Dartmouth Take Early Lead in Home Eastern Collegiate Carnival

HANOVER — Big Green skiers shined Friday on home courses and have taken the lead after the first day of racing at the Dartmouth Carnival.

Highlights for Dartmouth included topping the men’s and women’s Nordic team scores, and an individual giant slalom win by Courtney Hammond.

Hammond, the current Bogner points leader, edged three consecutive UVM skiers, Jilyne McDonald, Lyndee Janowiak, and Kara Crow, for the win at the Dartmouth Skiway. The three Catamounts skied their team to first place, leaving Dartmouth in second, ten points behind. Middlebury currently stands in third.

Nordic Racing at Oak Hill was once again dominated by Dartmouth, who topped both the men’s and women’s team scores. Individually for the women, Alexa Turzian earned the top podium position in the 5 kilometer freestyle event. She was followed closely by four consecutive Dartmouth skiers, including Bogner points leader Ida Sargent in second, and Susan Dunklee in third.

Middlebury’s Simeon Hamilton took his first win of the season in the men’s 10 kilometer freestyle event, comfortably ahead of Dartmouth team mates Glenn Randall and Nils Koons, who took second and third. Colby skiers Nick Kline and Silas Gill skied strongly into the fourth and fifth positions, and helped their team place second in points standings. Middlebury is currently in third.

The men’s giant slalom was won by the University of New Hampshire, whose skiers placed second (Michael Cremeno), fourth (Sean McNamara), and eighth (William Ford) individually. Eric Mann of Williams picked up his first win of the season and helped his team to second. Ace Tarberry of Dartmouth took third, but couldn’t enough to help his team to a better finish than third place.

Middlebury women currently stand in second place, followed by the University of New Hampshire in third.

After the first day of racing, host Dartmouth stands in first place with 376 points. UVM Carnival winner Middlebury College is currently in second, with the University of New Hampshire (323 points) edging the University of Vermont by just one point for third place.

Racers now look to Saturday’s slalom event at the Dartmouth Skiway and distance classical races on Oak Hill’s challenging 10 kilometer loop.

Information about the remaining schedule, as well as up-to-date results and team standings can be found at www.eisasking.org.

Photo Courtesy of Kris Dobie (www.krisdobie.smugmug.com)