Dartmouth Holds Slim Lead at Middlebury

Friday, February 15

Middlebury, Vt.

TBA

Dartmouth College

Middlebury Day One

Senior Callan Deline earned the first podium for the men's Nordic team this winter

Photo by: Gil Talbot

2/15/2019 2:34:00 PM | Skiing

Day One Results

Two wins and two other podiums highlight the day

By: Rick Bender

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. — Thanks to a pair of individual victories and two other podiums, the Dartmouth ski team found itself atop the standings after the first day of the Middlebury Carnival, edging out the host Panthers by 10 points, 458-448. Sophomore Katharine Ogden and senior Alexa Dlouhy took the gold in the women's races for the Big Green, while sophomore Patricia Mangan, joined Dlouhy on the podium and senior Callan Deline picked up the first top-three finish for the men's Nordic team this winter.

Ogden showed the form that earned her two NCAA titles last year, taking the lead after the first lap of the women's 10K classic at the Rikert Nordic Center. On the second and final loop, she managed to fend off Vermont's Margie Freed by 3.5 seconds to earn her sixth consecutive classical victory dating back to last year with a time of 29:15.0. Senior Lydia Blanchet finished fourth behind another Catamount skier in 29:56.3, while junior Leah Brams also scored for Dartmouth by claiming seventh in 30:49.8, just edging out classmate Lauren Jortberg by less than a second. The top three earned 126 points, but Vermont narrowly took the team title with 128.

In the men's 15K, Deline raced with the lead pack for the first 5K, sitting sixth, before jumping to the front after the second loop. Middlebury's Sam Wood managed to overtake him down the stretch by less than two seconds, but the All-American remained in front of two other Panthers to finish second in 39:18.3. The Big Green tied Williams for second as a team with 98 points as senior Gavin McEwen (40:39.8) and sophomore Adam Glueck (40:52.9) placed 15th and 17th, respectively, while Vermont settled for fourth with 96.

Over on the slopes at the Snow Bowl, the Big Green men had four among the top 11 after the first run of the slalom, putting themselves in good position for the afternoon run. Sophomore Kalle Wagner just missed out on stepping on the podium, finishing fourth in 1:39.12 with his teammate, sophomore Drew Duffy, behind him in fifth by a mere three-hundredths of a second. But it was junior Kipling Weisel, sitting 18th after his first attempt, who made the big move with the fastest time on the second run to climb all the way into a tie for seventh with Dartmouth senior James Ferri in 1:39.28. Even without a medal, the Big Green won the event, squeaking past Vermont, 115-111 while Middlebury took third with 96 points thanks to Erik Arvidsson (1:37.84) winning the gold.

Dlouhy — a three-time All-American in the slalom — dominated the competition in the women's race, posting the best time on each of her attempts to claim her victory by more than one and a half seconds in 1:43.69. She was joined on the podium by sophomore Tricia Mangan (a 2018 Olympian) who jumped ahead of three other skiers on her afternoon run to place second in 1:45.24, just ahead of Middlebury's Lucia Bailey (1:45.46). Also scoring for Dartmouth was sophomore Hannah Utter who posted the sixth-fastest time on her second run to overcome a rough start and finish 18th in 1:47.39. The Big Green won the women's slalom with 119 points, but the Panthers were right on their heels with 114.

The carnival will conclude on Saturday with the giant slalom starting at 9:30 a.m. and the freestyle races at 10 a.m.