Ski Teams Hit Rough Patch at Carnivals

The Middlebury ski team had a busy past couple of weeks, competing in the UNH, UVM, and Dartmouth Carnivals. The Panthers placed fourth at UNH, third at UVM, and fifth at Dartmouth.

On day one at UNH, the men’s and women’s ski teams competed in the giant slalom event. Hig Roberts ’14, Christopher McKenna ’17, and Ghassan Gedeon-Achi ’16 all finished in the top six. On the women’s side, Yina Moe-Lange ’15 led the Panthers with a second place run.

The top three performers for the women’s Nordic team finished within five seconds of each other, taking home the sixth, seventh, and eighth places. Kelsey Phinney ’16 edged out teammate Heather Mooney ’15 by two seconds in a time of 14:59, and Stella Holt ’15 was close behind with a time of 15:04. The Nordic men – missing key senior Ben Lustgarten ’14, who was competing in the U23 World Championships in Italy – came away with 13th, 32nd, and 36th place finishes in the 10K event.
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he following day, Sunday, Jan. 26, the alpine teams competed on the second day of the UVM Carnival. Roberts paced the men with a third place finish, while Kara Shaw ’15 was the top Panther woman, placing 16th.

In the Nordic competitions at UVM, the women starred on day one, winning the sprint event with three skiiers in the top 10. Holt finished third, followed closely by Mooney. Phinney snuck in with a tenth-place finish. Austin Cobb ’14 was the top men’s finisher, coming in 10th.

On day two, Holt was successful again, placing fourth, while Cobb again paced the men. Middlebury placed third overall at the event.
The ski teams then travelled east to Dartmouth College to take part in their carnival, on Friday, Feb. 7 and Saturday, Feb. 8.

Roberts took advantage of favorable conditions to win the giant slalom event in a time of 2:02.59 while McKenna finished eighth.

Moe-Lange remained determined at Dartmouth where she earned her fifth top-10 finish of the year. Mooney led the Middlebury women in sixth place.

The team is finding that pacing itself is becoming more difficult.

“The biggest thing for our team as a whole right now is resting and building energy back up for the coming weekends,” Mooney said. “Although our racing season is short, it is really intense with two races each weekend for six weeks straight. Coming into the fifth week of carnival races, the fatigue is definitely building so the goal for this week is to take it easy and bounce back so we’re on fire again at Williams.”

Day two at Dartmouth was a mixed bag, bringing some great runs and some disappointing runs.

In the slalom event, the Middlebury men’s alpine team came away with fifth, 11th, and 15th finishes and the women’s alpine team crossed in at 21st, 26th, and 28th place. The Nordic women also had a poor day, finishing the 15K classic with 22nd, 26th, and 34th place finishes. The men’s Nordic team did not do as hoped, as they took 26th, 40th, and 44th places in the 20K classic.
Next, the Middlebury ski teams travel to Mass. to take part in the Williams Carnival, which is held on Friday, Feb. 14th and Saturday, Feb. 15th.

“[We] will have a pretty normal week of training leading up to Williams,” Roberts said. “The hill at Williams is steep so we will be focusing on the elements that make us fast on the steeps this week…As a team, we are looking to qualify as many teammates for NCAAs in Park City, UT. Also, getting top-three in the next carnivals as a team would be a great way to enter NCAAs.”