Skiers Finish 10th at NCAA Championships

The Middlebury ski team concluded an impressive season at the 2013 NCAA championships at home by garnering the men’s team slalom title and five individual All-American honors, with two of them from junior Ben Lustgarten ’14 on the cross-country course.

Senior David Donaldson ’13 ended his exceptional and acclaimed collegiate career, skiing to a second-place finish in the slalom event. Junior Hig Roberts ’14 proved his ability once again by coming in sixth in the same event. Together with senior Andrew McNealus ’13, the combined effort of the threesome allowed Middlebury to take home the men’s slalom championship for the second year in a row.

Sophomore Mary Sackbauer ’15 snatched ninth place in the giant slalom in her first NCAAs.

The giant slalom races at the Snow Bowl on Wednesday marked the commencement of this year’s long-awaited NCAAs. Although Sackbauer is a first-time participant, her outstanding opening performance did not disappoint the home crowd. She surged to a spectacular ninth-place finish after an improved second run.

Sackbauer commented on this new height in her skiing career.

“I am extremely happy with my performance at NCAA,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to be an All American, but I didn’t want to psych myself out so I went into the competition with no expectations. I think that helped me keep my focus and achieve my goals.”

On the men’s side, the Panthers had rough runs. Coming in as a favorite in the giant slalom, Panther favorite Donaldson did not have a smooth race. He was eighth after the first run, but fell behind in the rankings at 27th in the second run, eventually settling for 21st place.

Downhill anchors Roberts and senior McNealus had hiccups as well. Roberts came in 19th at the end with a good top-10 finish in his second run and McNealus was 28th overall.

The action moved to the Rikert Nordic Center for Thursday’s nordic competitions. Lustgarten gave everything he had in the 10K classic. His determination and perseverance propelled him to a rewarding fourth-place finish in 26:32.6.

“I am extremely happy about my performance at NCAAs, it was better than I thought I would do,” said Lustgarten. “The training and tapering I did worked perfectly for the races.”
Co-captain Austin Cobb ’14 also finished 28th.

In the women’s 5K classic, sophomore Annie Pokorny ’15 encountered a speed bump. Panther fans at the site noted that Pokorny had a great start and was in the lead until she had a hard fall and hit a tree. Despite the setback, Pokorny kept a stiff upper lip all the way and was the 18th skier to cross the finishing line.

Fellow World Championships qualifier sophomore Heather Mooney ’15 completed the course at 26th place and promising first-year Kelsey Phinney rounded off at 34th place.

Friday marked the dramatic return of the Middlebury alpine team. Sackbauer started the day with a 19th-place finish in the slalom event, capping off her encouraging campaign this year. Donaldson put all he had at stake for his final collegiate race. After a perfect first run and a slight slip in the second run, he was forced to settle for second place, 0.28 seconds behind the winner. Roberts delivered a consistent performance with a pleasing 10th-place finish in the first run and 12th in the second run, making him the sixth fastest skier in the slalom across the country.

McNealus also had an incredible start, following close behind Donaldson in the first run at the second position. He eventually came in 21st, raising the trio to the highest team score out of all the schools in the nation.

“I am pretty happy with the way the nationals went,” said Donaldson. “It was a little bittersweet. Second in the slalom wasn’t what I wanted, but still pretty incredible. Defending the men’s slalom title from last year was certainly a big make-up for how disastrously we skied on Wednesday in the giant slalom. [I am] hoping that the team will be able to defend the slalom title again next season.”

This is the second consecutive year that the men’s slalom team was crowned champion at the NCAAs, and a repeat for Roberts and McNealus, as both of them were part of the 2012 squad.

“I am very proud of our performance, especially in the men’s Slalom where we took the national title,” said Roberts. “It is pretty amazing to think that Middlebury can hold strong with anyone in the country including powerhouses like Colorado and [UVM]. It was so rewarding to see all our hardwork pay off, and to do it in front of a massive, loud home crowd was something I will remember for the rest of my life.”

The final day of the championships was highlighted by Lustgarten’s tenacity at Rikert. First up was the women’s 15K freestyle event. Phinney and Mooney finished back-to-back at the 34th and 35th positions. Due to her injury from Thursday, Pokorny had to drop out of the race after completing only one third.

In the men’s 20K freestyle, Lustgarten was neck-to-neck with other skiers in the leading pack but was edged out by a small margin at the very end. He finished in eighth place as the sole Panther to gather two All-American honors at this year’s NCAAs. Cobb finished 31st.

After four days of intense competition, the Middlebury team finished 10th with a total of 357 points. Colorado snatched the team trophy while Utah and Vermont came second and third.

“The week was a culmination of years of work and planning by the folks at Midd skiing, Rikert and the Bowl alike,” said Pokorny. “It was so cool to see everything come together and watch what happens when an entire community supports an event.”

For the young nordic men’s team, they will look to return all their skiers with Lustgarten and Cobb continuing to lead the group. On the women’s side, the team hopes to build on the hard-earned experience and confidence heading into next year.

“We’ll certainly undergo big changes, as our head nordic coach, Andrew Gardner, is stepping down, but I think that if anything that provides us with a great opportunity to create a new team culture that builds on everything the skiers before us have brought to the table,” said Pokorny. “I’m sorry to see this season pass, but I’m excited to see what this group will have to offer the circuit next year.”

As for the alpine women’s team, despite the graduation of captain Christine Schozer ’13, Sackbauer and her teammates are committed to hold onto their work ethic and train their way back next season.

Donaldson, McNealus and captain Bryan Shpall ’13 will be bidding farewell to the men’s alpine circuit. They will surely be remembered as examples of true Panther team spirit and their selfless contribution to making the program one of the very best in the country.

“Middlebury skiing is most certainly on everybody’s radar and our men’s team has shown that we are serious contenders on any day, any event and against any national team,” said Pokorny. “It is all very exciting and humbling to be a part of.”