The Big Green won the carnival with a team score of 916 points. The University of Vermont finished second with 735 points, and Middlebury College finished third with 729 points. As expected, the men's and women's Nordic teams stacked the podium. The alpine teams also had several inspiring performances, highlighted by the rise of rookie Ben Morse '14, who won the giant slalom on Friday and placed second in Saturday's slalom.
Morse chose to take an off-term his freshman winter, opting to skip a collegiate racing season so he could focus on training for his future as a Dartmouth ski racer. Over the weekend, Morse proved he made the right choice.
Morse, the 14th skier down the hill in Friday's giant slalom, won the event with an aggregate time for his two runs of 2:05.13, nearly five-tenths of a second faster than the second-place finisher, Kevin Drury of UVM.
Friday's win was Morse's first top-five finish on the carnival circuit.
"It feels really good to win here, especially on UVM's home hill," Morse said. "The team had an exceptional weekend overall, and we're really looking forward to continuing our success at our carnival next weekend."
The second and third finishers for the Big Green in the giant slalom were both freshman skiers. Hunter Black '15 finished in 11th place with an aggregate time of 2:07.51, while Trace Smith '15 finished the race in 2:08.95, good enough for 22nd place.
Men's alpine captain Trevor Leafe '12, Luke McLaughry '12 and Braden Long '12 failed to make the overall standings after each missed gates in either their first or second run.
"We've had really good prep at the [Dartmouth] Skiway the last couple weeks, and I think our steady training really showed up in our races over the weekend," Morse said. "Despite the mild winter, the racing conditions were consistent from bib one to bib 100, the hill was maintained great and it's a south-facing mountain which gave us sunlight over both days."
The Big Green skiers took their confidence from Friday's success in the giant slalom and performed even better in Saturday's slalom.
Morse found the podium again with an aggregate time of 1:44.43, finishing second to Middlebury College's Hig Roberts. Black finished in fourth position with a time of 1:44.71, just 0.25 seconds from a spot on the podium. Smith also built on his 22nd-place finish in the giant slalom, finishing 15th on Saturday.
McLaughry finished in 20th position for the Big Green in 1:52.20, while Leafe finished in a disappointing 38th position with a time of 2:14.47. Long was disqualified from his second run.
While the women's alpine team failed to find the podium, a plethora of solid individual performances led by the trio of Annie Rendall '13 and the Fucigna sisters, Erin '12 and Abby '15 catapulted them to the top team score in Friday's giant slalom and third-place overall in Saturday's slalom. The Dartmouth women had not won the giant slalom event as a team since the 2010 season.
"The surface was hard and fast both days, and the snow was in much better condition than at the earlier Carnival weekends," women's alpine captain Sabrina Chiasson '12 said. "It felt great to race on a responsive surface."
On Friday, Rendall finished first for the Big Green, completing her two runs in an aggregate time of 2:12.53 to put her in fifth place in the standings, a little over two seconds back from race winner Ashley-Kate Durham of St. Lawrence University.
Erin Fucigna finished in sixth place (2:12.92), only 0.39 seconds back from Rendall. Fucigna's younger sister, Abby Fucigna, skied a combined time of 2:14.50 which placed her 13th in the standings.
Other Big Green finishers included Aylin Woodward '15, who finished in 18th place (2:15.20) and Chiasson, who placed 31st in a time of 2:18.55.
The elder Fucigna attributes the team's top-notch performances to its new-found swagger.
"We've all been pushing each other in training and skiing fast, so we all went into the race with loads of confidence and aggression, ready to ski fast," Erin Fucigna said. "The [giant slalom] course at Stowe is tough and definitely requires aggressive, strategic skiing, so that's what we did."
The Alpine women's success from Friday carried over into Saturday's slalom.
Once again, Rendall finished her two runs fifth overall in an aggregate time of 1:52.38, 2.49 seconds behind winner Geordie Lonza of Williams College. Erin and Abby Fucigna finished ninth and 11th, respectively, with aggregate times for their two runs of 1:53.66 and 1:54.39.
Woodward improved on her 18th-place finish in the giant slalom to finish 16th overall in a time of 1:56.70. Chiasson also jumped in the standings to 22nd position, finishing her runs in 1:58.30.
The weekend was a disappointment for Jackie Maier '15, who failed to finish each of her second runs in both the giant slalom and the slalom events, despite a time of 1:07.99 in her first giant slalom run on Friday, a performance that would have put her in the mix for a top time overall.
While Dartmouth's alpine team finally demonstrated its capabilities, the men's and women's Nordic teams continued to flex their dominance over the carnival circuit.
In the men's 10-kilometer classic race on Saturday, the stellar trio of Eric Packer '12, Sam Tarling '13 and Gordon Vermeer '12 continued to impress with another team victory.
Tarling (28:18.9) finished second to Middlebury's Patrick Johnson in a final sprint, just 0.3 seconds from victory. Packer finished in fourth place with a time of 28:46.9, nearly half a minute behind Franz Bernstein of the UVM, the skier Packer bested by a fraction of a second to win last weekend's 20-kilometer skate race at the University of New Hampshire Carnival. Vermeer finished just behind Packer in fifth place (28:47.6).
Steven Mangan '14, Erik Fagerstrom '14 and David Sinclair '14 all finished within the top 20 racers in 11th, 14th and 19th places, respectively, displaying the Big Green's exceptional depth.
The women's Nordic team also raced exceptionally well in Saturday's five-kilometer classic race.
"It's going to be very close with UVM each weekend, but now we know we can beat them when things come together," women's Nordic captain Sophie Caldwell '12 said after last weekend's race at the UNH Carnival.
Caldwell's prophecy proved wholly correct this weekend. The Big Green needed two podium finishes to eke out a victory over a UVM team that claimed the second, fourth, fifth and sixth spots in the race.
Caldwell won the race in 15:48.0, seven seconds ahead of UVM's Caitlin Patterson. Annie Hart '14 finished third in 15:56.1. Erika Flowers '12 secured the team title for the Big Green, finishing in seventh with a time of 16:20.3.
Steph Crocker '12 and rookies Carly Wynn '15 and Michaela Frias '15 also raced, finishing in 26th (17:21.5), 18th (17:02.9) and 31st (17:43.3) places, respectively.
On Sunday morning, the Nordic team returned to the ski trails for the men's and women's 10-kilometer freestyle races.
Caldwell finished second to UVM's Caitlin Patterson, 11 seconds off the pace in 28:27.9. Flowers finished third overall in 28:30.9, while Hart was the final Big Green point-scorer, finishing in sixth place (29:14.9). Wynn cracked the top-10 with a time of 29:22.9, good enough for ninth overall.
In the men's race, Tarling finished second to Middlebury's Patrick Johnson (24:09.7) in a time of 24:51.5. Packer finished seventh in 25:18.7 and Mangan rounded out the top three racers for Dartmouth, finishing in ninth place (25:22.4). Vermeer did not race.
Next weekend, the Big Green will ski on familiar snow, playing host to Dartmouth's Winter Carnival.
"We're going into our carnival on a high note with lots of confidence," Morse said. "Hopefully we can get some positive race vibes, get on multiple podiums and win overall."
Several of UVM's top downhillers skipped the Vermont Carnival to race in Colorado over the weekend, so the Big Green's result at Winter Carnival this coming weekend should serve as a good measure of the team's progression this far into the carnival circuit.
Dartmouth's skiers said they hope to see the Dartmouth Skiway and Oak Hill Cross Country Ski Center packed with students supporting the skiers during the weekend's races. Free food, giveaways and transportation will be available at both venues.
"We're fired up," Morse said.
