Ski Teams Combine For Fourth Place Finish

Despite the absence of key members from the women’s nordic squad, the Middlebury ski teams delivered yet another strong showing this past weekend, Jan. 18 and 19, as they came fourth overall in the St. Lawrence University Winter Carnival at Whiteface Mountain and Mount Von Hovenberg in Lake Placid, N.Y. David Donaldson ’14 of the men’s alpine team eased through the weekend, continuing his command from the previous week by winning both slalom events.

As a team, Middlebury came second in the men’s giant slalom after strong finishes by a number of skiers. Donaldson led the way for the Panthers, finishing first in front of Jonathan Nordbotten of the University of Vermont by more than a second in the giant slalom event. Nordbotten is a talented Catamount who recently returned from competing in the World Cup. Donaldson had the upper hand, however, and crossed the finish line with a time of 1:58:14. Teammate Andrew McNealus ’13, a long-time anchor of the Middlebury team, followed closely behind in third place. Captain Bryan Shpall ’13 took 14th, while Hig Roberts ’14 finished 15th.

In the slalom event Middlebury took first. Donaldson fended off yet another skier from UVM in dominant fashion with the time of 1:21:98. This time, McNealus placed seventh, Roberts in eighth position and Shpall rounded off at 14th.

In the women’s giant slalom, the sophomore trio of Kara Shaw ’15, Yina Moe-Lange ’15 and Katelyn Barclay ’15 lifted the Panthers. They came in 13th, 18th and 22nd, respectively. In the women’s slalom, second-year Kerry Daigle ’15 paced the pack with a 20th-place finish. Shaw and Barclay completed the race back-to-back in the 26th and 27th positions.

On the nordic circuit, this marked the opening carnival on the season. When asked about their performance in the past weekend, junior Ben Lustgarten ’14 echoed his team’s desire for improvement.

In the men’s 20K freestyle, Lustgarten skied into seventh-place, while classmate Austin Cobb ’14 finished 17th. Sophomore Dylan McGarthwaite ’15 rounded out the Panthers in the race in 27th position.

“We are mostly satisfied with the racing, but we are not going to settle there at all,” said Lustgarten. “We are hungry for more and know as the season progresses we will all be competing at a higher level. The hard work is paying off and in order to prepare ourselves for the season our training will be more intensive on interval days so that we all push each other to go harder and faster and so that we can work together.”

In the men’s 3K prologue freestyle, McGarthwaite had a seventh-place finish. Lustgarten came in 15th and Cobb in 24th.

On the women’s side, absent Annie Pokorny ’15 and Heather Mooney ’15, who are currently competing at the World U-23 Championships in Europe, first-years Kelsey Phinney ’16, Kaitlin Fink ’16 and Issy Pelletier ’16 stepped up to shoulder the responsibility. Phinney finished 14th in the women’s 15K freestyle. Fink and Pelletier came in 17th and 22nd.

The next day in the women’s 3K prologue freestyle, Pelletier paced the Panthers at 13th-place, followed by Phinney in 15th position. Senior captain Keely Levins ’13 finished in 20th, while Fink came in 25th. After having her first taste of collegiate skiing, Phinney is excited to reach the winter.

“We spend the summer and fall training and looking forward to this time of year,” said Phinney. “I know everyone is excited to be in race season again. This is my first year here so I’m looking forward to experiencing it all for the first time.”

Once again, the St. Lawrence Carnival proved to be a battle between the “Big Four” of the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA): UVM, Dartmouth, University of New Hampshire (UNH) and Middlebury. Analogous to NESCAC being one of the strongest conferences in a lot of sports in Division III, the EISA has some of the most competitive ski programs in the country.

Defending NCAA Champion University of Vermont compiled a total of 1013 points for first place. Meanwhile, the Panthers finished in fourth place with 695 points, 53 points behind UNH and 144 points ahead of Bates College.

“I think the men are really finding a good rhythm. We have been working really well together, and everyone is in the mix so our confidence is pretty high,” said Donaldson. “Our girls need to catch fire a little bit to remain competitive with UNH and Dartmouth in the overall team scores. They have the ability, but just haven’t had results to help give them the confidence required to win at this level. [We are] on the cusp though.”

In terms of preparation for the winter circuit’s four remaining carnivals at Colby, UVM, Dartmouth, Middlebury and Bates, not to mention NCAA championships, McGarthwaite says he wants his team to have a little fun.

“We are at the point in the season were we have already devoted eight long months of intense training and now it is really the time to have fun,” McGarthwaite said. “In order to prepare for nationals we need to translate the work we have already done into fast ski racing and plenty of rest in between.”

The Panthers will return to action this Friday, Jan. 25, at Colby College for a three-day meet.