STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, CO - - On the final day of the NCAA ski championships, Williams picked up one more spot, finishing 12th overall. Going into the day, which featured a 20 km men's and 15 km women's skate mass start race, Williams sat in 13th, 8 points behind Colby. Both schools had a single man and woman racing today, with Alice Nelson and Dimitri Luthi going for the Ephs.
Nelson skied a solid race, beating many of her eastern rivals. Unfortunately, the eastern skiers seemed to underperform, and Nelson ended in 30th place. The altitude certainly affected the race, with a strong eastern contingent only placing one in the top-10 and 3 in the top-20. The race marks the last collegiate competition of Nelson's career, in which she skied at the NCAA championships twice.
In the men's race, Dimitri Luthi '12 skied a conservative opening lap and began picking up spots in the back half of the race- nearly the opposite of his classic race performance. When the dust settled, Luthi ended up in 14th place, under 9 seconds from 9th. Again, altitude affected the eastern skiers, but not as much as the women. Luthi was the 4th eastern skier and easily outpaced the trio of Dartmouth racers who dominated the eastern circuit.
Luthi and Nelson amassed 36 points on the day, compared to Colby's 24. The twelfth place finish is the best Williams result since 2001, when the Ephs also finished 12th.
Denver won the 2010 title, with Colorado and New Mexico rounding out the top 3.
