Dartmouth Takes Lead at NCAA Championships; Nef Wins Giant Slalom

Thursday, March 7

Stowe, Vt.

9:00 AM

Dartmouth College

NCAA Day Two

Tanguy Nef is all smiles with men's alpine coach Peter Dodge after winning the 2019 NCAA Giant Slalom

Photo by: Clarkson Creative

Dartmouth Takes Lead at NCAA Championships; Nef Wins Giant Slalom

3/7/2019 1:53:00 PM | Skiing

Giant Slalom Results and Standings GS Video Recap Photos Video Highlights

A superb showing by the men's alpine team lifts the Big Green to the top of the leaderboard through two days

By: Rick Bender

STOWE, Vt. — Entering the second day of the NCAA Skiing Championships in sixth place, Dartmouth was looking for some great performances in the giant slalom to move up the leaderboard. Well, junior Tanguy Nef and the rest of the men's alpine team provided just that as Nef won the individual title while senior James Ferri and sophomore Drew Duffy placed third and fourth, respectively, as the Big Green took over the lead ahead of Utah by six points, 259-253, with Vermont not far behind as well with 245.

"That was a super team effort today," Dartmouth men's alpine coach Peter Dodge said after the race. "The guys worked together to figure it out and had amazing performances. Tanguy absolutely killed his second run, Drew set the tone with his first and I couldn't be happier for James who battled back from so many injuries to get here. Just a wonderful day!"

The men weren't alone boosting Dartmouth into the lead as the women's team provided 63 points with sophomore Tricia Mangan leading the way in third place for a podium step of her own. Junior Stephanie Currie had a solid performance and claimed 13th place while senior Alexa Dlouhy took 20th.

Nef, who finished second in the GS last year to teammate Brian McLaughlin '18, wasn't highly ranked in the giant slalom this year having raced in the event just three times during carnival season with one podium finish, that coming back in January. So, Duffy was the first Big Green skier and eighth overall to head down the slopes of Mount Mansfield at Stowe Mountain Resort. Duffy was in second after his run of 56.82 seconds, trailing Vermont's Patrick McConville by a mere 0.01 seconds, before Ferri surpassed both with a time of 56.69. Only three skiers were better, one of those being Nef (the 20th skier to race) who led the pack with a time of 56.57, a slim 0.05 seconds ahead of competitors from Colorado and Montana State.

With the second run in reverse order of time, the Dartmouth trio had to wait for nearly everyone else before hitting the slopes. Duffy raced to a time of 1:00.89 — which turned out to be the sixth-fastest again — but his combined time of 1:57.71 fell short of catching Denver's Simon Fournier. After McConville fell behind Duffy, Ferri posted a time of 1:00.87 to move ahead of Duffy but still behind Fournier in 1:57.56. The skier in second after the first run, Colorado's Max Luuko, also fell behind Duffy, leaving Nef to make a run at the title.

The Swiss native did not disappoint as he bolted to the best second run as the only one to break one minute (59.53 seconds), leaving him with a combined time of 1:56.10, well ahead of Fournier's 1:57.35. The victory earned him his second NCAA individual title having won the slalom last year while later being named the 2018 United States Collegiate Ski Coaches Association Male Alpine skier of the Year. Ferri joined him on the podium in third with Duffy right behind in fourth as the trio not only all made the All-America First Team, but also picked up 105 points, well ahead of Denver in second (79) and Colorado in third (47).

The women's race began the day with Mangan the first skier at 9 a.m. She immmediately set the pace for the field with a time of 58.78 seconds, which eventually was the seventh-fastest recorded. Junior Stephanie Currie placed herself in the middle of the pack as her time of 59.66 put her in 14th, while senior Alexa Dlouhy sat in 22nd (1:00.59). Middlebury's Caroline Bartlett sped to the lead in 58.29 while Denver's Andrea Komsic was 0.14 seconds behind in her in second.

As the second run unfolded, there were mostly small movements in position, save for Utah's Kristene Aasberg who was 27th after the first run but took the lead and held it for the next eight skiers. Dlouhy moved up two spots to finish 20th with a combined time of 2:05.34, and Currie bumped up a slot into 13th (2:03.54). On Mangan's turn, she narrowly took the lead ahead of Colorado's Tommy Mikaela by 0.08 seconds with a time of 2:01.56, only to be passed by Laurence St. Germain of Vermont and Roni Remme of Utah. The top three skiers from the first run, however, all failed to remain in the top five, leaving St. Germain as the champion in 2:00.57, Remme second (2:01.02) and Mangan third to complete the podium and earn All-America First Team honors.

Cross country skiing is back on the menu tomorrow at the Trapp Family Lodge with the women's 15K classic at 10 a.m. and the men's 20K classic at noon. The events will be streamed live at ncaa.com/live starting with the women's race.

Notes: Nef is one of two current Big Green skiers with two NCAA titles to their credit, the other being sophomore Katharine Odgen, who is looking to defend her classical crown in tomorrow's race … Dartmouth has five champions over the last two years in Ogden (2), Nef (2) and McLaughlin (1) … the Big Green have had five top-five finishes by individuals in the first two days of the championships, all of whom earn first-team All-America honors; last year Dartmouth had 11 All-Americans, six on the first team … the most All-Americans (first or second team) the Big Green have had in any season was 13 in 2007, the third and last time the team won the national title.