Hosts come close but find no victory cigar

Author: Anna Furney

Andrew "Billy" Wagner's '09 win in the men's giant slalom and Lindsay Brush's '07 third place finish in the women's giant slalom on Saturday highlighted the Panther alpine ski team's third place finish in the 84th Middlebury Carnival. Over the course of the two-day race series, skiers were competing for the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association Championship title at the College's Snow Bowl.

While Dartmouth won the event, the Panthers finished only five points behind the University of Vermont (UVM). In each of the previous five carnivals, Middlebury had come in third, but by an average of 34.1 points behind UVM.

Middlebury was able to finish close to second thanks in part to the women's team's victory in the slalom. Tucker Burton '09 placed fourth, Kristen Poehling '08 finished sixth and Mattie Ford '09 took seventh place. The racers, who competed on the Snow Bowl's Ross trail, faced tricky conditions, which posed as imminent threats to the prospect of finishing. The final results proved that a challenging hill was little trouble for the experienced group.

The Middlebury men's alpine team saw its strongest male finisher in the slalom, Wagner, take home fourth place. Strong performances by Zeke Davisson '08, who came in sixth, and by Clayton Reed '10, who followed in seventh, solidified the overall team performance for the Panthers. Occupying the third spot for the cumulative team finishes for Friday's races, the men took their momentum into the giant slalom on Saturday.

Surrounded by family, friends, classmates and rival teams, the air surrounding the finish corral was electric for Saturday's giant slalom.

"Nothing is better than doing well on your home hill with our fans and supporters," said Brush. While the women's team's cumulative score for the races on Saturday only provided them with fourth place, Brush's individual third place finish made the Middlebury fans proud.

"I was extremely happy to finish off my carnival career with a podium in the GS," she said. "I was finally able to race in the Middlebury Carnival after my two knee injuries prevented me from competing the last two years and it made it all the better to finish off strongly. The weather was great, the fans were awesome and I was very happy with how everything turned out."

Dorothy Muirhead '08 finished ninth and Tara Martin '07 placed 17th in the same event. UVM won this portion of the Carnival, as they used fourth, fifth and 10th place finishes to edge Dartmouth.

Victory shone through on the men's side of the races on Saturday for Wagner. His first run left him in first position, and consumed with nerves, he found himself strategizing for the duty of securing the two-run event.

"After looking forward to this ?all week, I couldn't wait for it to be over so I would know what ?happened," he said. There was not much waiting involved for Wagner, though, as he came in through the finish with the fastest second-run time. The second-run win, paired with the win for the first run, left Wagner in first for the day's overall results and served as a strong point additive to the cumulative men's team's results for the GS event.

"It was an awesome day of ski ?racing and to win with my parents and friends there was just the icing on the cake," said Wagner. Close behind Wagner was Alec Tarberry '08, who finished fourth and Joey Swenson '08, who came in ninth.

Dartmouth secured its predictable first position. Following impressive finishes in both the GS (second) and slalom (third) on the part of Michael Ann Shields, the team finished the weekend with 928.5 points. UVM shone as a testament to consistency, taking home the weekend's silver with 858 total points, following notable performances by Kara Crow (second in the slalom) and Greg Hardy (first in the slalom).

The weekend's achievements solidified the team in its third-place overall position. The team and coaches agree that the strong finishes from individual athletes will serve as helpful preparations for the NCAA Championships March 7-10, which will be hosted at Attitash Bear Peak.