Skiing Ends Killer Season with 10th at NCAA Championships

The Middlebury alpine and nordic ski teams wrapped up a historic season this weekend at the 2019 NCAA Skiing Championships hosted by the University of Vermont, accompanied by crews of tailgating students and family members who cheered them on from the sidelines. While the team’s results were not necessarily reflective of their massive feats this winter, the Panthers placed 10th overall out of 21 scoring teams, coming out of the four-day championship with 150 points. Utah won the national title with 530.5 points, followed by Vermont (476) and Colorado (455).

On Friday at the Trapp Family Lodge, senior Lewis Nottonson’s stellar All-American performance paced the Nordic squad, as he completed the circuit in 56:56 to earn All-American status and a 10th place finish at the 20k classical race. Sophomore Peter Wolter finished next for the Panthers, crossing the line in 59:15 to place 30th overall. Rounding out the scoreboard for the men was senior Sam Wood, who completed the course in 1:00.05, securing the 35th spot overall.

“We had a really satisfying season with a ton of career best results from individuals and some of the better results as a team in recent years,” Nottonson said. “It was particularly fun to get a big group of freshmen this year who were all so psyched on training hard. Winning Middlebury Carnival was also a huge highlight. It’s tough to have everything line up where the nordic men and women, and alpine men and women all have exceptional days and to have that come together on home snow was pretty phenomenal.”

Despite the stellar conditions and a few standout individual performances, however, Nottonson said it was clear at the end of the weekend that “a lot of the team left NCAAs wanting more and feeling that as a team, we underperformed.”

On the women’s nordic side, sophomore Avery Ellis led the Nordic team in the 15k classic race, completing the circuit in 49:40, earning her 18th place overall. Junior Annika Landis was second to finish for the Panthers, securing the 25th spot in 50:25. Sophomore Alexandra Lawson was the final scorer, completing the course in 50:39 to land 28th overall.

Alpine races took place at Stowe Mountain Resort on Friday, where sophomore Justin Alkier’s ninth place GS finish in 1:58:42 earned him All-American honors and highlighted the second day of competition. Unfortunately, it proved to be a rough morning for the other men’s scorers, as both sophomore Erik Arvidsson and first-year Tim Gavett fell during their first GS run.

“We were well-prepared coming into the week, but between tactical mistakes and bad luck, the results just simply do not show what this team is capable of. We had some great individual runs that prove our potential, and I’m super excited to join the alumni cheer squad and watch the team grow over the next couple seasons,” senior Caroline Bartlett said.