NCAA Championships Conclude with Freestyle Races

Saturday, March 12

Midway, Utah / Soldier Hollow

11:30 AM

Dartmouth College

NCAA Freestyle

PARK CITY, UT - MARCH 10: An athlete competes in the classical nordic race during the Division I Men’s and Women’s Skiing Championships held at the Soldier Hollow Nordic Center on March 10, 2022 in Midway, Utah. (Photo by Dustin Satloff/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

Luke Allan

Photo by: NCAA

NCAA Championships Conclude with Freestyle Races

3/12/2022 3:17:00 PM | Skiing

Final Results

Luke Allan and Rena Schwartz scored for the Big Green team

By: Rick Bender

MIDWAY, Utah — The final day of the NCAA Skiing Championships featured the cross country freestyle races, and Dartmouth had one skier in each of the men's and women's races score points for the team. The Big Green concluded the championships with 142 points, leaving them in 11th place.

The men's 20K free was first on the agenda today, and the 40-skier mass start saw little separation of the first 25-30 skiers for two of the six laps at Soldier Hollow. Gradually, a group of a handful of skiers pulled away from the pack and slowly extended their lead. But on the final lap, Vermont's Ben Ogden made a push and eventually won the race with a time of 43:00.5, a little more than seven seconds ahead of Samuel Hendry of host Utah. The final skier on the podium was J.C. Schoonmaker of Alaska Anchorage, who just nipped Denver's Bernhard Flaschberger at the line.

Dartmouth, meanwhile, got its best finish in any of the Nordic events from freshman Luke Allan who crossed the tape in 45:01.4, leaving him in 24th place. His classmate, Wally Magill, finished up in 33rd in a pack of seven skiers that were separated by seven seconds, recording a time of 45:37.8. Junior Cameron Wolfe completed the course in 50:40.2 to come in 40th.

In the women's 15K free, the three Utah skiers immediately jumped out to a wide lead and established their own pace. Two of them, Sophia Laukli and Novie McCabe — both fresh off competing at the Olympics — were never threatened by anyone, and Laukli eventually took control of the race, winning handily by over 30 seconds in 36:35.7. McCabe was nearly a full minute ahead of Jasmine Lyons of New Hampshire, who claimed the bronze in 38:05.0.

Big Green senior Molly Gellert began the race in front of the field wearing bib No. 1, but a fall during early in the first of the four laps knocked her out of contention and she eventually finished in 39th place in 44:45.4. Fellow senior Rena Schwartz did earn five points for the Dartmouth total by placing 26th in 41:06.6, while sophomore Garvee Tobin was unable to finish the race.

Utah won its third consecutive national title by amassing 578 points, only securing the victory in the final event with Vermont finishing second with 511.5. Denver edged out Colorado for third place by a 436.5-435 margin.

The final breakdown of the Big Green's points came to 122 for the alpine skiers and 20 for the Nordic, while the women produced 94 points to 48 for the men.