In frigid temps tempered by brilliant sun, St. Michael’s College held the first day of alpine racing at Smugglers’ Notch Resort in Jeffersonville, VT. The Giant Slalom (GS) race took place on Black Snake and Snakebite, two trails that combine for a narrow, winding route down Sterling Mountain — just one of Smuggs’ three peaks.
In the team competition, Dartmouth College and the University of Vermont split the win column: Dartmouth won the men’s race over UVM, 125 — 112. And the Catamount women took down a strong Dartmouth squad, 130 — 122, despite Dartmouth placing five athletes in the top-10.
While Dartmouth’s feat is undoubtedly impressive, UVM managed to best the Big Green by placing three finishers in the top-5. (For the uninitiated: at Carnivals, each team’s first three finishers contribute to team scoring.)
Dartmouth was led once again by Foreste Peterson, who’s on a bit of a hot streak. She won the GS last week at Sugarloaf, and took first place today in a time of 1:51.64. UVM’s Paula Moltzan placed second (1:51.78), followed in third by her teammate, first year Josefine Selvaag (1:52.20).
UVM’s women’s victory came as a bit of a surprise after the first run. Moltzan, one of UVM’s consistent contributors, had a tough go and finished nearly two seconds behind the run leader (eventual race winner Peterson) before charging back to win the second run and place second overall, just .14 seconds behind Peterson’s winning time.
Catamounts Head Coach Bill Reichelt was pleased with the turnaround. “Paula gets motivated by being out [of contention], Reichelt said. “When she’s out, she charges hard. She was 1.8 [seconds] out. She almost went down. Then she was full-pin that second run.”
When pressed, Moltzan was clear about her motivation. “I had a very costly mistake right on the flats,” Moltzan said. “I ended up 17th and was pretty angry. That’s an understatement. I just decided to turn it up and send it as hard as I could.”
In the men’s race, Dartmouth’s Tanguy Nef improved on last week’s GS finish and won in 1:45.76. UVM’s Sandy Vietze (1:46.96) took second place, more than a second back.
Today’s finish was a flip-flop from last week’s Colby Carnival GS race, when Vietze took first and Nef placed second — so this could be the start of back-and-forth battle. The third place finisher was Dartmouth’s Thomas Woolson, who came through in a time of 1:47.60 — just ahead of the first racer from host St. Mike’s: Guillame Grand (1:46.75).
Dartmouth’s strong men’s performance — two athletes on the podium — was just what they needed to edge the University of Vermont for the overall alpine win today. Dartmouth’s combined score of 247 points was just enough to beat out UVM, who finished with 242.
“We’re happy with the overall result,” Dartmouth Head Women’s coach John Dwyer said. “We’ve got slalom tomorrow, and I think we’re going to build upon today. I think it’s going to be a good one.”
Tomorrow's slalom races begin with the men's start at 9:30. Stay tuned.
