CARNIVAL SUCCESS; ALPINE DOMINATION Home Carnival ends in third place team finish while downhill takes first

Author: Kellan Florio

Feasting on adrenaline and fervent fan support, the Middlebury ski teams posted some of their best results of the season and carved out another third place finish at their home carnival and Eastern Championship last weekend. The alpine squad paced the Panthers with their first overall victory of the season, taking three of the four events held at the Snow Bowl, while the nordic team pulled out their best finish of the season on Saturday with a third overall.

When it was all said and done, the Panthers relinquished their eastern title to the University of Vermont (UVM) who won the championship for the 29th time in 30 years, with a total of 903 points. Dartmouth College (875) finished second, followed by Middlebury (852), Williams College (708) and the University of New Hampshire (646).

Leading the alpine team to victory on both Friday and Saturday was first-year Megan Hughes. Hughes led the women's team to their second slalom victory of the season with an impressive second place finish, just three hundredths of a second behind UVM's Jilyne McDonald who completed the two runs in 1:34.34. Tara Martin '07 turned in an excellent second run to finish 1.4 seconds back in fourth, followed closely by teammates Lindsay Brush '07 in fifth and Jess Smith '04.5 in sixth.

"It was so close in the slalom," said Hughes, who narrowly missed her second slalom victory of the season. "Getting second by only three-100ths is tough, but it made me go for it more in the giant slalom."

Hughes did just that. Taking full advantage of her home hill experience and the spirited crowd, she won both runs to take the giant slalom victory in convincing fashion, finishing with a time of 2:01.34. Jamie Kingsbury of UVM was the closest challenger, 1.28 seconds back in second place (2:02.62), followed by UVM teammate Amy Cochran in third (2:02.73).

The Panther women dominated the rest of the giant slalom standings, placing four more racers in the top 12. Smith was solid again in fifth, followed by Krissie Poehling '08 in seventh, Molly Russell '05 in ninth and Martin in 12th.

"I had a little bobble in my first run coming off the pitch, so for the second run all I was thinking about was skiing clean and aggressive up top and letting it go down on the bottom. I was really just going for the win," commented Hughes on her second giant slalom win of the year. "It was so cool to have so many Midd fans out on the hill and up watching and cheering. I was psyched for the entire team yesterday, we all wanted to dominate on our home hill, so it was great!"

The alpine team's victory came at a great cost, however, as Lindsay Brush '07 suffered a season-ending knee injury coming over the final knoll on her final run of the weekend. In perhaps one of the greatest displays of sportsmanship and self-determination the ski team has ever seen, Brush completed the last four gates on one leg before collapsing in the finish area.

On the men's side, senior co-captain John Rusten enjoyed another stellar weekend picking up a third place finish in Friday's slalom and a fourth in the giant slalom, making it five top fives and 10 top 10s out of his 12 runs this season. Warner Nickerson of Colby took the victory in the slalom, beating out Charles Christianson of Williams by two 10ths of a second and Rusten by seven 10ths, with a time of 1:22.63.

First-year Clayton Reed claimed his fourth top five slalom result of the season, finishing three 10ths behind Rusten in fourth, while Derek Shields '05 moved up nine spots in the afternoon to finish 20th.

Saturday, the Panther men came prepared to dominate once again, taking first overall in the giant slalom for the second time in two weeks.

Benjamin Drummond of UNH won his second straight giant slalom, with a combined time of 1:56.80, while Nickerson settled for second, a quarter of a second back. Rusten finished 17-100ths behind Greg Hardy of UVM for fourth, while Reed and Joey Swensson '08 were close behind in sixth and seventh respectively.

Senior co-captain Peter Phillips sat in ninth after the first run but experienced problems on the pitch in the second run and moved back to 20th place, just two-100th ahead of Shields who vaulted 14 places in the afternoon with the 12th fastest time.

"The team was ready to race. We knew the hill, and with all of the fan support we couldn't have been more excited," said Phillips. "Racing in front of all our friends and parents was truly special. Those of us who are seniors couldn't have asked for a better way to complete our carnival years."

Shields also acknowledged the extraordinary fan support, saying, "Knowing that the fans were out there cheering definitely helped me come back after making some big mistakes in my first runs. They were great."

"Ski racing is a tricky sport to forecast considering all the variables involved, but from the young to the old, we definitely lived up to our expectations," said Head Alpine Coach Forest Carey. "To be fast you have to be on the edge, and our guys came through and skied to their potential. We train at the Snow Bowl everyday, so that was a huge advantage," continued Carey. "Our goal was to win, so I'm really happy, especially for the seniors."

A mile down the road at the Breadloaf campus, home of the Rikert Ski Touring Center, the Middlebury nordic team also rose to the occasion and posted their best results of the 2005 season in Saturday's freestyle events after struggling in Friday's classic races.

Junior Garrott Kuzzy led the Panther men in Friday's 10 km classic with a time of 29:57.8, a minute and 23 seconds out of first place, good enough for 10th. The 10th place kept Kuzzy's streak alive of finishing in the top 10 in every race this season.

Teammate Beau Baldock '07 crossed the line 11 seconds behind Kuzzy for 11th place, while first-year Jimmy Ades rounded out the scorers in 20th. Bryce Roche '05, Jake Whitcomb '06 and Dan Skold '07 also turned in solid efforts placing 22nd, 26th and 28th respectively.

UVM's Ethan Foster, Lowell Bailey and Jordi St. John finished one-two-three to give the UVM men a clean sweep of the podium for the second time this season.

"For me, Friday's classic race was exciting because it was the first race at the Middlebury Carnival, being one of the season's biggest races and on our home course," commented Kuzzy.

Kuzzy continued, "The excitement got to me and I think I started a little too hard. The other skiers all raced well and I finished a disappointing 10th, despite feeling as if I had had a good race. Knowing I could ski better, I wanted to prove it on Saturday."

Kuzzy would have no regrets on Saturday as his third place finish in the 20 km mass start skate matched his season-best and marked his first podium appearance since the same event three weeks ago at the UVM Carnival.

Foster and Bailey held their ranks on the podium as Foster edged out his teammate by a fraction of a second for the victory with a time of 49:22.2.

Kuzzy was 37 seconds back, while Baldock finished just over two minutes back for a season-best sixth place. Whitcomb and Skold also claimed top 30 results, coming in 22nd and 27th respectively, helping nordic men's team to second place for the day.

"Before the race, Beau Baldock and I discussed a strategy to spread out the race early and avoid the risk of getting tangled up with other skiers on the narrow course," noted Kuzzy. "The plan worked perfectly and Beau and I made a break early and dropped all but three UVM skiers. Saturday's race ended up much better than Friday's and was a great way to end the final carnival leading up to the NCAA Championships."

The women also saved their best for last as they broke into the top two for the first time this season in Saturday's 15 km mass start freestyle. Evelyn Dong '07 led the women as she has all year, matching her sea
son-best in sixth place, followed by Claire Anderson '06 in eighth and Jenny Jorvig '06 in ninth.

Taylor Leach '06, Tyne Pike-Sprenger '05 and Liz Torkelson '07 were also solid for the Panthers coming in 17th, 21st and 29th respectively. Dartmouth swept the top three spots, led by Elizabeth Harrington who won for the second time this year.

Leach was the top Panther finisher in Friday's 5 km classic in 14th, followed by Pike-Sprenger in 16th, Jorvig in 18th, Anderson in 19th, Torkelson in 20th and Dong in 22nd. Alison Crocker of Dartmouth beat out Harrington for her fourth victory of 2005.

"I was extremely proud of the team's performance in the mass-start race on Saturday," commented Head Nordic Coach Terry Aldrich. "I believe that our skiers fed off the energy and enthusiasm of the huge crowd which gave us a big lift. I could hear the roar of the crowd in the start/finish area all the way to the top of the Battell uphill which is over a half mile away. With the help of the crowd, I feel we had a huge home course advantage."

Aldrich continue, "The team seems to be peaking at the right time and should be able to carry the energy, enthusiasm and momentum from the Middlebury Carnival right into the NCAA's."

The alpine and nordic NCAA's will be held March 9 to 12 at Stowe, Vt.