Big Green Take the Lead on First Day of Harvard Carnival

Friday, February 10

Dublin/Waterville Valley, N.H.

10:00 AM

Dartmouth College

Harvard Day One

Oscar Zimmer skis the giant slalom at the Harvard Carnival, Feb. 10, 2023

Oscar Zimmer earned his first victory in a collegiate race and second podium on Friday.

Photo by: Gil Talbot

Big Green Take the Lead on First Day of Harvard Carnival

2/10/2023 6:15:00 PM | Skiing

Results

Freshmen Oscar Zimmer and Ava Thurston won their respective events

By: Rick Bender

DUBLIN/WATERVILLE VALLEY, N.H. — Freshmen Ava Thurston and Oscar Zimmer won their respective events on the first day of the Harvard Carnival on Friday, leading Dartmouth to the top of the leaderboard with 433 points. The Big Green will enter Saturday with a 68-point lead over Middlebury with an opportunity to pick up its first carnival victory since the EISA Championships in 2019.

Dartmouth welcomed back several skiers who missed the New Hampshire Carnival due to the FIS Cross Country Skiing World Championships, and Thurston provided the biggest lift by besting the field in the women's 10K classic. With temperatures pushing past 40 degrees and winds averaging 18 mph with gusts over 40 mph at Dublin XC, the women opened the Nordic racing. Thurston wasn't fazed by the blustery conditions and reached the halfway point in second place, right on the heels of Jasmine Lyons of New Hampshire. Lyons was unable to complete the race, however, and Thurston cruised to the victory, boasting the fastest second lap to cross the tape in 31:43.9 to take the gold, her first win and second podium in her third career race.

Meanwhile, sophomore Nina Seeman pulled away from Middlebury's Shea Brams on the second loop to take second by more than 11 seconds with her time of 32:19.7. And junior Garvee Tobin utilized a strong finish to move up from ninth at the checkpoint into fourth in 32:47.1. The near-clean sweep of the podium provided the Big Green with 138 points, easily outdistancing Vermont's 106.

The men's 10K classic interval start launched at noon, and again Dartmouth skiers were found near the front of the field. Sophomore John Steel Hagenbuch was just a 1.5 seconds behind Harvard's Rémi Drolet at the midway point with sophomore Luke Allan sitting third, eight seconds behind his classmate. Although Hagenbuch fell off the established pace a bit, Allan replaced him in second with a time of 28:28.7 while Drolet won the race in 28:00.3.

Middlebury's Willson Moore managed to just slip past Hagenbuch to steal the last podium step, but the Big Green skier put together a good showing in his first collegiate race, taking fourth in 28:46.5. Freshman Jack Lange gave Dartmouth another skier in the top 10 as he closed strong to place seventh with a time of 29:13.8, more than 15 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. The Big Green trio provided 123 points, edging Middlebury's 114 to win the event.

Over on the slopes at the Waterville Valley Resort, the wind was just as strong and the second run had to be limited to the top 30 skiers due to deteriorating conditions and the waning daylight. That left the Dartmouth women with just two skiers in the afternoon — sophomore Carly Elsinger and senior Gwen Wattenmaker, who were sixth and 11th after the first run, respectively. Elsinger was able to maintain her position and finished in sixth place with a combined time of 2:06.28, while Wattenmaker put together a quick run to vault ahead of her teammate into fourth at 2:05.92.

A pair of Swedes took the top two steps of the podium. Plymouth State's Hanna Larsson Nathhorst took the gold, besting the field by more than a full second in 2:04.36, while UNH's Lisa Olsson edged out St. Michael's Helene Kristoffersen by a tenth of a second in 2:05.64. Dartmouth finished in a three-way tie for third with 78 points with Plymouth State (109) beating out Colby (100) for the team win.

The men were the last to finish up on the slopes, and nine of the top 30 were unable to complete the course on the second run, including sophomore Oliver Morgan who was sitting seventh after the morning session. But freshman Oscar Zimmer, who was in 14th entering the final attempt, had an amazing run to climb all the way to the top of the standings with a combined time of 2:01.27, just ahead of Vermont's Joachim Lindstoel (2:01.34). The victory was the first collegiate win for Zimmer and second podium.

Junior Max Martin kept his hold on third place with a solid second time to finish up in 2:01.50 for the final podium step, but Morgan found trouble and did not finish. The two podiums provided 94 points, second only to St. Michael's with 101 and six points ahead of third-place Harvard.

The slalom and the 3x5K classic relay will wrap up the carnival on Saturday. The Nordic races will be streamed live on ESPN+ beginning at 10 a.m.