Women Score Victories on First Day at St. Michael's

Friday, January 21

Jeffersonville/Huntington, Vt.

Dartmouth College

Saint Michael's Day One

Jasmine Drolet

Photo by: flyingpointroad.com

Women Score Victories on First Day at St. Michael's

1/21/2022 9:02:00 PM | Skiing

Day One Results

Freshman Jasmine Drolet and junior Gwen Wattenmaker grabbed the top step of the podium in their races

By: Rick Bender

JEFFERSONVILLE/HUNTINGTON, Vt. — The cold could not stop — merely delay — the St. Michael's Carnival from kicking off today, Dartmouth wrapped up the four races in second place in the team standings with 395 points, trailing only Vermont with 455. Freshman Jasmine Drolet starred for the Big Green on the trails, winning the women's 10K freestyle, while junior Gwen Wattenmaker mastered the slopes by taking the top step of the podium in the women's giant slalom.

A delayed start of two hours at Sleepy Hollow for the cross country races did not faze the Big Green women. Launching at 2 p.m., Drolet — making her collegiate debut — did not take long to establish herself as the front runner, and by the time she reached the 5K checkpoint, she led the field by nearly 12 seconds. She continued to push the pace and crossed the tape in 27:08.3, well ahead of another Jasmine (Lyons) from UNH at 27:34.9. Drolet's classmate, Nina Seeman, also was competing in college for the first time and was the next Big Green skier to finish in 28:12.0, good for sixth. Senior Callie Young completed the course in seventh place (28:30.9), while senior Molly Gellert's time of 28:44.8 put her in the top 10 as well (ninth). The top three totaled 122 points to win the event for the Green with Vermont in second with 113.

The men's cross country team preceded the women today, beginning at noon, and Dartmouth had two racers place in the top 10, led by freshman Luke Allan in sixth place with a time of 24:19.8. Rookie Wally Magill beat out a teammate, junior Cameron Wolfe, for ninth place by a little over six seconds in 24:46.7 with Wolfe claiming 10th (24:53.0). Vermont's Matiaz Oevrum took the top spot on the podium in 23:45.2, 15 seconds ahead of New Hampshire's Scott Schulz, the lone skier in the top five that wasn't a Catamount. Dartmouth scored 107 points in the event, finishing second behind Vermont (135) and well ahead of third-place UNH (81).

Over at Smuggler's Notch, Wattenmaker found herself tied for third after her first run in the giant slalom in 52.08 seconds, trailing a pair of Middlebury skiers. But the California native bested the field by nearly half a second on the second time down the mountain to win gold with a combined time of 1:43.66. Fifth-year senior Hannah Utter put together two solid runs and wound up sixth overall in 1:44.82, and her classmate Mikaela O'Brien also scored for the Big Green in 20th place, just ahead of sophomore teammate Olivia Holm, with a time of 1:46.49. Those top three produced 109 points, nipping Vermont (107) for second and sitting behind only Middlebury (120), which had the other two skiers on the podium.

The men's alpine team ended up in sixth place in the final standings with 57 points, paced by another freshman, Oliver Morgan, who finished 18th in 1:41.96. Junior Henrik Thorsby was not far off Morgan's pace with his combined time of 1:42.30 in 21st, and fifth-year Kalle Wagner concluded Dartmouth's scoring in 26th place (1:42.69). Bastian Mesien of New Hampshire took the top spot in 1:40.42 with Benjamin Throm of the host school in second and Vermont's Declan McCormack third. St. Michael's won the event with 127 points.

The carnival will conclude on Sunday with the slalom and the 5K classical.