RUMFORD — Victories by first-year Ida Sargent and junior Dakota Blackhorse-Von Jess helped Dartmouth College take an early lead after the first day of competition at the 2008 Bates College Carnival.
Dartmouth and Colby dominated the women’s and men’s fields respectively on a drizzling day at Rumford, Maine hosted by Bates College as the Eastern Carnival Circuit kicked off its season. Rumford survived the January meltdown plaguing the east coast to put on a typical good show with decent snow conditions and great organization and class.
Dartmouth’s Ida Sargent skied to victory in 12:59 in the women’s 5k skate race followed closely by Alexa Turzian of Middlebury in 13:04. These two freshmen outpaced the rest of the field with Dartmouth’s Elsa Sargent rounding out the podium in 13:24. The Big Green placed 5 women in the top ten to easily take the team tally.
On the men’s side, Colby College was the story of the day with four men in the top seven, turning some heads with a men’s team score lead. Dartmouth again took the individual victory with senior Dakota Blackhorse von Jess who won the 10k skate in a tightly contested race. Only 10 seconds separated the podium, and only one minute divided the top 15 places. Tim Reynolds of Middlebury and Wyatt Fereday of Colby were second and third.
 (Photo Credit: Kris Dobie)</font></center></p><p><center><img decoding=)