The EISA circuit skied two new venues at Cannon Mountain for the University of New Hampshire’s carnival. Dartmouth College skiers certainly took enjoyed the new terrain as they took wins in three out of the four events. Foreste Peterson, Tanguy Nef and Brian Mclaughlin all collected wins at the event. Dartmouth won the alpine portion of the event with an even 500 points, followed by the University of Vermont with 437. The University of New Hampshire took third in their home event with 361 points.
After the first run of the women’s giant slalom it looked as if Caroline Bartlett was going to take home another win. Bartlett led the the rest of the field by 0.76 seconds, but halfway into the second run she hooked her tip on a gate and failed to finish.
Peterson was in second and was able to complete both runs to win the race with a combined time of 2:18.66. Peterson came out of the St. Lawrence carnival empty handed a week earlier. She had been in second and fourth after each first run at Whiteface but was unable to put two runs together.
The big green finished Friday with four women in the top ten, a feat they also accomplished at the St. Lawrence GS.
Paula Moltzan won the second run by enough to make her way onto the podium. She finished in second place, 0.51 seconds back. In third was another Dartmouth skier, Stephanie Currie, 1.86 seconds behind the pace.
Freshman Tanguy Nef won both runs on Friday, ending with a time of 2:14.33, 1.09 seconds ahead of any other skier, and 1.64 seconds ahead of the next college athlete, Dartmouth’s Brian Maclaughlin. Max Roeisland finished third, 2.52 seconds back.
UVM’s women stopped Dartmouth from taking all four events on the weekend with strong skiing from Paula Moltzan and Laurence St. Germain. Moltzan took the first run but with some untimely mistakes just before skiing onto the flats in the second run, she relinquished the lead to her teammate, St. Germain.
UNH was the first carnival of the season for St. Germain, as she balances her schedule with the collegiate circuit, the NorAm circuit and even the World Cup. St. Germain certainly knows how to make her starts in the EISA circuit count. Over the past two seasons she has only started three slalom races and has not finished lower than second. She took the win with a combined time of 1:59.85.
She was followed by Dartmouth’s Alexa Dlouhy who finished 0.13 seconds back and Moltzan was forced to settle for third 0.37 back.
St. Germain mentioned that carnivals bring an added pressure that you don’t find in any other race, because of the team aspect of the event. She said the crowd and ambience between the college and NorAm circuit is completely different. “I’m for sure way more nervous at carnivals than I am at NorAms,” St. Germain said, “In NorAm’s you race for yourself and if you fall it’s too bad for you but here you have your whole team and you’re racing for the team,” she continued.
Dartmouth’s Brian Mclaughlin won his second slalom in a row with a combined time of 1:46.04. He was followed by St. Michaels College athlete Guillaume Grand. Grand finished in second last weekend as well, behind Mclaughlin. UVM’s William St. Germain finished third.
Grand and St. Germain, who were 0.66 seconds and 1.16 behind Mclaughlin.
Grand was the only athlete outside of Dartmouth and UVM to find his way to the podium this past weekend. Grand said that he is feeling strong in slalom right now, although his GS is not at the level is was last season.