Gruber, Talbot Stride to Victory

Silas Talbot (Dartmouth) on his way to a 34-second win over Middlebury's Ben Lustgarten in the 10k classic.  (Photo: Ian Nesbitt / EISA Skiing)

WATERVILLE, ME. — There may not be a mass-start race this weekend, but today Anja Gruber (UVM) and Annie Hart (Dartmouth) skied away from the field nonetheless.  Gruber skied the 5 kilometer classic race nearly half a minute faster than Hart, who in turn skied half a minute faster than the next five finishers, three of whom were from Dartmouth.

Today's race, hosted at the Colby's Quarry Road Recreational Facility in Waterville, was marked by icy, granular snow and on-and-off drizzle that made wax conditions interesting.  That didn't seem to bother Dartmouth, which put four women and two men in the top 10.  Stephanie Kirk of UVM rounded out the podium, besting a pack of skiers through seventh place that were separated by just five seconds.  Great races from Gruber and Kirk led the Catamounts past Dartmouth by just two points at the end of the women's race.  Dartmouth's Emily Hannah (4th) and Isabel Caldwell (5th) rounded out the scoring for the Big Green, and Linda Danvind-Malm (8th) was the third Catamount woman.

The Colby women turned in a standout performance today, putting all their scorers in the top-15 for third place in the womens' team competition.  Two freshmen, Amy Bianco and Olivia Amber, made great first impressions in the opening carnival race of 2014, scoring seventh and eleventh respectively.  Veteran Lizzie Anderson rounded out their scoring in 14th place, and put the Colby women in third after the morning race.

Heather Mooney (9th) and Stella Holt (10th) led the Middlebury women to 4th.

By the time the men finished, the slim UVM lead was gone and the Big Green had taken over.  Talbot's win and a third-place finish by senior captain David Sinclair put Dartmouth on top by 20 points after day 1 of the Colby College Carnival.  Ben Lustgarten finished a strong second place.

The Catamount men were second as a team, led by Scott Patterson (5th) and Jack Hegman (7th).  The UNH Wildcats, behind a 4th-place finish from Per Lindgren, were third on the day.  Harvard nearly stole third from the Wildcats however, as Akeo Maifield-Carucci and Chris Stock put up 6th and 8th; a career-best finish for both Crimson racers.  Bowdoin's James Crimp and Dartmouth's Jan Ketterson rounded out the top ten.

Results for day 1 have been posted on BartTiming.

Tomorrow's 15/10k skate race has been switched from 20/15k mass start to individual start due to the conditions.  The women start at 9:30 and the men at 11:30.