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| Travis Dawson of the University of Vermont, skis during the first run of the men's giant slalom at the UNH Carnival at Attitash Mountain on January 24, 2014 in Bartlett, VT. (Dustin Satloff/EISA) |
Dustin Satloff
BARTLETT, NH. - Temperatures had fallen to well below zero leading up to the
first run of the University of New Hampshire Carnival giant slalom, but that
did not stop the University of Vermont from continuing to dominate the EISA
podium.
Only six days after sweeping the podium at the Colby College
Carnival slalom, UVM had a similarly dominant performance Friday. Vermont’s women took three of the top four
slots, while the UVM men seized the top two positions.
Travis Dawson topped the field once again for the third
straight time, earning his second giant slalom win of the year. Dom Garand, who has seen the podium in every
race this season, finished runner-up to Dawson.
Kevin Drury, was the third point scorer for Vermont, placing 14th. Drury, who sat in fourth place after the
first run, posted a disappointing time in the second run. The Vermont men scored 124 points, but
finished ahead of Middlebury by a mere 2 points.
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| Travis Dawson and Dominique Garand of the University of Vermont, after the second run of the men's giant slalom at the University of New Hampshire Carnival at Attitash Mountain on January 24, 2014 in Bartlett, NH. (Dustin Satloff/EISA) |
UVM’s Kate Ryley won her fourth race of the season, and her
third GS victory of the year. “I’m
feeling more confident in my GS than I was in preseason,” Ryley said. “Winning today is going to grow that
confidence.” Elise Tefre finished in
third, which is her best giant slalom finish of the season. After a disappointing first run in which she
finished 14th, Kristina Riis-Johannessen posted the second fastest
time of the second run, finishing behind only UVM teammate Ryley.
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Riis-Johannessen, who was 3.35 seconds off the lead after
the first run knew she was still in contention.
“I was thinking that I could move up a lot and just score as many points
as I can for the team,” Riis-Johannessen said.
“I am happy with my second run.”
Middlebury showed up to race, placing three skiers in the
top 10. Hig Roberts scored for the first
time this season, taking third place. Until
today, Roberts had not finished his second run in any of the prior three
competitions. Chris McKenna took fourth
and Ghassan Gedeon-Achi placed sixth for Middlebury.
Yina Moe-Lange earned her first podium finish of the season,
placing second in the women’s giant slalom, leading Middlebury’s women to a
third-place finish as a team in the GS.
Kara Shaw and Lisa Schroer finished 13th and 16th
to round out the scoring for Middlebury.
Middlebury currently sits in third place, 15 points ahead of the
University of New Hampshire.
Dartmouth’s men struggled in the giant slalom. Neither Robert Overing nor Ben Morse completed
their runs. Dylan Brooks and Sam
Macomber both had top-10 finishes, but Dartmouth’s third scorer was Prescott
McLaughlin who finished in 24th place.
On the women’s side, Abby Fucigna had her second top 5 GS
finish of the season, finishing in fifth place.
Lizzie Kistler reached the finish for the first time since the season’s
opening race, and finished in seventh.
Anne Strong concluded the scoring for Dartmouth, as she finished in 12th
place.
| Abby Fucigna of Dartmouth College, skis during the second run of the women's giant slalom at the UNH Carnival at Attitash Mountain on January 24, 2014 in Bartlett, VT. (Dustin Satloff/EISA) |
After a slight slip-up at last week’s giant slalom, the
University of Vermont has rebounded, taking 10 of the 12 podium spots
since. “We’re a really strong team this
year, and it’s really exciting,” Kristina Riis-Johannessen explained. “We all feed off of each other’s success and
get better and better.” “We all enjoy
the competitiveness,” Travis Dawson concurred.
Such domination is surely not as enjoyable for UVM’s competition, who
will strive to earn some demonstrable success in what appears thus far in the
season to be an extremely difficult undertaking. This weekend’s unusual three-race schedule
might provide an opportunity for them should UVM’s team show any signs of
fatigue; signs, however, that have not yet been shown this year.
