Big Green Back on Track and Thriving After Fourth-Place Finish at NCAAs

The Dartmouth ski team finished the NCAA Championships in fourth place, its best finish since 2019 and ahead of rival Vermont for the first time since 2018.

"Coming in fourth at the NCAA Championships means to us that we're back on track," said Cami Thompson, Director of Skiing and Women's Nordic Head Coach. "We're at the top of the schools who don't offer scholarships."

The NCAA skiing championships encompass multiple disciplines, and genders, representing four different teams.

"The interesting thing about NCAA Championships is we're putting together men and women and alpine and cross country," said Thompson. "Anything can happen over the course of the championships, so it requires that everyone shows up and does their best on any given day.

"This year, we did a pretty good job of that."

The @DartmouthSkiing team finished the 2024 NCAA Championships in fourth place, and featured two individual national champions. As Director of Skiing Cami Thompson said, "We're back on track."

Take a look back to the season that was ➡️ https://t.co/NPUrjjHG7X #GoBigGreen pic.twitter.com/XIsdVeB7TD
— Dartmouth Athletics (@dartmouthsports) March 28, 2024

The NCAA Championships were highlighted by juniors John Steel Hagenbuch and Jasmine Drolet each winning a national championship — in the men's 7.5k freestyle and women's 20k classic, respectively.

Hagenbuch won seven events throughout the season, and that's even with missing time at international skiing competitions.

"Johnny has been a great addition to the team," said Thompson. "He started off the season finishing 13th in a World Cup, which is pretty impressive. And he then was on the podium at the U23 Championships. In between, he was competing for us at a couple winter carnivals, so we were really happy to have him back and competing at full strength."

During the 2023 season, Hagenbuch became the first Big Green skier in 52 years to earn All-America First Team in both freestyle and classic events. Then, he did it again in 2024.

As did Drolet.

On day two of the championships, Drolet came in third in the women's 7.5K freestyle. She then went on to win the 20K classic in dramatic fashion, making a late surge from fourth to first place.

"So proud of Jasmine," said Thompson. "She put it together this year after being out most of last season, so it's been a bit of a road to recover her confidence. She was on the winning Canadian relay team at the U23 Championships. I think the fact that she was on the podium for the skate race really gave her confidence for the classic race, which is her preferred event.

"She just nailed it on the classic day."

Beyond Hagenbuch and Drolet, there was plenty more to celebrate at NCAAs and all season.

The Big Green saw a men's and women's national champion for the first time since 2019, when Katharine Ogden captured the 15K classic and Tanguy Nef won the giant slalom. Dartmouth also had an All-American from each of its four teams —sophomore Oscar Zimmer of men's alpine in the giant slalom and slalom, sophomore Zoe Zimmermann and junior Allie Resnick of women's alpine in the slalom, Hagenbuch and sophomore Jack Lange of men's Nordic in the 7.5K freestyle and 20K classic, and Drolet of women's Nordic in the 7.5K freestyle and 20K classic.

"It was a solid performance at the championships and that sums up our alpine teams throughout the year as well," said Thompson. "We had good days, we had less good days, but we have a number of athletes who have the ability to be on the podium."

Who was available on the Nordic side varied, but whoever skied in a given carnival represented the Big Green extremely well.

"We finally had our whole team together by the end of the season," said Thompson. "We had seven athletes who were competing at the World Junior and Under 23 Championships in Slovenia for a couple weeks. And four of them also went on to compete at the World Cup in Minneapolis. Not having the full team here impacted our midseason results, but we got our top guys back and went into the championships feeling really confident."

The Big Green finished the EISA Championship in second place, only trailing Vermont. Dartmouth's Nordic men came in first on both days. Dartmouth also garnered a number of EISA awards.

Alpine Men
Second Team: Daniel Gillis, Oscar Zimmer, Oliver Morgan

Alpine Women
First Team: Allie Resnick
Second Team: Olivia Holm, Izzy Washburn, Zoe Zimmermann
Rookie of the Year: Izzy Washburn

Nordic Men
Freestyle Bib Leader: John Steel Hagenbuch
First Team: John Steel Hagenbuch, Jack Lange
Second Team: Luke Allan

Nordic Women
First Team: Ava Thurstone
Second Team: Jasmine Drolet

Moving forward, the Big Green look to get better every opportunity they get.

"We just have to keep doing what we're doing and keep working on fine tuning all of the elements," said Thompson. "The more the team can go into the season healthy and confident, the more we'll have the results we're looking for. It certainly helped this year with the snowmaking at Oak Hill not having to travel on a daily basis. That saves us a lot of time and it definitely helps keep the athletes healthier and less stressed as the term goes along.

"We have to keep our athletes focused, healthy, happy… and the results will come."

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