Nordic racers roll towards Rockies Kuzzy '06 and Dong '07 lead Panther snow attack at Carnival

Author: Ryan W. Reese

After an early winter that has been less-than-ferocious, it did not appear that Middlebury's 83rd Winter Carnival would live up to its "Iced Out" title. However, the Nordic ski team did its best to capture the figurative sense of the terminology by accumulating an impressive amount of hardware over the course of this past weekend's events. The lack of snow throughout the days and weeks leading up to the Carnival forced the Panthers to race away from their home turf at the Rikert Ski Touring Center on Middlebury's Breadloaf Campus. Consequently, the races were held at the nearby Craftsbury Nordic Center. This last-minute change of venue did not disrupt the Panthers' path to victory as both Garrott Kuzzy '06 and Evelyn Dong '07 turned in gold medal winning performances in their respective events, the 20K Freestyle and the 15K Freestyle.

Kuzzy not only won the 20K Freestyle, but he did so in convincing and emphatic fashion by clocking a time (56:19) that was 31 seconds better than his closest competitor. As he focused his attention on the 10K event, he did not let off the gas as he powered his way to a second place finish with a time of 27:56. Kuzzy's dominance is a continuing pattern that he looks to ride all the way to Steamboat Springs, Colo., the site of this year's NCAA Championship meet.

The rest of the men's team performed well over the course of the weekend as Jimmy Ades '08 captured the ninth spot in the 20K. First-year Dane Johnson crossed the finish line in 13th place. Alongside Kuzzy, two other representatives of the navy and white found themselves rounding out the top ten in the men's 10K event. Senior powerhouse Jake Whitcomb finished the race in 28:16 and landed in eighth. First-year speedster Tim Reynolds followed close behind, as he took ninth while finishing only one second slower than Whitcomb.

On the women's side of the action, Dong's winning performance was undoubtedly the weekend's highlight. Dong said, "I felt pretty good the whole time. I know I can't take them (Dartmouth racers) in a sprint finish, so I knew I had to ski hard from the start to keep ahead of them. I thought they were pretty close behind me throughout the race, so I was skiing pretty scared. In the last kilometer, I realized I was pretty far ahead so I got to smile and enjoy the race a little bit." Two other Panther racers finished in the top 10 as they accompanied Dong's tape-tearing first-place finish in the 15K Freestyle. Cassidy Edwards '09, a native of Glen Arbor, Mich., stopped her watch at 49:51, which was good enough for a solid fifth place finish. Junior Jenny Hamilton was not far behind as she wound up in seventh (50:45).

Edwards continued her romp in the snow by leading Middlebury finishers in the 5K Classical by occupying the seventh spot after notching a time of 16:04. She was followed by Hamilton once again, who finished 10th, and senior Taylor Leach in 20th.

Overall, the Panther ski team placed second only to the University of Vermont (UVM). This finish has been a recognizable trend, as UVM has not stood anywhere but on the very top of the podium throughout the entirety of the 2006 season. Middlebury is always standing close by, as the team has racked up five second place finishes this year.

The Panthers will look to reverse this pattern a week from now, as the NCAA Championships will take place March 8-11. Led by Kuzzy and Dong, as well as the top racers from the alpine team, the Panthers look to make waves and have a little fun in Colorado. When questioned on her goals at the NCAA meet, Dong said, "I have no idea really. I'm pretty excited just to go. We're taking three guys and three girls out there so we'll have a lot of fun together no matter what. I've never been out to Colorado to ski and I'm looking forward to skiing in the sun and having about ten feet of snow as well."

There is no doubt that Dong, Kuzzy and company will take their "A" game out west and bring back some bling from the 'Boat.