Do not be fooled by the result sheet, however; the Panthers skied better than they have all year, and they will certainly be out for revenge at the Eastern Championships next weekend.
The weekend of racing began at Rikert Ski Center at the Breadloaf campus in Ripton, Vt. With temperatures in the 50s, the conditions were slow, as racers contended with sloppy and wet snow.
However, the trails are well maintained by the Rikert groomers, and held up over the weekend’s races.
The Nordic men started the carnival with a 10km skate race. Eric Packer of Dartmouth laid down the fastest time of the day to take his first win of the season. Ben Lustgarten ’14 and Chase Marston ’12 continued their impressive seasons, finishing back-to-back in seventh and eighth places respectively; co-captain Graham Egan ’11 was not far behind in 13th. With three skiers in the top 13, the Panthers took the third-place team score behind Dartmouth and a surprisingly strong Colby.
In the women’s race, Erika Flowers of Dartmouth took the individual victory; UVM’s superstar Caitlin Patterson was conspicuously absent. Middlebury continued to impress: Corinne Prevot ’13 scored her first top-10 race of the season with a ninth-place finish to lead the Panthers.
Emily Attwood ’14 kept up her impressive skiing in her rookie season to finish 17th, while Keely Levins ’13 completed the Panther scoring contingent, just missing out on the top-20 in 21st. The Middlebury women rebounded from some disappointing results this season to tie for the third-place team score with UNH behind Dartmouth and UVM.
The Alpine events started with Slalom race at the Middlebury Snow Bowl. Kevin Drury of UVM took the individual win to lead the Catamounts to the top team score. First-year Rob Cone ’14 continued his phenomenal rookie season, tying for fifth-place to lead the Panthers. Fellow first-year Hig Roberts ’14 was not far behind, finishing an impressive eighth, while Bryan Shpall ’13 completed Middlebury’s scoring contingent by finishing in 18th place. With three skiers in the top-20, the Panthers finished in third.
In the women’s Slalom race, Annie Rendall of Dartmouth was first, but Middlebury Captain Nicole Dvorak ’11 was right behind her in second place. Natasha Woodworth ’11 and Bronwyn Oatley ’13 were the next two finishers for the Panthers in 13th and 15th respectively.
With three impressive top-15 performances, the Middlebury women took second place behind Dartmouth.
At the end of the first day of racing, the team scores were tight. Dartmouth led UVM by a small margin, while Middlebury and UNH followed closely.
Racing began again back on the Nordic trails for day two of the Middlebury Carnival. The race for the day was a sprint relay; a sprint relay consists of teams of three skiers who each race a one-kilometer loop before tagging off to their teammate, and each skier completes three laps of the course.
The weather could not have been more different than the day before: gone were the sun and the warmth, instead the skiers saw gusty and cold winds on the exposed fields.
The women’s relay started first, and it was the UNH women who took a hard-fought victory over Dartmouth. The first Middlebury team of Captain Sophie McClelland ’11, Levins and Prevot skied well, finishing in fourth after being outlunged right at the line by UVM. Middlebury’s second team of Attwood, Cate Brown ’12 and Hillary Rich ’13 also had a good race to finish ninth.
The men’s relay began well for Middlebury who started a powerhouse team consisting of Egan, Doug Diebold ’12 and Marston. However, in an unfortunate mix-up, Marston missed his start, and Diebold tagged off instead to first-year Lustgarten, who was a member of Middlebury’s second team. Unfortunately, such on-the-fly substitutions are not allowed, so Middlebury was disqualified. However, instead of throwing in the towel, the new team skied with tons of heart to finish second (unofficially) behind Dartmouth.
McClelland said later of the men’s relay, “The [Middlebury] men still held their heads high and gave it everything they had despite a couple of violations that got them disqualified. It really was something [to see].”
Back on the slopes of the Snow Bowl, the Alpine racers contested a Giant Slalom (GS) race. In the women’s race, Kate Ryley was back on top of the podium for UVM. Middlebury had a spot of bad luck when Dvorak lost a ski on her second run; she had been in second place after the first run. In Dvorak’s absence, Christine Schozer ’13 had her best GS race of the season to lead the Panthers with a 12th place finish.
Woodworth and Oatley also had solid races to crack the top-20, finishing in 16th and 19th places respectively. Because the college circuit is so competitive, despite placing three skiers in the top-20, the Panther women ended the day in fifth place.
In the men’s GS race, Kevin Drury of UVM remained unbeaten on the weekend, and led UVM to a team win. However, the Panthers turned in an impressive performance, led by Roberts in third, to take second place. Jake Lund ’11 and Cone were not far behind; they finished back-to-back in sixth and seventh places, respectively. Captain Bobby Poehling ’11 also had a great race to make the top-10 in 10th place in his final race at the Snow Bowl.
“Regardless of the unfortunate events,” said Dvorak, “we had plenty of athletes with outstanding performances, and we are excited to produce one more strong result at our last carnival of the season at Bates.”
All the captains mentioned the great support and cheering from Middlebury students, and wanted to thank those who came to the races despite some unfriendly weather.
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