Day 1 -- Ski Team Third at UNH Carnival
Alice Nelson '10
JACKSON/BARTLETT, NH – On the strength of five top-ten performances, the Williams ski team placed third place in day one of the UNH Carnival, just 13 points ahead of the University of Vermont in fourth place. Under sunny skies, the team put together a solid day of racing in the Mount Washington Valley, where 13 inches of snow fell on Wednesday. Going into the second day of racing, this is potentially the best result for the Ephs in many years. Since 2001, Williams has finished in fourth place at carnivals six times, but the Ephs have never made it on the podium as a team during that time.
At Attitash/Bear Peak, the alpine team put together an impressive day on the Illusion trail giant slalom course, with the men taking second and the women placing fifth. Junior Alex Dyroff, just outside the top ten after the first run, and senior Eric Mann, sitting in ninth, stepped up for the second run. Dyroff placed fourth overall, only 0.13 off the podium, with Mann close behind in sixth place.
Senior Eirik Burrass, after a 12th place slalom result last weekend at Bates, showed his speed in the GS by finishing 21st. Senior Jim Whitledge and sophomore Alex Reeves had trouble on their first run and were not able to finish. Freshman Sean Cummiskey, 29th after the first run, did not finish his second run. Host school UNH swept the podium in the men’s race, led by junior Willie Ford’s first place finish.
Junior duo Emily Porter and Kelsey Levine both had strong second runs, moving them up into the top-10 and leading the women to fifth place overall. Porter, ninth after her first run, finished seventh overall, a career-best GS finish. Levine, 16th after the first run, came through with the eighth fastest second run to place tenth overall, tying her previous career-best in GS.
Annie Hanson ’11 skied consistent runs to take 25th overall and ensure a good result for the team in the final scoring position. Captain Kelly Kirpatrick ’09 made it four in the top 30 with her 30th place result. Freshman Laurel Carter, had to hike on her first run, but showed promise with the 13th fastest second run. Amy McLaughlin ’12 did not finish her first run. Dartmouth sophomore Courtney Hammond captured her second GS title of the season, following up on her win at last week’s Bates Carnival.
“I was very pleased with our results today,” said head alpine coach Ed Grees. “There were difficult sections of the hill with the terrain and our skiers handled it very well. The conditions were quite soft and challenging for everyone, and I was really impressed by their ability to handle it.”
The nordic team showed their speed in the classic sprint race in Jackson with the women tying for third with Middlebury and the men capturing fourth place, each putting five athletes into the heats. The fastest 36 racers from the preliminary sprint advance to the heats, beginning with six quarterfinal heats with six athletes each. The top two athletes from each quarterfinal qualify for the semifinals, with the fastest three in each semifinal moving onto the A-final to determine places 1-6, and the remaining three moving to the B-final to determine places 7-12.
Alice Nelson ’10 put together a career-best performance, taking fourth in the sprint. After qualifying fifth, Nelson blew her quarterfinal heat away, moving onto the semi-finals easily. After skiing through her semi-final race into the A-final, Nelson was in a tight race in the homestretch, and snagged fourth, less than a second off the podium.
Kirsten Johnson ’11 (21st in qualifying), Liz Kantack ’09 (23rd in qualifying), and Fiona Worcester ’09 (32nd in qualifying) each finished fourth in their quarterfinal heats, moving up to 19th, 20th, and 23rd respectively, despite not moving onto the semis.
Freshman Holly Whitney took fifth in her heat, keeping the 26th position she originally qualified with. Putting in solid performances in the preliminaries were Maddy Wendt ’11 in 53rd, Sarah Tory ’11 in 58th, Gabrielle Joffe ’11 in 66th, and Emily Olsen ’09 in 69th. Rosie Brennan of Dartmouth cruised to a dominating win in the A-final.
Freshmen Dimitri Luthi and senior Sam Kapala led the team with their top-12 B-final performances. Kapala, coming up with a career-best result, shined in his quarterfinal heat, skiing from 18th place in the preliminaries to place second in his first heat. Luthi, showing his speed in the preliminaries with a 3rd place in qualifying, took second in his quarterfinal. Each skied through the semi’s to meet in the B-final where Luthi took 11th and Kapala placed 12th, after breaking a pole mid-race.
Keith Kantack ’11 just missed qualifying for the semifinals, boxed out at the line and unable to get around, settling for 14th place, despite qualifying 11th. Alex Taylor ‘10 and Evan Dethier ‘11, raced aggressively in their quarterfinal heats, but were unable to advance to the semifinals and placed 27th and 34th, respectively. Erik Anderson ’12, just missing the heats by 2 seconds, took 43rd, Caleb Lucy ‘11 placed 56th, Dave Hansen ’11 finished 63rd, with Nick Fogel ’12 right behind in 64th. Dartmouth’s Dakota Blackhorse von Jess won the sprint in a closely contested A-final.
“The men are skiing really well right now,” said Dethier, a sophomore. “I think that we’re having pretty good success as a team and we think we can do even better, but for now, it’s really nice to see the purple cow suits flying around at the front of the pack."
The alpine team returns to Attitash/Bear Peak
tomorrow for the slalom, while the nordic team takes to the trails
for the 10K individual start freestyle race.
Women's Classic Sprint Results
