STOWE, VT – The Williams College Ski Team continued its NCAA Championship campaign today with the last of this year's official collegiate Nordic races. The weather made the events especially tough: after over two feet of new snow on Monday, rain set in yesterday and did not taper off until mid-way through the men's race. There was no sun to speak of and the trails of Trapp Family Lodge were obscured by low-lying fog. The tracks today were soft and wet but, on the bright side, held up well due to the density of the snow. Waxing was apparently an issue for the Eastern teams and many of the top-ranked EISA women suffered as a result of bad skis. William senior captain Sarah Tory skied to a 39th place finish in the last ski race of her meteoric Williams career, giving the Ephwomen and 18th place finish on the day. In this tightly contested 15-kilometer mass start classic race, the University of Colorado's Eliska Hajkova emerged victorious, but her team came up just short: the University of Utah nipped the Buffs by one point. The Eastern men also did not have the best of days.
The men's 20-kilometer mass start was lead by many people from several Western teams and ultimately pushed the top racers to their physical and psychological limits. The University of Colorado's Reid Pletcher managed to eke out the win, leading his team to victory. The Ephmen duo of Dimitri Lüthi '12 and senior captain Keith Kantack, a regular scorer for Williams throughout his four years in the last race of his career, skied to the 19th and 30th spots on results sheet. The two felt in good form but seemed frustrated by their skis in an effort that put their team in 13th for the day. Williams sits in 14th place going into the last day of 2011 NCAA Championship racing tomorrow, during which Alpine racing will resume with the men's and women's slalom events at Spruce Peak. Keep it here...
Full results: www.eisaskiing.org
