Dartmouth Nordic Victories Highlight First Day at Williams Carnival

Friday, February 17

Hancock, Mass./Woodford, Vt.

10:00 AM

Dartmouth College

Williams Day One

John Hagenbuch competing at the Harvard Carnival

John Steel Hagenbuch

Photo by: Gil Talbot

Dartmouth Nordic Victories Highlight First Day at Williams Carnival

2/17/2023 5:14:00 PM | Skiing

Results

Both Nordic teams won their classical races

By: Rick Bender

HANCOCK, Mass./WOODFORD, Vt. — The Williams Carnival kicked off today in spite of the rain and early temperatures in the 50s, but the conditions did not dampen the Dartmouth Nordic teams as they won both the men's and women's classical races. Freshman Ava Thurston won the women's 10K for the second straight week, and sophomore John Steel Hagenbuch stepped on the podium with a third-place finish in the men's race.

The skiing proved to be a bit tougher on the slopes, however, as both the Big Green men's and women's alpine squads finished fourth in the slalom. Vermont jumped out to the lead on the strength of its alpine teams, totaling 441 points, while Middlebury (395) and Dartmouth (387) were separated by only eight points at the end of the day.

Thurston, the EISA Women's Nordic Skier of the Week after last weekend's Harvard Carnival, was the fourth to launch in the individual start and established herself as one of the front-runners by passing the three that began in front of her before the midpoint of the race. But two other skiers who started after her, Jasmine Lyons and Lucinda Anderson of New Hampshire, both posted better times through 5K with Lyons more than 14 seconds ahead. But Thurston pushed herself on the second loop of the course and posted the fastest time in that stretch, which was just enough to surpass Lyons for the gold by 1.7 seconds with a total time of 36:12.5.

The next Big Green skier to cross the tape was sophomore Nina Seemann in sixth place with her time of 37:46.3. She did run into trouble on the first 5K lap as she crashed into a bush, but she recovered nicely to post a faster time on the second loop (the only skier to do so) and climb nine spots in the process. Her classmate, Emma Reeder, wasn't too far behind, taking eighth place in 38:05.2, which brought the Dartmouth total to 120 points. That matched UNH as the two teams shared the top spot in the team standings with Middlebury in third (100).

Like Thurston, Hagenbuch reached the 5K checkpoint with the third-best time, but Harvard's Rémi Drolet was right on his heels despite starting 30 seconds later. While Drolet went on to win the race by more than 40 seconds, Hagenbuch continued his steady pace and maintained his spot in third in 30:47.6, surpassing one skier while UNH's Scott Schulz just nipped him by half a second to claim second place.

Dartmouth had two others skiers finish in the top 10 as well, including sophomore Luke Allen who caught a Middlebury skier on the second lap to finish in fifth place with a time of 31:32.0. Freshman Cooper Camp also had a strong kick at the end, moving up three places from 12th to ninth over the second half of the race in 32:07.6. The trio produced 114 points, beating out Middlebury (105) for the team victory.

The men began the racing at Jiminy Peak, and sophomore Oliver Morgan established himself among the leaders, posting the third-best time on his first run, about half a second off the pace set by Vermont's Cole Palchak. On his second trip down the mountain, Morgan had another solid time, just fast enough to fend off another Catamount skier to hold onto third place in 1:30.17 and keep UVM from sweeping the podium. Mathias Tefre surpassed his teammate Palchak by a mere hundredth of a second to take the gold. The only other Big Green skier to complete the men's slalom was junior Max Martin in 11th place at 1:31.43, leaving Dartmouth with 74 points, tied with Middlebury for fourth.

For the women, only freshman Sammi Trudeau cracked the top 25 on the morning run, recording the 10th best time. The Big Green times greatly improved in the afternoon, however, as junior Olivia Holm bested the field on the second run to climb from 30th up to 14th. Trudeau also moved up in the standings, leading Dartmouth in ninth place at 1:40.28, and freshman Alexa Elliff went from 28th to 21st with her time of 1:41.56. Plymouth State's Hanna Larsson won the event by more than a full second (1:37.64) ahead of Middlebury's Sophia Tozzi (1:38.64) with Vermont's Cydnie Timmermann claiming third to fill out the podium. Middlebury nipped the Catamounts to win the team title, 116-114, while Plymouth State was third (101) with Dartmouth fourth (79).

The giant slalom and freestyle races will take place tomorrow beginning at 10 a.m.