Corey Stock, Annie Pokorny, and Annie Hart all returned from U23 World Championships to stand on the podium in this weekend's 5k skate race at the UVM Carnival (photo: C.J. Feehan) |
STOWE, Vt. — Top Eastern Nordic skiers returned from the U23
World Championships in Liberec, Czech Republic to claim a slew of podium
results at the first day of UVM Carnival Nordic competition at the Trapp Family
Lodge. Under sunny morning skies, Middlebury’s Annie Pokorny, who just returned
from Europe earlier this week, claimed her career first EISA victory. She was
joined on the podium by fellow world travelers Corey Stock and Annie Hart of Dartmouth
who finished second and third, respectively.
“I’m very happy to have won. Last year, it was really
exciting to be in the top 10, and I feel like this year I’ve gotten my skis
under me a little better,” said Pokorny. The University of New Hampshire Wildcats dominated the first two weekends of EISA racing before the return of a
handful of athletes who were away at the European races.
“I think you can definitely say that this year it’s going to
be really tight every race,” added Pokorny. “I know the results today, we were
all within seconds of each other. It’s probably gonna switch around a lot this
year… I’m excited to be racing against such good girls.”
Vermont’s Scott Patterson continued his streak of success,
nabbing another victory in the men’s 10k skate race. He was chased by
Dartmouth’s Sam Tarling who returned to EISA competition for the first time
this year after also spending time in the Czech Republic. Freestyle specialist Jordan
Buetow of Bates College rode Tarling's wake to pick up his career first collegiate podium in a race
scored for NCAA championship qualification.
“The
past two weeks, I felt like I was missing a little something, but my form seems
to be coming around. I just went out trying to ski big and relaxed and knew
that if Sam [Tarling] caught me, he'd be a good ride, and I never let him go,”
said an enthusiastic Buetow. “Course conditions were great for me today—it was
pretty icy in spots but the organizers did a great job putting a course
together with what they had to work with. The fast and hard snow allows us big
guys to ski with a lot of power, and it definitely played to my advantage,” he
added.
As a
result of the first day of Nordic competition, Dartmouth has now reeled in UVM
and sits 30 points shy of the Catamounts. New Hampshire is also within 81
points of the leading home team. The classic races to conclude the UVM Carnival will be contested
tomorrow.
Team
scores at the conclusion of both alpine and Nordic skate races at the UVM Carnival:
1. UNIVERSITY OF
VERMONT - 640.0
2. DARTMOUTH COLLEGE - 610.0
3. UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE - 559.0
4. MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE - 475.0
5. BATES COLLEGE - 385.0
6. WILLIAMS COLLEGE - 377.0
7. ST LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY - 369.0
8.
COLBY COLLEGE - 353.5
9. HARVARD UNIVERSITY - 270.0
10. ST MICHAELS COLLEGE - 224.5
11. BOSTON COLLEGE - 172.0
12. PLYMOUTH STATE UNIVERSITY - 117.0
13. BOWDOIN COLLEGE - 102.0
14. COLBY SAWYER COLLEGE -75.0
15. UNIVERSITE' LAVAL -69.0
16. UNIVERSITY OF MAINE PRESQUE ISLE - 49.0