Featured Image: Oskar Gillberg (UVM) — Photo by Stephen R. Cloutier
After nine straight wins and nearly two seasons of dominance, Dartmouth’s historic streak finally hit a wall. On Saturday, the University of Vermont Catamounts surged to five podium finishes, securing a decisive carnival victory. The third stop on the EISA circuit took the league to the Dartmouth Skiway, which served as the site of last season’s NCAA Championships. It was a weekend of breakthroughs and exciting action, as four different skiers claimed their first victories of the season.
A Tight Battle in Women’s GS
Women’s GS continues to be a nail-biter with no clear front-runner, as Kjersti Moritz (Middlebury) became the third different skier to win this season. After a dominant season on the Nor-Am circuit, Moritz returned to collegiate racing and overcame a first-run deficit of over a second to claim the victory. The result was crucial to the Panthers, who finished the weekend third in the carnival standings for their best finish of the season.
Moritz enjoyed being back on the collegiate circuit, commenting:
“I had a lot of fun this weekend racing my first carnival of the season. It feels great to be back with this team, and I’m proud to have contributed some points and put down some fast skiing in the GS.”
Cydnie Timmermann (UVM) followed in second, earning her second-best career GS finish and moving into second place in the discipline standings. A Dartmouth duo, Emma Resnick and Carly Elsinger, finished third and fourth for the host team. They were joined by Zoe Zimmermann in sixth, marking her second-best GS result.
Althea Noyes (Colby) finished seventh and did just enough to retain the leader’s bib. She currently sits 19 points clear of Timmermann.
UVM Men Pull Ahead in GS
Oskar Gillberg and Gray Flanagan put an exclamation mark on the day for the Catamounts. It marked Gillberg’s first collegiate victory and Flanagan’s first podium finish as a Catamount, delivering crucial points for Vermont.
The Vermont native reflected on meeting a career goal, saying:
“It’s always been my goal to not only be a Catamount but to contribute to the team, and it felt great to do that this weekend next to teammates.”- Oskar Gillberg
The Dartmouth men capitalized on home snow, as Oscar Zimmer backed up his impressive performance from the previous week with a second-place GS finish. Teammate Sawyer Reed skied to fourth in his first Dartmouth Carnival. Alec Nolan (Saint Lawrence) rounded out the top five, marking the best finish of his career and vaulting him up the standings.
Dartmouth Tops the Slalom Podium
Dartmouth owned the top step of the slalom podium, with Zoe Zimmermann following up her second-place finish at the Saint Lawrence Carnival with a commanding victory. She won by a massive 1.56 seconds over second-place Timmermann.
On the men’s side, Calum Langmuir (Dartmouth) matched the result with a GS victory in his first carnival start of the season. He was followed by teammate Zimmer in second and Jayden Buckrell (UNH) in third.
UVM Women Place Three in Top 7 in Slalom
Cydnie Timmermann continued her strong weekend, backing up her GS result with her third consecutive slalom podium, extending her lead in the discipline standings. First-year Sara Stiel joined her on the podium, while Kendahl Roufa secured seventh to provide the third scoring result for UVM.
The UVM women posted the highest points total of the day and played a key role in holding off Dartmouth in the team standings.
Results from Around the League
Elsewhere across the league, several notable performances stood out:
- Bode Flanagan (Boston College) finished fourth in the slalom, moving into third in the discipline standings
- Alec Nolan (Saint Lawrence) followed his GS success with a 12th-place slalom finish
- Megan Heckey (Plymouth State) added another top-15 result to stay firmly in the NCAA qualifying picture
- Cooper Iacobelli (Williams) posted a 12th-place GS finish
- Duncan Armstrong (Harvard) finished 14th
Looking Ahead
The league now turns its attention to Stowe Mountain for the UVM Carnival, where the Catamounts will look to carry their momentum onto home snow. The league has not raced at Stowe since the 2020 season due to several years of poor weather conditions. Fortunately, the forecast looks cold and clear, setting the stage for another intense battle in Vermont.
About the Author: Caleb Horsch
