"It's very helpful to be back east," men's Nordic coach Ruff Patterson said. "We're in the middle of finals, so being so close takes some of that stress away."
The alpine events will take place at the Stowe Mountain Resort, while the Nordic events will be held at the Trapp Family Resort.
Dartmouth hopes to improve upon its performance last year, when women's Nordic skier Rosie Brennan '11 and men's alpine skier Ace Tarberry '11 each notched top-five individual finishes, leading the Big Green to fifth place in the overall team standings.
While competing at the Championships during Dartmouth's finals period creates challenges for certain student-athletes, the team is also attempting to ensure that timing does not affect its race preparations. The Big Green is the only non-scholarship program to send the maximum 12-skier allotment to the competition.
Erika Flowers '12, Sophie Caldwell '12, Nils Koons '11, Eric Packer '12 and Sam Tarling '13 will compete for the Nordic team. The alpine squad will send Courtney Hammond '11, Erin Fucigna '12, Annie Rendall '13, Trevor Leafe '12, Peter Ankeny '12 and Evan Diamond '13.
Seven of those athletes Brennan, Flowers, Koons, Packer, Tarling, Hammond and Rendall were named First Team All-East by the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association on Friday.
Brennan has struggled with a knee injury for the past several months, but is now hitting form. She won the 15-kilometer Classic event at the EISA Championships two weeks ago. Her finish was just one of several strong performances from the Big Green Nordic team at the competition, as Dartmouth won three of four Nordic events.
Although Brennan acknowledged that her fitness is lower than it was at this time last year, she said she still hopes to earn All-American honors. Brennan has achieved an All-American status each of her previous three seasons with the Big Green.
Packer enters the competition having won both the freestyle and classic races as the EISA Championships two weeks ago. While Packer did not mention a specific goal for the competition, he noted that consistently training with a strong men's Nordic group allowed him to benefit individually this season.
"We've had a great group of guys," Packer said. "Training in the fall, a bunch of people made big jumps and some of the younger guys made some big steps. Having that solid training group has really showed in the results this winter."
Packer placed 26th in the 20-kilometer freestyle event at the NCAA Championships last season, and finished 32nd in the 10-kilometer classic.
Patterson said he has been pleased with the men's Nordic performance so far this season.
"We've had a pretty stable and solid group this year," he said. "I've been proud of them."
Hammond who finished eighth in the giant slalom event last season is one of the Big Green alpine skiers who will likely garner the most attention. She is currently ranked the third best EISA alpine skier and ranks second in the giant slalom.
One of the Big Green's largest challenges at the Championships will be to overcome the University of Vermont, which has defeated Dartmouth in five of their six matchups this season.
One of the nation's top teams, the Catamounts will also be competing on their home course, as Stowe hosted the UVM Carnival in early February.
"We've been racing against UVM all year long," Packer said. "And the general consensus is that they're the strongest team in the country."
Flowers said, however, that the team's experience competing at Stowe earlier this season and Stowe's proximity to Dartmouth may aid the Big Green.
"I know that some of our teammates are coming out to cheer and that's a huge help," Flowers said. "The fact that we've skied the courses before helps too. We know the parts where it hurts the most and where to back off."
Flowers added that for Dartmouth to compete with the Catamounts and top West Coast programs such as the University of Denver, the University of Colorado and the University of New Mexico, which have secured the top three spots at the Championships each of the past two years the Big Green will need a consistent effort from its entire team.
"Realistically, it's tough to have our best race all four days," Flowers said. "I'd love to get top three as a team I think that would be a huge accomplishment for us. But it will depend on whether we can put together strong results in every single race. If you're not doing that, you can't win an event like this."
