Collegiate Recap

EISA – Bates Carnival

Day 1 – 5/10km Classic Individual Start
Dartmouth used its Nordic skiing depth in the men’s 10k and women’s 5k classic to beat out the University of Vermont by six points. The Catamounts had superior scores in the Alpine giant slalom section with 117 and 115 points for men’s and women’s teams compared to 79 and 96 for the Big Green but lost out in the overall Nordic skiing points, with a sum total of 193 points compared to Dartmouth’s 256 points.

Leading the Dartmouth charge was Ida Sargent with her first place finish netting the team a total of fifty points, taking advantage of the new NCAA scoring system which assigns a three point bonus for winning. Middlebury’s Elise Moody-Roberts finished second, +7.5, and Colby freshman Lucy Garrec claimed the final podium spot.

In the men’s race, UVM standout Juergen Uhl powered to an eighteen second victory over Dartmouth’s Dakota Blackhorse-Von Jess and Patrick O’Brien.

Day 2 – 15/20km Freestyle Mass Start
Dartmouth extended their slim six point lead from Friday to a more commanding fifty seven point win over runner up University of Vermont at the 2009 Bates Carnival. The story was similar to yesterday, Dartmouth used the depth of each team to consistently pull out more total points than any rivals could muster.

The Dartmouth domination was particularly highlighted by the Men’s 20k freestyle race podium of Big Green skiers, Patrick O’Brien, Nils Koons, and Glenn Randall. Particularly remarkable was Randall’s performance, garnering a third place despite breaking his ski during the mass start and having to work his way up from dead last.

UVM did manage to win the women’s 15k freestyle but only by four points over Dartmouth. The 15k was remarkable for another fact though, it marked the only race at the Bates Carnival that a Dartmouth or University of Vermont athlete did not win an event. Even more remarkable was who did it, Colby freshman Lucy Garrec who trumped University of Vermont skier Caitlin Patterson by over eight seconds in her first carnival freestyle race. This marked the first-ever victory in a carnival race for a Colby skier. Hannah Dreissigacker (DAR) rounded out the podium.

Read a first hand account of the acing on the UVM blog:
http://blogs.fasterskier.com/uvm/

Bates Carnival – Complete Results

CCSA – Mt. Itasca Supertour

Cold Weather greets CCSA skiers at Mount Itasca SuperTour – CCSA Day 1
by Matias Saari

Cold weather greeted cross-country skiers on Saturday for the Mount Itasca SuperTour classical technique races in Coleraine, Minn.

“It was a little bit on the cold side, but it felt OK,” said head coach Joe Haggenmiller of Michigan Tech University, one of 10 schools participating from the Central Collegiate Ski Association. “It started at minus 4 and warmed up to probably around zero.”

The start of Saturday’s race was delayed until 1 p.m. to give more time for the temperature to rise. It was originally scheduled for 9 a.m. but moved to a noon start days ago in anticipation of cold weather.

Laura DeWitt of Northern Michigan University had the best result among Central Collegiate Ski Association schools, taking fourth overall in 31 minutes, 32 seconds. NMU teammates Marie Helen Soderman (sixth in 31:52) and Christina Gillis (11th in 32:12) followed DeWitt in the conference standings. Elizabeth Quinley of Michigan Tech and Carolyn Freeman of Wisconsin-Green Bay rounded out the top five.

“(NMU’s) women skied well and skied aggressive,” Haggenmiller said.

Kristina Strandberg, a Swede skiing for Saab Salomon Team, easily won the 10-kilometer race in 29:41. She was followed by Lindsey (Weier) Dehlin of the U.S. Ski Team (30:35) and Caitlin Compton of CXC (30:57). Dehlin and Compton both skied in college at NMU.

For the men, Michigan Tech’s Petter Sjulstad, a 20-year-old freshman from Norway, paced the CCSA and was 10th overall in 26:15.
NMU’s Justin Singleton, Phil Violett and Kevin Cutts claimed the next three spots while Santiago Ocariz of UWGB completed the conference’s top five.

The top three overall in the men’s 10K were David Chamberlain of MWSC in 25:25.6, Bryan Cook of CXC Elite (25:27) and Harry Seaton of NTDC (25:47).

Sjulstad’s result did not surprise Haggenmiller.

“He’s got two cousins that were NCAA champions,” Haggenmiller said. “He’s got a pretty good pedigree.”

Sjulstad may have been overlooked somewhat on the college recruiting front because his FIS points ranking was low due to having had mononucleosis, Haggenmiller said.

Saturday’s win for Sjulstad was a big improvement from his 13th place in the conference at the first NCAA qualifier of the season, the 10K freestyle on Jan. 5 at the U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships in Anchorage, Alaska. Ocariz was first for the men that day while Anna Coulter of Alaska (Fairbanks) won the women’s 5K, with DeWitt fifth.

Saturday’s race was the second of nine NCAA-qualifiers for the CCSA.

Chaudoin of Gustavus Adolphus and Ocariz of UWGB pace CCSA at Mount Itasca freestyle – CCSA Day 2
by Matias Saari

Kelly Chaudoin of Gustavus Adolphus was the top skier from the Central Collegiate Ski Association on Sunday at the Mount Itasca SuperTour, but the women from Northern Michigan University dominated the freestyle event in Coleraine, Minn.

Chaudoin became the third CCSA woman in as many races to win an NCAA qualifier, posting a 10-kilometer interval-start time of 31 minutes, 9.7 seconds on a sunny day that saw a nippy starting temperature of minus 3 degrees.

Chaudoin’s margin of victory made topping the 53-skier CCSA field even more impressive. The senior from Ely, Minn., finished 56 seconds ahead of Marie Helen Soderman of Northern Michigan (32:05) and placed seventh overall in a field that included skiers from some of the top clubs in the country.

Soderman, however, led a parade of NMU skiers in second through sixth places, as she was followed by teammates Ingrid Fjeldheim, Laura DeWitt (Saturday’s classic technique winner), Christina Gillis and Anna Bergland.

Winning the overall race in convincing fashion was Caitlin Compton of CXC Elite. Compton showed why she is the reigning U.S. freestle national champion with a time of 27:49, exactly one minute ahead of Kristina Strandberg of Saab Salomon Team. Lindsey Dehlin of the U.S. Ski Team placed third.

In the men’s race, Santiago Ocariz of Wisconsin-Green Bay won his second straight CCSA freestyle event with a 10K time of 25:46, good for 10th overall.

Ocariz, a junior, edged Tim Cook of NMU by eight seconds, with Justin Singleton of NMU third in 26:11.

Tyler Kjorstad of St. Scholastica, Jesse Lang of Michigan Tech, Waylon Manske of St. Scholastica and Kevin Cutts of NMU placed fourth through seventh, respectively, all finishing within 0.7 seconds of one another.

CXC Elite’s Matthew Liebsch (24:02), Brian Greg (24:21) and Brian Cook (24:24) swept the overall podium.

The next NCAA qualifying races for the CCSA will be at the Telemark SuperTour Jan. 31-Feb. 1 in Cable, Wisc.

CCSA-only results are listed below.

For the two days of racing, Northern Michigan University was the top CCSA team with 300 points.
Michigan Tech University was second with 249, followed by University Wisconsin-Green Bay with 211 and Gustavus Adolphus College with 203.

College of St. Scholastica (174), St. Olaf College (144), College of St. Benedict (women’s only, 70), Saint Johns University (men’s only, 65), St. Cloud State University (women’s only, 43) and Northland College (40) rounded out the conference standings.

University of Alaska Fairbanks was the only CCSA team that did not compete.

Use the “related” link below to view the complete results from the SuperTour weekend.

<b>ECSC – WPI Invitational</b>

<i>Hamilton women sweep weekend competitions, while Cornell and Paul Smith’s split at WPI Invitational (1/24/09 – 1/25/09)</i>

McKayla Dunfey took second in the freestyle race and first in the classical event to lead Hamilton College to a weekend sweep at the WPI Invitational at Viking Nordic Center in Londonderry, VT.  Yale University’s Jen Mygatt won Saturday’s freestyle event, while Drea Kasianchuk of Ithaca College placed third behind Dunfey.  Mygatt’s Yale team finished the day ranked second.  On Sunday, Dunfey was followed by Cornell University’s Jess Marion, who finished in the runner-up spot to lead her team to a second place showing.  Skidmore College’s Danika Robison placed third, as her team finished third.

In the men’s classical event, Stephen Bibb set the pace, as he placed first in the race to lead Paul Smith’s College to victory.  Bibb was followed by second-place finisher Will Anderson of Yale.  Bibb’s teammate, Matthew Piper, rounded out the podium in third.  The win for Paul Smith’s did not come easy, as the team finished the day tied for first-place with Army, but won the tie-breaker to claim the day’s top team award.  The freestyle race was won by Piper, as he led his team to a second-place finish behind Cornell.  Piper was closely followed by Anderson, while Olin College’s David Stamp placed third.  Army finished the day in third place.

The ECSC Nordic Division is scheduled to race again in classical and freestyle events at the Cornell Invitational on January 31 and February 1 at the Olympic Sports Complex in Lake Placid, NY.

ECSC NORDIC SKIERS OF THE WEEK

MEN:  Matt Piper, Paul Smith’s College
Matt Piper finished first in Saturday’s WPI Invitational classical event at Viking Nordic Center in Londonderry, VT, as Paul Smith’s College placed a close second in the team race.  The following day, Piper finished third in the freestyle event to lead his team to victory.

WOMEN:  McKayla Dunfey, Hamilton College
Hamilton College’s McKayla Dunfey won Sunday’s WPI Invitational classical event and placed second in the freestyle race to lead her team to a pair of wins over the weekend at Londonderry, Vermont’s Viking Nordic Center.