Despite the loss to the University of Vermont a trend of this season's carnival circuit Dartmouth's rookie alpine skiers delivered fast runs, indicating successful future seasons.
At Friday's men's giant slalom event at the Dartmouth Skiway, the four fastest aggregate times came from University of Vermont skiers. Dartmouth struggled as a team, finishing in ninth place out of 12 teams.
Hunter Black '15 had the best aggregate time for the Big Green, completing his two runs in a total time of 1:51.33, good enough for 14th place. Trace Smith '15 the only other finisher for Dartmouth skied his runs in 1:52.97 for a 27th place showing.
Rookie Ben Morse '14, who found the podium in both slaloms last weekend at the University of Vermont Carnival, lost his right ski mid-turn due to an equipment malfunction on his second run. The accident nullified his second-fastest first-run time of 54.45 seconds.
In the second day of skiing for the men's alpine squad, Morse redeemed himself, finishing in fifth place in the slalom behind four University of Vermont skiers, in a two-run time of 1:33.30.
"I was glad to ski a good result after failing to finish my second run yesterday, but we're still hungry for the podium," Morse said.
Black also improved on his giant slalom showing, placing 13th with a time of 1:34.63. Smith finished in 22nd place in a time of 1:35.59. Mathieu Bertrand '14 finished in 24th place, a mere.16 seconds behind Smith. Overall, the Big Green placed fourth.
Younger team members led the way for the alpine women, as well. Abby Fucigna '15 finished sixth overall for the Big Green in Friday's giant slalom, with an aggregate time of 1:54.86. Jackie Maier '15 finished in 12th position with a time of 1:57.25. Erin Fucigna '12 completed her runs in 1:57.61 for 17th place in the standings.
Aylin Woodward '15 and Sabrina Chiasson '12 finished 29th and 30th with times of 1:58.91 and 1:59.19, respectively.
Annie Rendall '13, who usually leads the Big Green, suffered through two disappointing runs to finish 47th overall with a time of 2:09.13.
After an uncharacteristically slow giant slalom run on Friday, Rendall rebounded with a second place finish in Saturday's slalom, completing her runs in 1:38.94, just behind the University of Vermont's Elise-Woien Tefre, who finished in 1:38.33.
A cluster of three Dartmouth rookies followed Rendall in the standings. Abby Fucigna, Woodward and Maier finished in 15th, 16th and 18th overall with times of 1:42.59, 1:42.65 and 1:42.95, respectively. The two final Big Green finishers were seniors Chiasson and Erin Fucigna, who completed their runs in 1:44.49 and 1:46.64, good enough for 29th and 33rd places, respectively. Overall, the women finished third in the slalom.
Mild weather in the Upper Valley relocated the Nordic skiing events from Oak Hill Cross-Country Ski Center to Stowe, Vt., effectively robbing Dartmouth's Nordic ski team of home-snow advantage and giving it to the University of Vermont.
Despite the venue change, the Big Green maintained its prowess in the Nordic events, undeterred by an errant squirrel that sent Sam Tarling '13 sprawling to the ground during the men's 10-kilometer freestyle race.
Tarling managed to finish second overall in the race with a time of 26:15.0, nearly 25 seconds behind Middlebury College's Patrick Johnson, who won with a time of 25:50.1. Gordon Vermeer '12 and David Sinclair '14 rounded out the scoring racers for the Big Green, finishing in fourth and 11th with times of 26:31.5 and 27:08.6, respectively.
Steven Mangan '14 finished in 26th place with a time of 27:56.4, while Eric Packer '12 and Erik Fagerstrom '14 were scratched from the race. Dartmouth edged the University of Vermont by two points in the team scoring to win the race.
In the women's five-kilometer freestyle race, Sophie Caldwell '12 won the race for Dartmouth in a time of 13:47.7, edging two UVM skiers in a sprint finish. Erika Flowers '12 finished fourth in 14:05.0, and Annie Hart '14 finished sixth in 14:24.2 to round out the Big Green's scoring racers. A UVM skier managed to place fifth, pushing the Big Green off the top podium spot by a narrow margin of two points.
Stephanie Crocker '12, Carly Wynn '15 and Isabel Caldwell '14 also finished for the Big Green, completing the course in 13th, 14th and 23rd places with times of 14:43.7, 14:49.8 and 15:02.9, respectively.
On day two of Nordic action, Sophie Caldwell battled Lucy Garrec, Caitlin Patterson and Amy Glen of the University of Vermont. This time, the Vermont trio swept the podium, finishing almost 20 seconds ahead of Hart, who came in fourth place overall. Sophie Caldwell finished sixth in 48:33.3, and Flowers rounded out the team scoring for the Big Green in eighth place with a time of 49:02.5.
Eric Packer '12 returned to action in the men's 20-kilometer classic race in typical form, stopping Middlebury's streaking Johnson from winning yet another event at Stowe. Packer won the race in 59:17.4, besting Johnson in the final sprint by 2.2 seconds.
"I was sick with a cold going into the weekend, and was forced to skip the first race because I was not fully healthy," Packer said. "In a way, that took the pressure off for the race on Saturday because the expectations weren't as high. I went for it in the final sprint and never looked back."
It was a rewarding finale to Packer's Carnival skiing career; he will be missing the Williams and Middlebury Carnivals while he competes for the United States in the U-23 World Championships from Feb. 19 to Feb. 26 in Erzurum, Turkey.
In the race, Packer was supported in the lead pack by teammates Tarling and Vermeer, who placed third and fourth with times of 59:20.2 and 59:22.5, respectively.
"It felt amazing to win my last carnival race, but I was also glad that we skied well as a team," Packer said. "Dartmouth skiers were pushing the pace up front the whole race, and crossing the line in one-three-four was incredible."
Next weekend, the Big Green will look to beat the University of Vermont as it heads to the Williams Carnival in Hancock, Mass. on Friday and Saturday.
