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| Dartmouth's Abby Fucigna rips to a podium finish at Sugarloaf (photo: Cory Ransom) |
CARRABASSETT VALLEY/WATERVILLE, Maine — On the opening day
of the Colby College Carnival, Middlebury’s David Donaldson claimed victory in
the giant slalom to block a threatening podium sweep by the University of
Vermont. Convincing victories by Catamounts Kate Ryley in the slalom and Anja
Gruber in the 5k classic have propelled UVM into the team lead. Calculating the
classic, giant slalom, and slalom races (to be reported on tomorrow), Vermont (731) currently maintains a 104-point lead over Dartmouth (627), while
New Hampshire (584) is third and Middlebury (540.5) sits fourth.
The University of New Hampshire Nordic women prevailed once
again in the 5k classic despite Gruber’s victory. Wildcat Annika Taylor was
second, Anya Bean seventh, and Elizabeth Izzo eighth in the race held on a new
trail network in Waterville near the Colby campus. The women’s podium was
rounded out by Dartmouth’s Emily Blackmer in third.
Alpine Panther David Donaldson was joined in
victory by his Nordic teammate Ben Lustgarten in the men’s 10k classic. It was a
career first EISA victory for the Middlebury junior. Dartmouth’s Scott Lacy and
Silas Talbot, who swapped places from last weekend’s 20k classic race, finished
second and third, respectively.
On his strategy for the course, Lustgarten remarked, "I really just tried to hit those longer steep hills hard and then attempted to recover with a strong double-pole in the flats and recover as much as possible in the three-second tuck on the tiny downhills. The weather was not as bas as training this past week so it felt really good actually, could race in a headband so that was really nice."
On his strategy for the course, Lustgarten remarked, "I really just tried to hit those longer steep hills hard and then attempted to recover with a strong double-pole in the flats and recover as much as possible in the three-second tuck on the tiny downhills. The weather was not as bas as training this past week so it felt really good actually, could race in a headband so that was really nice."
Over an hour away at the bone-chillingly cold and windy Sugarloaf, Lustgarten's Panther counterpart Donaldson held off UVM’s
Sean Higgins, Morgan Megarry, Travis Dawson, and Dom Garand who commanded
positions 2-5. For California native Sean Higgins, it was his first NCAA podium
since winning the Williams Carnival slalom last February.
“I was fourth a couple more times than I’d like this year, so
it was definitely a great feeling to be back on the podium. We love Donnie and
we have so much respect for his skiing, so it’s not that big of a deal when he
beats us,” said a pleased yet humbled Higgins.
Vermont’s Kate Ryley claimed a big win in the giant slalom
as well with a greater than one second margin of victory over defending NCAA
champion Rebecca Nadler of Harvard. Abby Fucigna of Dartmouth squeezed into
third for the Big Green and also collected her career first EISA podium result.
“I was trying to win, but a podium is a good first step. I
had an interesting start to the season figuring out equipment, and I’ve been
skiing a little better in GS, so this is a step in the right direction,”
reasoned Fucigna.
Also noteworthy in the giant slalom was Avril Dunleavy of
Bates who started with bib 32 and climbed her way to a fourth-place finish. New
Hampshire’s Jenna Kantor, who had struggled to put two solid race runs together
this season, started in position 35 and clawed into seventh. Crowd favorite Jim
Ryan of the home team Mules posted a top-10 finish for his Colby fans.
Complete Carnival results here.
