Two All-America Performances Highlight Busy Day at NCAA Championships

Thursday, March 10

Park City, Utah / Park City Mountain Resort

11:30 AM

Dartmouth College

NCAA Giant Slalom

Ellie Curtis and Oliver Morgan, 2022 All-Americans in the giant slalom

Ellie Curtis (left) and Oliver Morgan during the All-America performances on Thursday.

Photo by: NCAA

Two All-America Performances Highlight Busy Day at NCAA Championships

3/10/2022 5:09:00 PM | Skiing

Results GS Video Classic Video Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

Ellie Curtis and Oliver Morgan finished eighth in the women's and men's giant slalom, respectively

By: Rick Bender

PARK CITY/MIDWAY, Utah — Dartmouth senior Ellie Curtis and freshman Oliver Morgan both finished in eighth place in their respective giant slalom races on the first day of the NCAA Skiing Championships, hosted by the University of Utah. The duo provided 46 points toward the Big Green's total of 71 in the alpine and Nordic races, leaving Dartmouth in 12th place with two events remaining.

Three teams from the West are atop the team leaderboard, led by host Utah with 286.5 points, followed by Denver (262) and Colorado (249). Vermont leads the Eastern schools with 235 points, good for fourth place.

Since a snowstorm left the alpine course at Park City Mountain Resort hazardous on Wednesday, the giant slalom was postponed until today. The Big Green women started off the championships with strong first runs from fifth-year senior Hannah Utter and Curtis that found them in eighth and 11th place, respectively, while junior Gwen Wattenmaker did not finish. In the afternoon, Curtis posted the sixth-fastest time to move up into eighth with her time of 2:04.72, while Utter dropped back into 16th place (2:06.10).

Each of the top three teams placed a skier on the podium with Colorado's Magdalena Luczak taking home the gold with a combined time of 2:02.03, but Denver won the event with 69 points while Utah (63) and Colorado (62) were not far behind. Dartmouth scored 38 points to finish seventh.

Morgan, who just qualified to compete at the NCAAs due to his performance at the East Regional two weeks ago, kept his strong racing going by completing the men's first run in seventh place. While his second run was a bit slower in relation to the field, he only dropped one spot in the standings with a combined time of 1:58.89. Sophomore Olof Hedelin ended up in 29th place in 2:02.30, while fifth-year senior Kalle Wagner did not complete the first run through the course.

Again the podium was populated with Western skiers with the gold going to Colorado thanks to Filip Forejtek's 1:57.41, more than half a second ahead of Utah's Gustav Vollo. Like the women, the individual gold did not translate to a team victory as Utah scored 75 points with Denver (63) and the Buffaloes (59) behind the Utes. The Big Green ended up in 10th with 25 points.

Over at Soldier Hollow, whether it was the altitude or something else, it simply turned out to be just one of those days for the Dartmouth Nordic teams in the classical races. Only one skier put points on the board for the women's and men's teams, both of whom finished 27th overall. Senior Rena Schwartz garnered those four points for the women in the 5K with a time of 15:02.1, while sophomore Garvee Tobin and senior Molly Gellert placed 37th and 39th, respectively. Utah grabbed two of the podium steps, including the gold, to easily win the event with 102.5 points and Colorado a distant second with 67.

Skiing across the finish line in 27th place for the men in the 10K was freshman Wally Magill in 26:11.8. His classmate, Luke Allan, completed the course in 34th place while junior Cameron Wolfe was 37th. The lone gold to go to an Eastern skier was secured by Vermont's Ben Ogden — younger brother of Dartmouth three-time national champion Katharine Ogden '21 — beating Denver's Andreas Kirkeng by 6.4 seconds in 23:43.1. The closest event in the team standings featured Denver tying Alaska Fairbanks for first with 76 points and Colorado and the Catamounts tying for third with 74.

The alpine teams will be back at it again tomorrow with the slalom, which begins at 11:30 a.m. EST (9:30 a.m. MST).