Alpine leads Midd to silver

Author: Goeff Homer

Chalk this one up as a victory for Mother Nature. After training for three months before the first race, the Panther alpine team was forced to wait another day. High winds at Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine delayed the Colby Carnival as a tree fell down and destroyed the timing equipment.

Skiing in the pouring rain Saturday afternoon, the women's team put on a show for the ages. After lightning delayed the start of the second run till late afternoon, the women went out and ripped up the course. Last year's NCAA Champion Megan Hughes '08 started the 2006 campaign right where she left off, winning the slalom. With the second fastest Middlebury second run, first-year Mattie Ford finished fourth in her first collegiate carnival. Co-Captain Lindsay Brush '06 rounded out the top three with a ninth place finish.

On Sunday, the start of the giant slalom was delayed until 1:30 P.M. because of 90 mile-per-hour winds at the top of Sugarloaf. After race officials decided to make the event a one-run race, Brush tore up the course for third place, while Krissy Poehling '08 was right behind in fourth. Tucker Burton '09 finished in 14th position. Unfortunately, there was only one run so the skiers could not improve on their standings. Captain Andrew Everett '07 commented, "We were perfectly positioned to have a ridiculously good day with great start positions for the second run, but it was only a one-run race."

Unfortunately, the men didn't experience the same success as the women in the slalom. After placing three skiers in the top 10 and five in the top 20 after the first run, the guys became victims to Mother Nature and deteriorating course conditions in the second run as all five crashed and were forced to hike. According to Coach Forest Carey, "It was crazy."

In Sunday's giant slalom, Captain Dave Coriell '06 led the Panthers with a seventh place finish, with Everett behind in 14th and first-year Andrew Wagner in 16th.

Despite the challenges presented by the weather, the team finished second overall behind UVM. The Panthers hope to forget the events of the past weekend and look forward to the St. Lawrence carnival. As Coriell said, "The alpine girls are skiing really well right now. It was a little disappointing for the guys, I think we are skiing much better than our results this weekend demonstrated and hopefully we can step it up this weekend and bring back a victory."