Rookie skiers stand out at St. Lawrence Carnival

The Panther ski teams opened their seasons this past weekend with a trip to the St. Lawrence Carnival, hosted by St. Lawrence College in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Dartmouth took the cake but Middlebury placed fourth overall in a competitive carnival field, scoring 685 points. Starring for Middlebury was first-year Bryan Shpall ’13 who took third place in the men’s giant slalom (GS), an event that the men took second in overall.

Shpall recorded a time of 2:01.44 in this event and, along with his performance in the slalom (11th place), he managed to take top rookie honors among alpine skiers at the event.

Jonathan Hunter ’10 (2:02.26) took ninth place in the GS and Andrew McNealus ’13 (2:03.18) scored for the Panthers as well, taking 15th.

The women’s GS team was led by Lindsay Kraft ’11, who took 11th place with a time of 2:08.08.

Nicole Dvorak ’11 highlighted the slalom event for the women, turning in an impressive time of 1:53.38. Following close behind for Middlebury was Tasha Woodworth ’11, who took ninth place with a time of 1:58.51.

Along with Shpall’s performance, three other Panthers placed in the top 10 for the slalom event.

Jake Lund ’11 led the group, coming in seventh place with a time of 1:38.40, followed by Hunter in eighth (1:38.61) and Bobby Poehling ’11 in ninth (1:38.63). With all of the success of the men’s alpine team, Lund believes the best is yet to come.

“Considering the potential we have on the men’s side, I would say we had just an average weekend,” he said.

I think we will build off of our success at Whiteface and look for an even stronger finish this weekend at Smugglers’ Notch.”

On the Nordic side, the women took second place overall in the 5K classic led by Lauren Fritz ’10, who came in ninth place with a time of 16:38. Keely Levins ’13 also placed, taking 14th with a time of 16:47. Fellow rookie Corinne Prevot ’13 finished the race in 21st place.

On Saturday, Fritz placed seventh in the 15K freestyle, with teammates Prevot and Levins finishing further behind, in 29th and 31st places, respectively.

A team plagued by injuries and illness, with few skiing at 100 percent, the women’s Nordic squad had an impressive showing on the weekend.

On the men’s side, Doug DeBold ’12 placed sixth in the 10K classic race with a time of 28:36. Other notable finishers included Michael Mommsen ’12 (12th, 29:15) and Patrick Johnson ’11 (13th, 29:20), adding points of their own to the Panther total.

Johnson finished first for the Panthers in the 20K freestyle on Saturday, placing 13th overall. Chase Marston ’12 followed on Johnson’s heels, finishing just behind him in 14th place, while Graham Egan ’11 finished in 18th place.

Both the alpine and Nordic squads were able to assess their strengths and weaknesses as teams and are looking to improve upon last weekend’s results at the St. Michael’s Carnival this Saturday, Jan. 23.