Dartmouth Climbs Four Places in NCAA Skiing Championship Standings

Thursday, March 9

Lake Placid, N.Y.

Dartmouth College

NCAA Day Two

Ava Thurston and John Steel Hagenbuch

Photo by: NCAA

Dartmouth Climbs Four Places in NCAA Skiing Championship Standings

3/9/2023 2:58:00 PM | Skiing

Results (PDF)Photos Photo Gallery

Hagenbuch was the runner up in the men's 10K freestyle; Thurston took 10th in the women's 5K

By: Rick Bender

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — Dartmouth made a strong push in the overall standings on the second day of the NCAA Skiing Championships, climbing up from eighth into fourth place thanks to a pair of All-America performances in the Nordic freestyle races from sophomore John Steel Hagenbuch and freshman Ava Thurston. The Big Green added 92.5 points to their total to end the first half of the championships with 153.5, trailing only Colorado (279.5), Utah (263) and Denver (230.5).

On a crisp but calm day at Mt. Van Hoevenberg, the men's 10K freestyle got the proceedings started. The Dartmouth trio of entrants all launched in the second half of the field for the interval start, beginning with freshman Jack Lange. The rookie began a bit slowly, reaching the quarter mark with the 30th-best time. Next up was sophomore Luke Allan, whose time was just a few seconds of ahead of Lange at the same point. Hagenbuch, meanwhile, put himself among the leaders, completing the first quarter of the race with the second-best time, six seconds off the pace set by Joe Davies of Alaska Fairbanks.

A few thoughts from John Steel Hagenbuch on his runner-up performance in the men's 10K freestyle today. Strong showing for the sophomore in his first-ever @NCAASkiing Championships race!#GoBigGreen | #DartSki | #TheWoods pic.twitter.com/AxVLfrkPEH
— Dartmouth Ski Team (@DartmouthSkiing) March 9, 2023

Hagenbuch continued to run a terrific race, pushing his pace to maintain his standing ahead of the field save for Davies, who gradually increased his lead throughout the race. At the midpoint, Hagenbuch was just four-tenths of a second ahead of Denver's Bernhard Flaschberger while Davies extended his lead, which remained mostly unchanged with 2.5K still to go. But Hagenbuch's edge over Flaschberger increased to nearly 14 seconds. When the race was complete, the Big Green sophomore from Ketchum, Idaho, joined Davies as the only two skiers to break 23 minutes at 22:58.2 with the latter taking the gold by 25 seconds, and Hagenbuch's second-place finish garnered a spot on the All-America First Team.

"This is a world-class course here in Lake Placid, so I was really focused on the second lap of the 10K," Hagenbuch said. "I maybe started a bit too conservatively, but I tried about as hard as I could today. Joe Davies had a really impressive day and is a proven world-class skier. I'm happy with the effort, but I feel like I could have clawed back a bit more time. But it was a really good team performance to move us into fourth today."

Lange found a groove and really picked up his pace with times regularly among the top 10 at the remaining checkpoints, enabling him to finish in 15th place with a time of 24:13.5. Allen ended up in 26th in 24:42, completing the scoring for the Big Green. The three Dartmouth skiers combined to provide 58 points to the team total, fourth in the event behind Alaska Fairbanks (84), Denver (83) and Utah (60), while Colorado was fifth (55) and Vermont sixth (29).

The women took to the course in the afternoon for their 5K freestyle, and sophomore Jasmine Drolet — competing in just her fourth race this winter due to an early season injury — was among the first to hit the trails in the interval start. Each of her splits over the four segments were consistently in the middle of the pack, allowing her to finish 21st in the final standings with a time of 13:58.5.

And let's check in with freshman Ava Thurston on her All-America performance today in her first-ever @NCAASkiing Championships. More great things still come from this one!#GoBigGreen | #DartSki | #TheWoods pic.twitter.com/OM4AoWnEpq
— Dartmouth Ski Team (@DartmouthSkiing) March 9, 2023

Another sophomore, Nina Seemann, was among the final group of 10 skiers to begin the race, and she opened up at a conservative pace, reaching the midpoint in 32nd. She charged hard over the second half of the race, however, with the ninth-best time over the third section and the 12th-best time in the home stretch, but she was only able to climb into a tie for 27th overall at 14:03.9.

Thurston, on the other hand, was the complete opposite of Seemann, hitting the course quickly to be among the top five halfway through the 5K loop. Although she could not maintain that pace, she had put enough distance between herself and the rest of the field to still make the top 10 in 13:25.5, good for 10th and a spot on the All-America Second Team. Utah's Novie McCabe won the race with a time of 12:46.3 with only Jasmine Lyons of UNH the only other skier to crack 13 minutes at 12:59.2.

"It was a really tough course, really awesome but super hilly," Thurston said after the race. "I went out pretty hard, and by the top of the hill, I was pretty exhausted. I think I lost a little bit of time at the end, but I'm just really happy with how I skied the course and how hard I went out there today."

Up next are the slalom races at Whiteface Mountain on Friday. The men will the first on the slopes beginning at 9 a.m. Fans can keep up with the action by watching the live stream and checking out the live timing through the NCAA website. Visit the Dartmouth skiing schedule page on the official website of Big Green athletics, DartmouthSports.com, for direct links.

Notes: Dartmouth has had one All-American in each of the four events thus far, two by freshmen and the other two by sophomores …all but one of the Big Green's 12 skiers in Lake Placid are underclassmen … Dartmouth has not had at least one All-American in all eight events since last winning the NCAA title in 2007.