Two More All-America Performances Lift Big Green Two Spots in Standings

Friday, March 11

Park City, Utah / Park City Mountain Resort

11:30 AM

Dartmouth College

NCAA Slalom

Gwen Wattenmaker (left) and Hannah Utter, second-team All-Americans in the slalom, March 11, 2022

Hannah Utter (left) and Gwen Wattenmaker came through with excellent performances for the Big Green on Friday.

Photo by: Gil Talbot

Two More All-America Performances Lift Big Green Two Spots in Standings

3/11/2022 4:55:00 PM | Skiing

Results Through Day 3

Hannah Utter and Gwen Wattenmaker both finished in the top 10 of the women's slalom

By: Rick Bender

PARK CITY, Utah — Fifth-year senior Hannah Utter and junior Gwen Wattenmaker came through for Dartmouth with top-10 finishes in the women's slalom at the NCAA Skiing Championships today, receiving All-America Second Team honors. Their performances helped the Big Green finish fifth in the event and climb two spots into 10th in the overall standings.

Dartmouth will have one more opportunity to move further up in the standings with the freestyle races tomorrow at Soldier Hollow.

The day began at Park City Mountain Resort with the first run of the men's slalom, and the results did not favor the Big Green as neither fifth-year senior Kalle Wagner nor freshman Oliver Morgan — who finished eighth in the giant slalom yesterday — were able to finish the course. Sophomore Olof Hedelin was the third Dartmouth skier to launch, and he took care that he didn't have the same fate befall him, concluding his first effort in 21st place.

The women fared better during their first run, though senior Ellie Curtis could not duplicate her eighth-place performance in the giant slalom with a miscue late in the run that led to a DNF. Utter provided the best showing in the morning, wrapping up her run in seventh with a time of 52.04 seconds, while Wattenmaker completed the course in 52.64 seconds, leaving her in 13th.

When the action resumed in the afternoon, Hedelin was able to sneak into the top 20 with a solid run and post a combined time of 1:57.10, good for 19th. Vermont grabbed two of the podium spots, including the gold as Mathias Tefre successfully defended his title with a time of 1:53.69. Utah's Gustav Vollo just edged out Catamount Joachim Linstoel for second by four-hundredths of a second in 1:53.97.

With the skiers going in reverse order of finish from the first run, Wattenmaker had to wait for 17 others to make their second run before trekking down the mountain. When she did, she put together a strong enough time to briefly take the lead with a combined time of 1:48.34. By the time Utter stepped to the gate, two other skiers had surpassed her teammate. Utter proceeded to nearly match Wattenmaker's time for the second run, putting her in second place at 1:47.84. All but one of the top six from the first run were able to surpass the duo, but their place in the top 10 was secured.

Katie Hensien of the University of Denver claimed the top step of the podium in 1:45.40 while skiers from Westminster and Montana State finished second and third, respectively. Westminster collected the most points in the event with 83, while Dartmouth finished fifth with 47.

Host Utah leads Vermont in the overall standings by 27.5 points, 405-377.5, with Denver (372.5) and Colorado (368) nipping at the Catamounts' heels. The Big Green have 130 points and will need strong performances in the freestyle races tomorrow to improve their standing on the final day of competition.

The men's 20K free mass start begins at 11:30 a.m. EST (9:30 a.m. MST) while the women will launch their 15K free mass start at 1:30 p.m. EST (11:30 a.m. MST).