secured an eighth place finish in 16:03.5.
The women's team dominated the 15-kilometer classic on Sunday, with six finishers in the top 10.
Brennan secured first place with a time of 52:35.6. Flowers finished in fourth place, followed by Annie Hart '14 in fifth and Isabel Caldwell '14 in sixth. Sophie Caldwell and Stephanie Crocker '12 rounded out the top 10 in ninth and tenth place, respectively.
"These were really, really tough courses with lots of hills and some loose powder, which makes for slower skiing," Crocker said. "We went out there and pushed through the hard courses to our benefit. It took some mental toughness, but we were able to finish strong. It was a big accomplishment for us."
In the downhill slalom, Trevor Leafe '12 led the men's team with a fourth place performance, finishing in 1:34.47. Annie Rendall '13 finished in second place for the women's alpine team, completing the event with a combined time of 1:39.95.
Leafe and Rendall also scored points for the Big Green in the giant slalom event.
Leafe was the top finisher for the men's team, coming in sixth place with a combined time of 2:28.19. Erin Fucigna '12 led the women's team, securing a second place finish with a time of 2:34.13. Rendall took ninth place with a time of 2:34.87.
"I think as a team, we were a little bit disappointed," Leafe said. "We really didn't have three solid finishers either day, which is something we always strive for. I think we were hoping to do a bit better."
Dartmouth was at a disadvantage this weekend, losing Koons and Tarling while several of UVM's top skiers returned to action. Leafe said the roster changes may have affected the overall result.
"Last weekend UVM was missing a few regular starters, some of their top guys," Leafe said. "This weekend everyone was back and they were bringing out all of the stops. Additionally, we had two key guys who were missing. I think that definitely played a role in the flip-flop."
Although this was the last regular season carnival for the Big Green, many of Dartmouth's skiers will continue to compete. Several Big Green skiers have qualified for the NCAA Championships, which will be held in Stowe, Vt. from March 10-13. The team is allowed to qualify up to three competitors in each event, and will most likely send the maximum number of athletes.
The team will continue working in preparation for the NCAA competition, especially focusing on mental preparedness, Flowers said.
"Most of the fitness and strength training has already been done," she said. "At this point we really just want to focus on feeling our fastest for NCAAs and staying healthy."
