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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Panther Skiers Notch Third-Place Finish

The EISA Championship annual ski races took place this weekend as part of the 91st Middlebury College winter carnival. Despite some tough conditions, races commenced on time and the usual suspects steamed out to a lead on day one. UVM sat in first place on Friday night, Dartmouth wasn’t far behind in second and host Middlebury rounded out the top trio. At the end of day two, the top three stayed the same and UVM held on for another first-place finish with 1,031 points. Dartmouth ended with 905 points while Middlebury made its mark with 664 points.

At the Rikert Nordic Center, Ben Lustgarten ’14 had a dominant day one as he claimed his first win of the season in a time of 27:18 during the 10K race. The astounding part about his victory is that the second place finisher was a significant 50 seconds behind. The other two scorers for the men’s nordic team on day one were Dylan McGarthwaite ’15 and Patrick McElravey ’17, who came in at 25th and 31st respectively.

Lustgarten’s masterful performance is even more meaningful given that he recently overcame an injury.

“I had some rest following the U23 World Championships in Italy due to my concussion that I suffered during the 30KM pursuit just over three weeks ago,” Lustgarten said. “I was unable to train for one and a half weeks but was happy to be able to race in the Williams Carnival. I was not in my best physical condition for these past two races due to lack of training and recovering from my concussion.”

Heather Mooney ’15 continued to lead the women’s Nordic team with an 11th place finish. Emily Attwood ’14 was a mere 15 seconds behind Mooney as she came in at 17th place. Stella Holt ’15 also grabbed a top-25 finish, coming in at 24th to complete the scorers for the nordic women’s team.

Mooney has set a personal goal of improving on her EISA performance.

“My biggest goal for this season is to be top-8 at NCAAs,” Mooney said. “It’s kind of an all-encompassing goal.”

The Alpine events were held at the Middlebury College Snow Bowl and on day one conditions were ideal for the women’s event. The women were only able to get one run in, but Kara Shaw ’15 weathered the conditions better than most as she earned herself an 11th-place finish. Katelyn Barclay ’15 and Yina Moe-Lange ’15 came in within the top 20 going 17th and 19th respectively.

The men’s alpine teams were able to get both runs in, and Middlebury certainly did not disappoint. Nick Bailey ’14 and Hig Roberts ’14 gave everything they had as they skied on Winter Carnival weekend for the last time. Bailey had a season best finish of fifth place, while Roberts claimed eighth place. Christopher McKenna ’17 was equally as impressive, finishing just outside the top 10 in 12th position.

The men’s nordic team was strong in the 20K, despite having Lustgarten out with an injury. Adam Luban ’17 had a season-best finish coming in at 17th place, Austin Cobb ’14 was 21st, while McGarthwaite was 27th.  In the 15K freestyle race, the Middlebury women’s nordic scorers were 14th-place finisher Kelsey Phinney ’16, Holt in 17th and Attwood in 19th.

For the third consecutive Giant Slalom event, Roberts walked away with a first place finish, ending his last Winter Carnival race on a high note. Liam Mulhern ’14 was second for the Middlebury men, crossing line in 17th place, while Ghassan Gedeon Achi ’16 came in at 21st place.

After a successful weekend, Roberts looked ahead to future challenges.

“I hope to ski well at NCAAs at the end of the year and repeat some of the great performances we have had at this race,” Roberts said.

Elle Gilbert ’16 led the alpine women’s team in the Giant Slalom event, earning a time good for fourth place. The race marked Gilbert’s best run this season. Isabel Kannegieser ’17 did not shy away in her first carnival event of the season and was able to grab 23rd place. Lisa Schroer ’17 came in just after Kannegieser in 26th place.

The Middlebury Winter Carnival was the last chance for the ski teams to perform before they head to NCAAs, which are being held March 5-8 at the University of Utah.


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