Skiers come in third at Winter Carnival

As the sky opened up last week and unloaded every ounce of snow it had up and down the East Coast, it was apparent that the ski gods were looking favorably on the Middlebury ski teams.  With the home Carnival weekend coming up and a relatively warm and dry winter up to that point, the Snow Bowl was due for a good covering.

Waking up Wednesday morning to a foot of snow and cancelled classes, it seemed to be perfect conditions for the 87th Annual Winter Carnival.  As the week progressed, however, global warming reared its ugly head and rain ravaged the slopes.  The Snow Bowl was deemed unfit to race and both the Nordic and alpine races were postponed to start on Saturday instead of Friday.

While this may have inconvenienced some, it gave the Middlebury fans yet another day of Carnival festivities before the races.  The student section could be heard cheering vehemently for the Panther skiers as chants of “Tiny Bubbles” and classic tunes such as “Hey Jude” were sent ringing throughout the Green Mountains.

The teams must have been boosted by the immense support, as the men’s slalom finished second overall on the day, placing three in the top 10.  Bobby Poehling ’11 finished second, Jonathan Hunter ’10 secured eighth and Andrew McNealus ’13 took 10th to round out the scoring for the men on day one.

The women turned in a respectable performance on Saturday as well, led by Tasha Woodworth ’11 who took fourth.  Nicole Dvorak ’11 and Leah McLaughry ’10 rounded out Middlebury scorers taking 11th and 15th, respectively.

On day two, the men and women turned in equally impressive performances by taking third overall on both sides.  Brian Swartz ’10 took fourth and Hunter took ninth to pace the Panthers with two top-ten finishes. Jake Lund ’11 was the third scorer, coming in 19th.  The women’s impressive performance came behind an eighth-place finish from McLaughry, Dvorak, Lindsay Kraft ’11 and Woodworth finished consecutively in places 14-16.

The Nordic side turned in an impressive weekend as well.  The men took second overall in the 10k classic race, with Patrick Johnson ’11 and Chase Marston ’12 placing fourth and ninth, respectively.  Doug DeBold ’12 took 11th to round out the men’s scorers.

Lauren Fritz ’10 paced the women on day one in the 5k classic race with an 11th-place finish. Coming in 20th and 21st, respectively, were Corinne Prevot ’13 and Cate Brown ’12.

In the men’s 20k freestyle race, Johnson starred once again, taking third.  Dylan Grald ’13 was the next Panther to finish, taking 19th.
The women had another good day on Sunday in the 15k freestyle race, taking third overall while placing two racers in the top 10. Fritz took seventh while Prevot took eighth.

At the conclusion of the Carnival, Prevot was recognized for her impressive first-year campaign by being named Rookie of the Year for the entire EISA circuit.  Brian Shpall ’13 was also recognized for his efforts this year, taking home the same award for the men’s alpine skier category.

The Panthers will also see a total of seven skiers compete at the national level in Steamboat, Colo.

Alpiners attending the national competition include Poehling, Shpall,
Lund, Woodworth and Dvorak, while the Nordic contingent will be headed by Johnson and Fritz.