While a spell of balmy weather this weekend melted much of New Hampshire's snow, forcing the cancellation of Friday's giant slalom event and making waxing skis a challenge, Dartmouth skiers remained unfazed at the University of New Hampshire Carnival. Still, the University of Vermont's prowess in the slalom allowed them to leapfrog the Big Green in the overall standings to win the carnival with 1,021 points to Dartmouth's 873. UNH finished third with 710 points.
The Big Green took nine of 12 spots on the podium in the four men's and women's Nordic events, finishing Friday's action with a 55-point lead over the Catamounts in the overall team score.
The Carnival began with Dartmouth's Nordic skiers winning five of six podium spots in the classic sprints. In the men's race, Sam Tarling '13 paced the field with a time of 3:32.77, while Eric Packer '12 and Gordon Vermeer '12 claimed the second and third spots on the podium, respectively.
"Sweeping the sprint felt awesome," Packer said. "Sam skied really strong all day, and I was stoked for him to take the win and for Gordon to make his first carnival podium."
On the women's side, three Dartmouth skiers prevailed in individual sprints with three skiers from Vermont in the final straightaway, giving the Big Green first, third and fifth in the classic sprints, to the Catamounts' second, fourth and sixth place finishes. Sophie Caldwell '12 won the race in 4:05.41, while Annie Hart '14 (4:06.34) and Isabel Caldwell '14 (4:19.28) finished in third and fifth, respectively.
"It was a really fun, rewarding race," Sophie Caldwell said. "Our alpine skiers came to watch us after their races were canceled, so we had a big crowd on hand. Plus, we all skied well and beat UVM, which makes for a good day."
In the second day of Nordic action, the Big Green built upon its initial success. Packer edged Franz Bernstein of Vermont for first place in the 20-kilometer freestyle race by less than a second with a time of 49:06.5.
"Franz used to ski sprints for the German national team and is a really fast finisher, so I was expecting a strong move from him at the end of the race," Packer said. "I tried to stay right behind him for the last few kilometers of the race so that when he made his move I could go with him. It came down to a drag race in the last 50 meters, and I got him right at the line."
Tarling (49:08.2) finished in third place, less than two seconds behind Packer. The final scorer for the Big Green was Vermeer, who finished in 10th place (50:03.7).
In the women's 15-kilometer freestyle race, Sophie Caldwell eked out a win in a sprint finish with the Catamounts' Caitlin Patterson, finishing in 41:32.2, 0.9 seconds ahead of Patterson. Erika Flowers '12 finished in third place (41:40.9) while Hart, the Big Green's final scorer, came across in sixth (42:12.4).
"There were some really good individual results, but more impressively, we were able to stack so many of our girls in the top five, 10 and 15, showing the depth our team has," Caldwell said. "Psychologically, our performance this weekend gave us a boost of confidence. It's going to be very close with UVM each weekend but now we know we can beat them when things come together."
After freezing rain and snow canceled Friday's giant slalom event, Dartmouth's alpine team battled adverse weather conditions during Saturday's doubly important slalom race.
"There was a good hard layer underneath that we eventually got down to, but it was definitely soft at some gates because of the new snow," Trevor Leafe '12, captain of the men's alpine team, said.
Despite the snow, the alpine team made definite progress from last weekend's Bates Carnival. In the men's slalom, Leafe held the best aggregate time the total for his two runs of any Dartmouth skier, finishing in 10th place overall with a time of 1:37.06. Ben Morse '15 and Hunter Black '15 also scored points for the Big Green, finishing in 11th and 20th place with times of 1:37.26 and 1:39.19, respectively.
"The guys really improved on last week's performance, and the freshmen continue to show that they've made the quick adjustment to college racing they all had good days," Leafe said.
The Big Green finished fourth in the event, while UVM swept the podium to claim first place.
The women's slalom saw four Dartmouth skiers place between 13th and 18th places. Annie Rendall '13 led the way for the Big Green, finishing in 13th place with an aggregate time of 1:46.21. Erin Fucigna '12 finished in 15th place (1:46.25) and rookies Jackie Maier '15 (1:46.75) and Abby Fucigna '15 (1:46.80) finished in 17th and 18th, respectively.
Vermont continued its alpine dominance and won the women's slalom, with Dartmouth placing fifth.
Next weekend, the Big Green will look to improve consecutive second-place finishes to the Catamounts at the Vermont Carnival in Stowe, Vt.
