Skiing finishes fourth at UVM Carnival, dissapointed by result

The UVM skiers used their home courses to their advantage last weekend to stay unbeaten in the 2011 season. The team podium for this weekend remained unchanged from the first two carnivals: UVM in first, Dartmouth in second and UNH in third; while Middlebury again placed just off the podium in fourth. The most impressive performance for the Panthers was provided by the women’s alpine team, who turned in two stellar performances to take third in the GS and second in the slalom.

The UVM Carnival began on Friday with a Giant Slalom (GS) race for the alpine racers at Stowe, VT. The Catamounts wasted no time in setting the tone for the weekend in the women’s race, where sisters Kate and Megan Ryley of UVM took first and third, respectively. Middlebury women’s captain Nicole Dvorak ’11 led her team with an impressive fifth place, her first top-5 finish of the season. Bronwyn Oatley ’13 and Natasha Woodworth ’11 completed the Panthers scoring group finishing in 11th and 13th place, respectively. The UVM women took the top team score, with Middlebury not far behind in a strong third place.



The UVM men’s alpine team, not to be outdone by their women, took the top two spots in their GS race, and the highest team score. Jonathan Nordbotten, a Norwegian national, secured the top spot on the podium for UVM after returning from racing in Europe. The Panthers were led by an outstanding Robert Cone ’14, who collected his second podium finish of his rookie season in third place. Another first-year Hig Roberts ’14 and sophomore Andrew McNealus ’13 also finished in the top-10, in seventh and tenth places respectively. With three skiers in the top-10, the Middlebury men took third place behind alpine powerhouses UVM and UNH.
Over on the Nordic trails of the Trapp Family Lodge, the cross-country skiers contested their longest races of the season, with a 15km classic race for the women and a 20km for the men. Both races were mass-starts, which tend to be very tactical races because all the skiers can see where their competitors are; they often end in a group of skiers sprinting for the finish line.

At the end of the women’s race, however, the sprint for the victory was an all UVM affair; led by Caitlin Patterson, the Catamount women swept the podium. Keely Levins ’13 was the lone Panther finisher in the top-20 with a solid 17th place finish. The rest of the Middlebury women struggled a little with Hilary Rich ’13 and Emily Attwood ’14 finishing in 27th and 29th place respectively to complete the team score. The Panthers earned a disappointing sixth place team finish in the race.

UVM continued their winning ways when Franz Bernstein out-sprinted Eric Packer of Dartmouth for the win in the men’s race. The Dartmouth men took the team victory, however, by capturing second through fourth places. Ben Lustgarten ’14 continued his impressive rookie season by leading the Panthers with his 10th place finish. Chase Marston ’12 and Doug Debold ’12 also skied strong races taking 12th and 16th places, respectively. The Middlebury men received a respectable third place team score for their efforts.

At the end of the first day of racing, UVM had a commanding lead over UNH in second place, while Dartmouth was right behind the Wildcats in third. Middlebury sat comfortably in fourth, far ahead of Williams in fifth, but within striking distance of third if either UNH or Dartmouth struggled.

The carnival continued on Saturday with a Slalom race for the alpine racers. UVM again took the top honors in the women’s race with Kate Ryley’s win, but Williams College had an extraordinary day to win the team score. Dvorak again led the Panthers, just missing out on a podium finish in fourth. Christine Schozer ’13 had a great race to collect her first top 10 finish of the year in seventh place. Woodworth completed the Panther’s team score with a 13th place, which was good enough to earn the Middlebury women a season-high second place team score.

In the men’s Slalom race, Nordbotten of UVM showed that he is the man to beat on the carnival circuit this year, taking his second victory of the weekend. First-years Cone  and Roberts continued to impress, finishing back-to-back in sixth and seventh places, respectively. The rest of the men’s team struggled however, and McNealus was the next Panther finisher way down the results page in 40th. Despite the lack of a third strong finisher, Middlebury was third in the team score behind UVM and UNH.

Back on the Nordic tracks, the cross-country skiers contested a 5/10km skate race. The UVM women were on fire again; led by Patterson, the Catamounts took first, second and fifth. Corinne Prevot ’13 was the only Panther finisher in the top-20, in 19th place. Attwood and captain Sophie McClelland ’11 completed Middlebury’s team score finishing back-to-back in 24th and 25th, respectively. The Panther women improved on Friday’s sixth place finish, but still finished a lackluster fifth.

Perhaps inspired by his older sister’s victory, Scott Patterson, also of UVM, won Saturday’s 10km skate race. Again though, it was the Dartmouth men who narrowly took the team victory by putting three skiers in the top five. Marston ’12 was the top Panther skier, collecting his second top-10 result of the season in 10th place. Lustgarten ’14 and Debold ’12 continued to be valuable contributors for Middlebury finishing 15th and 23rd, respectively. The Middlebury men ended the day in a solid third place.

Nordic coach Andrew Gardner admitted that the team had some performances that “weren’t awesome,” but he stressed that the team was on the right track. “The good news is that we’re a team coming into it within the racing season,” he wrote on the ski team’s blog.