Carnival Season Begins on Friday, Hosted by Harvard

Friday, January 17

Craftsbury, Vt./Waterville Valley, N.H.

9:00 AM

Dartmouth College

Harvard Day One

Photo by: Gil Talbot

Carnival Season Begins on Friday, Hosted by Harvard

1/16/2020 3:36:00 PM | Skiing

Live Timing at Harvard

Dartmouth will be vying for its fourth straight EISA title

By: Rick Bender

HANOVER, N.H. — Another quest for Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA) and NCAA titles begins this weekend for the Dartmouth ski team with the Harvard Carnival, the first ever hosted by the Crimson. The races begin on Friday with the alpine events in Waterville Valley, Maine, and the Nordic taking place at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center in Craftsbury, Vermont (moved from Dublin, New Hampshire, due to snow conditions).

The Big Green are coming off a fourth-place finish at the 2019 NCAA Championship with 447 points, just eight behind Colorado in third. That came after beating out Vermont for the EISA title by eight points as well. Dartmouth has a deep and talented roster once again to make a run at its fourth straight EISA title as well as the national championship.

The men's and women's alpine teams are both blessed with plenty of talent once again, despite the graduation of three-time All-American Alexa Dlouhy and the departure of two-time NCAA champion Tanguy Nef to the Swiss National Team. The women feature junior Tricia Mangan, a 2018 Olympian and 2019 first-team All-American in the giant slalom, as well as senior Stephanie Currie, who narrowly missed out on All-America honors in both events last year. Junior captain Claire Thomas, who had seven top-seven finishes last year, will be a strong competitor for the Big Green, as will senior Stephanie Lebby, who missed out on last year's carnival season after a promising sophomore campaign in 2017-18. And with sophomore Ellie Curtis and several other veterans along with freshmen Bri Turdeau (East Burke, Vermont) and Gwen Wattenmaker (Olympic Valley, California), the Anny Jenny Head Coach of Women's Alpine Skiing John Dwyer will have plenty of competition throughout the season.

The competition within the men's alpine team will be fierce, much like the women, with numerous veterans available to head coach Peter Dodge, now in his 31st year at Dartmouth. The Big Green will be led by the All-American duo of fifth-year senior James Ferri and junior captain Drew Duffy. Last year, the pair finished third and fourth, respectively, in the giant slalom at the NCAA Championship, while Duffy also earned second-team All-America honors in the slalom for taking eighth, not to mention eight podium finishes during the season. Then there are seniors David Domonoske and Kipling Weisel as well as juniors Jimmy Krupka and Kalle Wagner, all of whom had multiple top-10 finishes in 2019, as well as sophomore Andrew Miller who raced in four carnivals. Dartmouth is also adding freshmen Hunter Brayton (Waterville Valley, New Hampshire), Kellen Kinsella (Vail, Colorado) and Henrik Thorsby (Oslo, Norway) to vie for spots at the carnivals.

On the trails, junior Katharine Ogden has been a dominant force in the women's Nordic races during her first two years with three NCAA titles to her credit, plus was one of 30 semifinalists for the AAU James E. Sullivan Award in 2019, given to the nation's top amateur athlete. She finished on the podium in nine of her 10 races last year and is expected to be a regular at the front of the pack once again. Senior co-captain Lauren Jortberg has been a consistently excellent skier for head coach Cami Thompson-Graves during her career, making the All-America second team in each of her first three seasons with the Big Green. Two other seniors — co-captain Leah Brams and Abby Drach — have had success at various times, as did sophomore Molly Gellert as a rookie last year when she finished on the podium in the 5K freestyle at Vermont. A handful of other veterans will be joined by two freshmen in Anna Lehmann (Bondville, Vermont) and Mara McCollor (Plymouth, Minn.), the latter of whom was named to the U.S. team that will compete at the Cross Country Skiing Junior Championships.

The men's Nordic squad is the only one of the four Dartmouth teams to have graduated two of its skiers that competed at the NCAA Championship last year and is by the far the youngest team with no seniors on the roster. The one returning NCAA competitor is junior and Hanover native Adam Glueck who had his top finish at Vermont last year, taking fifth in the 10K freestyle. Sophomore Luc Golin has the most carnival experience of the five other returning skiers, competing at all six carnivals in 2019 as a rookie. Also returning are junior Tyler Lee and sophomore Oliver Snow along with two who missed out on last season in juniors Walker Bean and Kamran Husain. Freshmen Alex Nemeth (Sartell, Minnesota) and Cameron Wolfe (Vail, Colorado) will bring an influx of young talent as well to push the team throughout the season.

The giant slalom will start the carnival at Tommy's World Cup Run Friday at 9 a.m. with the women up first. On Saturday, the men kick off the slalom races at 9 a.m. At Craftsbury, the skate races will feature an interval start on Friday, beginning with the men's 10K at 9:30 a.m. and the women's 5K at 11 a.m. The following day, the men's 20K classic is the first event at 10 a.m. followed by the women's 15K at noon with both scheduled to be streamed live on ESPN+.