Williams Takes 14th Place at NCAA Championship
Dimitri Luthi '12
RUMFORD, Me. – Dimitri Luthi ’12 capped his season with a 33rd place finish in the men’s 20K mass start freestyle race. With only one nordic skier scoring points for the Ephs, Williams moved to 14th place in the final day of the NCAA Championships.
Luthi, seeded in the last row of the mass start, spent the opening kilometers of the race patiently avoiding collision and conserving his energy, while moving past several competitors. In the highly competitive field, Luthi was able to put together a smooth race, working through the field to move up several places better than his seeded position of 36. Despite a very slight change to the course and different snow conditions, Luthi’s time over 20 kilometers (47:41) was over five minutes faster than when he competed in the same race at the Bates Carnival in January. Colorado University’s Vegard Kjoelhamar skied to a twenty-second victory over the chase pack.
Denver University (659 points) captured their second consecutive national championship and 20th title in program history, thanks in large part to double-winner Antje Maempel, who captured the classic and freestyle titles in the nordic races. Colorado University (602.5 points) burst onto the podium in second place, after being in fifth following the slalom, topping the University of New Mexico (602 points) by a scant half a point. UNM took bronze, with the University of Alaska-Anchorage (584 points) claiming the final NCAA trophy in fourth place, on the strength of their outstanding performance in men’s nordic where they packed three athletes into the top five.
The top EISA school, the University of Vermont (573 points), slipped from first to fifth in the final day of racing. With only four out of a possible six racers in nordic skiing, the Catamounts were in a tough position to retain the lead, but strong skiing by UAA allowed the Seawolves to eclipse Vermont by 11 points to snag fourth place, and the final trophy. Dartmouth (555 points) rallied for seventh place, thanks to their women’s nordic squad putting three in the top ten, with Middlebury (426) in eighth place, significantly off the pace of the top seven teams. UNH (9th, 394 points), Colby (11th, 209 points) and Bates (13th, 175 points) all had strong finishes, with the Bobcats, with three nordic racers, moving past the Ephs in the final day of racing. Williams took 14th with 147 points.
While Luthi, Alex Dyroff ’10, and Emily
Porter ’10 all return for another chance at the
championships, hopefully accompanied by more teammates, senior Eric
Mann ends his racing career for the Ephs with an impressive four
trips to the NCAAs. A
three time All-American (6th GS in 2006, 8th
GS in 2008, 4th GS in 2009), Mann leaves with twenty
top-ten carnival results, four carnival wins, and a legacy as one
of Williams finest and most consistent skiers.
Senior Eric Mann receiving his fourth place trophy for his GS race (l) and competing in the slalom on Friday (r, photo: Lincoln Benedict).
