It was a long haul for many eastern college teams this past weekend, as the St. Lawrence Carnival was held in Gatineau Park, near Ottawa. Anyone starting to complain about the drive, however, was quickly reminded that St. Lawrence regularly makes treks that distance!
UVM was very strong as usual, but there were some surprises. Both UNH and Williams surprised a lot of people with some very strong team results.
The conditions were cold, but fast, on a course that either had the racers going up or down, and very little in between!
Day 1 – 5/10k Free
On the men's side, Ethan Foster (UVM) continued his impressive results from US Nationals by skiing away from the field winning by just over a minute. Middlebury freshmen Garrott Kuzzy had a satisfying Carnival debut, posting a 2nd place finish. The top five was rounded out by: 3rd Colin Rodgers (MID), 4th Justin Easter (BAT), 5th Brayton Osgood (DAR).
The women's race saw two skiers, Melody Scheefer (WIL) and Haley Johnson (BAT) also putting some distance on the rest of the field, with Scheefer pulling ahead to win by 12 seconds. The rest of the top five, all within 15 seconds, were: 3rd Eeva Pregitzer (UNH), 4th Margaret Maher (UNH), 5th Elise Henson (WIL).
Day 2 – 5/10k Classic Pursuit
In the women's pursuit, no one was going to catch with Melody Scheefer or Haley Johnson. Scheefer put another 17 seconds on Johnson to win another carnival race. Johnson easily held on to second, with 3rd Elise Henson (WIL), 4th Kate Underwood (UNH) 5th Margaret Maher (UNH) rounding out the top five.
Similarly, in the men's race, Ethan Foster, starting with a 1 minute margin easily cruised to his second carnival victory. The race for second turned interesting, as Brayton Osgood (DAR) moved up to edge Justin Easter (BAT) at the line for 2nd. They were followed closely by 4th Matt Schadow (UNH), 5th Garrot Kuzzy (MID).
