Dartmouth Men Third in Slalom; Team Finishes Sixth at NCAAs

Saturday, March 14

Lake Placid, N.Y.

9:00 AM

Dartmouth College

Slalom

Dartmouth Men Third in Slalom; Team Finishes Sixth at NCAAs

3/14/2015 2:27:00 PM | Skiing

By: Dartmouth

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — At the conclusion of each of the first three days of the NCAA Skiing Championships, Dartmouth found itself in sixth place. On the final day of competition, the Big Green maintained their position on the strength of the men's alpine team that took third in the slalom, led by freshman Kevyn Read in 11th.

Colorado took home the title for the 20th time with 505 points, holding off a hard-charging Denver squad that scored nearly 40 percent of its final total of 478 on Saturday with 86 in the women's slalom and a whopping 102 in the men's slalom — the most by any team in any of the disciplines this week. That final surge allowed the Pioneers to overtake Utah, which placed third with 471, followed by Vermont (443), New Mexico (402) and Dartmouth (275).

The first time down the slopes of Whiteface Mountain, senior Ben Morse posted the best time for the Big Green at 1:00.36, good for 13th, with Read right on his heels in 14th at 1:00.40. Sophomore Dylan Brooks, who earned second-team All-America honors on Thursday in the giant slalom, sat in 21st with a time of 1:01.41, while Denver had three among the top seven and Vermont boasted two in the top three.

It was Brooks who had the fastest second run for Dartmouth in 58.06 seconds, boosting him four spots in the final standings to 17th with a combined time of 1:59.47. Read, however, was the top Big Green skier on the day as he took 11th place in 1:58.72 while Morse claimed 14th in 1:59.07. Although none of the three were among the top 10 to garner All-America honors, the solid showing allowed them to amass 51 points to place third in the event.

Vermont's Dominique Garand won the title with a time of 1:55.03, and another Catamount in Taylor Wunsch finished fifth, sandwiching three Denver skiers between them. The Pioneers won the event with their 102 points and Vermont came in second with 87.

The Dartmouth women suffered through a dismal day as junior Lizzie Kistler and freshman Libby Gibson were unable to finish their first run, and freshman Foreste Peterson, who had the seventh-best time on her first run, fell the second time down.

Monica Huebner of Denver bested Kristina Riis-Johannessen of Vermont to win the slalom by a quarter of a second in 1:56.52, while her teammate Kristine Haugen joined her on the podium. But the Catamounts managed to place three in the top 10 and just nip the Pioneers in the team total, 87-86.