Putting the “Win” in Winter Carnival

Not only did the alpine ski team return to campus Saturday evening with victories in both the slalom and giant slalom events, they took home an outright first place finish at their home carnival for the first time since 2004. Like on every carnival weekend, hundreds of Middlebury students gathered at the Snow Bowl on Saturday to cheer their fellow Panthers, as they donned neon jackets and sports jerseys. This weekend, the Panthers finished with 915 points to edge Dartmouth (908 points) and cruise past the University of Vermont (875 points). The Nordic ski team also put out an impressive showing on Friday at the Rikert Nordic Center, only further firing up the alpine ski team for Saturday’s races. 

“To have both the Nordic and alpine ski teams come together on our only home weekend takes a lot of stars aligning, and it feels incredible to succeed knowing how much work every athlete puts in each day,” said senior captain Caroline Bartlett.

The men’s alpine team captured the giant slalom title on Saturday, featuring a victory from sophomore powerhouse Erik Arvidsson, who took home first place overall in Friday’s slalom event. Arvidsson completed his weekend sweep with a two-run time of 2:05.87 to capture the giant slalom title, while first-year Tim Gavett stole the second overall spot in 2:06.18. Rounding out the scoreboard for the Panthers was sophomore Justin Alkier, whose time of 2:06.85 put him in fifth place.

“This weekend was just an unbelievable experience,” said Arvidsson. “We have been so close to having everyone click on the same day, and this weekend we finally got it to happen.… With the team skiing the way it is right now, anything is possible.”

On the women’s side, Bartlett led the Panthers to a victory in the giant slalom event with a two-run-time of 2:12.57, raking in the fifth giant slalom win of her career (three of which were at Middlebury Carnivals). Senior Lexi Calcagni was next to finish for the Panthers in 2:14.47, good for seventh place overall, while sophomore Lucia Bailey crossed the finish line just .02 seconds behind her, taking the eighth overall spot in 2:14.49 to secure the team’s second-place finish in the event. 

“This weekend was a culmination of years of work and passion — I couldn’t ask for a better ending to my four years at Midd,” said Bartlett. “It will be super important to keep taking care of the controllable variables like equipment and health in order to maximize our training opportunities and prepare for our last few races of the season.”

The Panthers will build off the momentum from this historic weekend to bring the heat at next weekend’s races, where they will meet both Dartmouth and the University of Vermont again at the EISA Championships hosted by Bates.