Friday, February 26, 2016

Dartmouth Claims NCAA Regional Slalom At Middlebury

For the second week in a row,  Darmouth won both the men's and women’s team slalom on a day initially put in doubt by pre-race weather. The NCAA regional championships started slowly, with the race pushed back an hour because of snow. Many thanks must be said to all athletes, coaches, and especially the Middlebury race crew for making today happen.  

Middlebury's Rob Cone
After the snow was pushed away and the sun came out, Middlebury’s Robe Cone shone for the home crowd as he claimed victory after winning the second run by over half a second. Bobby Farrell, leader after the first run, finished second, 0.92 seconds behind Cone overall. The Dartmouth duo of Brian Mclaughlin and Kevyn Read followed in third and fourth place, 1.09 and 1.40 seconds behind Cone. In yet another tie on the EISA circuit, UNH’s Chris Steinke and UVM's Will St. Germain shared the fifth position.  Dartmouth solidified their lead as Thomas Woolson and Brian Francis finished seventh and eighth, respectively, only 0.07 seconds apart from each other. After placing 16th first run, Plymouth State's Max Martin had the second fastest second run to vault into the ninth position, and Saint Michael's Guillaume Grand completed the top ten.

Plymouth State's Freydis Einarsdotter
In the women’s race, Laurence St. Germaine won her third straight EISA slalom, this time by 2.08 second over Plymouth State’s Freydis Einarsdotter. Einarsdotter skied extremely well at the bottom of the second run to jump from seventh to second. Dartmouth’s Kelly Moore made a similar move with her second run to claim third place, clipping Colby’s Mardi Haskell by only 0.01 seconds. Genevieve Frigon led a flurry of UNH skiers with her fifth place finish. Her teammates Lisa Wesjoe and Randa Teschner followed in seventh and eighth as UNH claimed second in the women’s team score.  Alexa Dlouhy, still wearing the SL leader bib since the second carnival, slipped in between the three UNH skiers as Dartmouth took a narrow lead over the Wildcats by only four points. Williams’ Hannah Hunsaker was fourth after the first run, but ended the day in ninth after a second run mistake. Dartmouth’s Foreste Peterson finished tenth, only 0.06 seconds behind Hunsaker overall.

As we head into tomorrow’s giant slalom, Dartmouth leads UVM by 31 points, with UNH only 2 points behind the Catamounts. There’s plenty in store for the final day of the EISA alpine circuit, so stay tuned.