Skiing races to yet another fourth place finish at ERCs

The Panthers wrapped up their regular season with a fourth place result at the Eastern Regional Championships, hosted by Bates College. UVM returned to the top of the podium after being displaced last weekend, while Dartmouth and UNH were second and third, respectively. While many teams would be content with fourth, the Panthers were not.
“We had some great individual results, collecting numerous podiums from our freshman,” said Alpine Captain Bobby Poehling ’11, “but we have not skied well together as a team.”
The most impressive performances of the weekend for the Panther came from first-years. Hig Roberts ’14 lead Middlebury’s Alpine team, finishing ninth and second on Saturday and Sunday. Nick Bailey ’14, in his first ever carnival, was a big help to the Alpine team finishing in 20th and seventh places. Lastly, Ben Lustgarten ’14 continued to impress on the Nordic team, collecting 13th and fifth place finishes.
The weekend’s races were held at Sunday River for the Alpine and Black Mountain for the Nordic. After last weekend’s wild weather, the conditions were pretty straightforward, and the groomers did a good job of packing down the couple inches of new, soft snow.
The Eastern Championships began with a Slalom race for the Alpine racers. And from the very beginning, UVM demonstrated that they were out for revenge, after Dartmouth beat them at the Middlebury Carnival last weekend. In the men’s race, the Catamounts swept the podium behind Tim Kelley’s individual win.
Roberts ’14 led the Panthers with another top-10 finish, finishing in ninth place. Poehling finished his college Slalom career with a solid 14th place, while Andrew McNealus ’13 completed the Panther’s scoring team with a 19th place finish. Even with three skiers in the top-20, Middlebury ended up in fifth place on the day.
In the women’s Slalom race, UVM was again on top of the podium with Megan Ryley. Captain Nicole Dvorak ’11 continued to impress in her final season by taking the third spot on the podium. Christine Schozer ’13 skied another solid race to finish 15th, while Bronwyn Oatley ’13 just made the top-20, finishing in 20th place. The Middlebury women placed fourth in the team scores.
Over on the Nordic trails, the final carnival started with a 5 and 10km skate race. In the women’s race, UVM continued their winning ways by taking the top two podium spots behind a victory by Caitlin Patterson. Patterson had won every race that she entered this year up to this point, and is a favorite for NCAAs.
Corinne Prevot ’13 led the Panthers finishing in a tie for 10th place. Captain Sophie McClelland ’11 was the next Middlebury finisher in 24th, while Hilary Rich ’13 was the third scorer in 32nd place. The Middlebury women placed fifth in the team score competition.
In the men’s race, Erik Packer of Dartmouth got some revenge for the Big Green. Packer crushed the rest of the field, skiing his way to a 42 second victory over teammate Scott Lacy in second. The top Middlebury skiers were Chase Marston ’12 and Lustgarten ’14, who finished 12th and 13th respectively; they were separated by a margin of less than a second. Co-captain Jimmy Levins had a good final skate race to finish in 22nd. The Middlebury men’s Nordic team ended the first day in fourth place.
At the end of the first day of racing, UVM was in the lead; Dartmouth, however, was not far behind. Middlebury sat in fourth behind a strong UNH team.
The second day of the Eastern Championships began with a Giant Slalom (GS) race for the Alpiners. In the men’s race, UVM picked up where they left off the day before by taking the team win behind Kevin Drury’s individual win. Roberts ’14 was only 15 hundredths of a second behind, however; he had his best race of the season to finish in second.
Bailey ’14, in his first carnival, was the second finisher for Middlebury in an impressive seventh place. McNealus ’13 improved on his Slalom race to place 10th in the GS. With three skiers in the top-10, the Middlebury men got some revenge, placing second behind UVM.
In the women’s race, it was the relatively unknown Geordie Lonza of Williams who took the victory over UVM’s superstars. Dvorak ’11 again led the Panthers, skiing a solid race to place 10th. Schozer was the second finisher again for the Panthers in 19th, while Tasha Woodworth just missed a top-20 finish in 21st. The Middlebury women placed fifth in the second day of racing.
Back on the Nordic trails, the races of the day were 15 and 20km classic mass-starts. The men went off first to race four laps of a hilly 5km course. Packer of Dartmouth made a strong move on the third lap to lose all other skiers besides Scott Patterson of UVM and Dimitri Luthi of Williams. Packer had a better sprint than either, however, and took his second victory of the weekend.
Lustgarten ’14 continued to impress in his first-year season, by taking fifth place. Levins ’11 had another strong race to crack the top-15, finishing 14th. The other co-captain, Graham Egan ’11, completed the Panther’s scoring team with a 22nd place finish. The Middlebury men earned a fourth place team score for their efforts.
In the women’s race, the victory came down to a three-way sprint between Rosie Brennan of Dartmouth and Caitlin Patterson and Amy Glen, both of UVM. Brennan was able to just hold off Patterson and Glen for the win, ending Patterson’s undefeated streak. Dartmouth also just barely beat out UVM for the top team score for the day.
Prevot ’13 again led the Panthers, overcoming a broken pole to finish in 17th place. McClelland was the next finisher in 22nd in her final college race, while first-year Emily Attwood ’14 finished right behind her in 23rd. The Middlebury women ended the day with another fifth place team score.
While the Eastern Championships were the last carnival of the year, college racing continues in little over a week with NCAA’s. UVM is hosting this year’s competitions which take place from March 9-12th. Middlebury will send an impressive team of eight skiers to represent the school. For Alpine, the skiers are: Rob Cone ’14, McNealus ’13, Roberts ’14, Dvorak ’11 and Woodworth ’11. The Nordic skiers are: Lustgarten ’14, Marston ’12 and Prevot ’13.
Despite being a little disappointed with the weekend, Poehling was excited about Middlebury’s chances in the NCAA races.
“We have an amazing team representing us at NCAA’s next week,” he said, “so all eyes will be on them to bring home some hardware. They have the talent and the will, and with a little luck they should have some fantastic results.”