The above video is of the men’s 10 k individual start. Having trouble viewing the video? Watch here.
CRAFTSBURY, Vt. — Kris Freeman (Freebird) has been racing at high level for many years, and his veteran status showed on the trails of the Craftsbury Outdoor Center. As the 34-year-old prepares for his eighth World Championships – set to begin later this month in Falun, Sweden – he skied to his second win in as many days with a victory in Saturday’s 10 kilometer freestyle individual start.
Saturday welcomed warmer temperatures than Friday’s freestyle sprints, with racers facing 15 degree weather and lightly falling snow throughout the day. Although an inch or two of snow fell overnight, the course was hard-packed and fast for the SuperTour, EISA College, and Eastern Cup races.
Freeman skied a conservative first lap and trailed split-leader Rogan Brown of the University of Vermont at the 5 k mark. In the second lap of the race, Freeman powered through the challenging course to vastly overcome the deficit and finish with a time of 25:04.3. Brown was able to maintain a podium position and skied to second overall, 38.3 seconds behind Freeman. Brown was the top college skier and led a trio of Vermont skiers, including fifth and seventh place finishers Jørgen Grav and Jack Hegmen, to sweep the Dartmouth Carnival podium and win the day of college racing.
“I had a hot lap,” Brown said of his first lap in a post-race interview. “After that I focused on skiing smooth. I’ve always loved this course.”
In third was Alaska Pacific University’s Lex Trienen, who trailed Freeman by 1:04.0 as he crossed the finish line. He was followed by Grav (+1:05.4) in fourth and APU teammate David Norris (+1:13.9) in fifth.
Women’s 10 k Freestyle Broadcast:
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In the women’s 10 k individual start Mary Rose employed similar tactics to Freeman. At her 5 k split Rose sat in third and trailed race-leaders Chelsea Homes of APU and Anja Gruber of Far West Elite by several seconds. With her finish time of 30:10.3, however, Rose outpaced the entire field by over 10 seconds.
“I was really focused on not having a negative split.” Rose said in a post-race interview. She explained one of her main motivations in Saturday’s race was to catch the women in front of her an not be caught by any starters behind her. Her strategy was to ski hard from the start and maintain the her speed throughout the course.
Behind Rose was a tie for second place between Stratton Mountain School T2’s Erika Flowers and University of New Hampshire’s Anika Taylor. With a time of 30:20.5, both Flowers and Taylor earned a rare equal placement and an even rarer podium tie. Taylor led the UNH Wildcats to earn the most points in the women’s nordic portion of the Dartmouth Carnival.
In fourth and fifth were Gruber and APU’s Becca Rorabaugh, who trailed Rose by 17.0 and 17.9 seconds. Holmes (+18.8) finished her day in sixth.
In the junior 5 k individual freestyle races, Russel Boswell of SMS won with a time of 14:11.1. He was followed by Adam Glueck (+4.1) of Ford Sayre and Walker Bean (+10.8) of Green Mountain Valley School (GMVS) in second and third.
Olivia Cunio of GMVS won the junior women’s 5 k with a time of 16:22.3. In second and third were Mae Chalmers (+37.7) of SMS and Kristen Miller (+37.7).
Although the Dartmouth Carnival concluded Saturday, SuperTour and Eastern Cup racing will continue Sunday with 5/10/15 k classic mass starts beginning at 9:30 a.m. EST. FasterSkier will be live streaming the races. Watch them here.
Results: U16 Boys | U16 Girls | Men | Women
U16 Boys 5k Races:
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U16 Girls 5k Races:
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Podium Ceremony and Athlete Interviews:
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