Catamounts seek 18th straight Carnival victory

STOWE, Vt. – When the University of Vermont Catamounts claimed their third consecutive home Carnival last weekend and 17th meet in a row, it wasn’t all celebrations and revelry. Despite a 57-point lead over next closest rival Dartmouth College, the Cats lost one of their top alpine contributors Elise Tefre, a senior from Norway, to a season-ending knee injury in the women’s giant slalom. Tefre won the opening GS of the season at the Bates Carnival, but Vermont would have to rally in her absence if they had hopes of keeping the streak alive.

Nordic action took place at the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, where the home course advantage benefited the Cats as they were able to top rival Dartmouth 447 points to 427. The previous week at the Bates Carnival, both Nordic teams tied for first. The University of New Hampshire rounded out the top three with a total of 400 points.

In the men’s 10 kilometer freestyle on Friday, Dartmouth’s Patrick Caldwell defended the leader bib in commanding style, beating second-place finisher Rogan Brown of UVM by more than a minute. Frederic Touchette of Laval finished third ahead of Harvard’s Akeo Maifeld-Carucci. Strong skiing from Fabian Stocek and Silas Talbot helped the Dartmouth men to secure the team win for the day.

The women’s 5 km freestyle started just as conditions warmed up, and it proved to be UNH’s Annika Taylor’s day to shine. After two second-place finishes at the Bates Carnival the previous weekend, she stood atop the podium Friday, beating out second-place finisher Mary-Kate Cirelli of UVM by almost 15 seconds. Middlebury’s Heather Mooney, in the leader bib, once again skied her way onto the podium with a third-place finish.

Saturday’s racing began with the men’s mass start 15 km classic in much warmer conditions than the previous week’s competition. Dartmouth’s Caldwell continued his winning streak and secured his classic leader’s bib for another weekend. Teammate Silas Talbot finished second and Vermont’s Tobias Trenkle edged out his teammate Jack Hegman by less than 2 seconds to take third place.

The Nordic races wrapped up with the women’s 10 km classic mass start. New Hampshire’s Taylor claimed her second victory in as many days and picked up her fourth podium of the season ahead of UVM newcomer Cirelli who once again finished second. Dartmouth’s Cory Stock rounded out the podium in third, but it wasn’t quite enough to move the Big Green past the Cats.

At Stowe Mountain Resort, the alpine squads faced blowing snow in the opening run of the giant slalom races for both women and men on Friday. Former U.S. Ski Team athlete Foreste Peterson, now skiing for Dartmouth, secured her career first NCAA victory over another Big Green freshman, Libby Gibson. New Hampshire freshman Lisa Wedsjoe of Sweden rounded out the podium in third.

“I was pretty relaxed today. I had a good feeling going into first run and then being third after the first run got me pretty fired up. I knew it was close, it was going to be a tight race, because Libby was only a tenth ahead of me. So she fired me up, and I just gave it all I had,” said Peterson. “It’s nice to have Libby and me right there at the top together and to be so close. Everyone, we’re all pushing each other, and I think it’s really elevating our whole team.”

Middlebury’s Rob Cone, also a former U.S. Ski Team athlete, won his second consecutive EISA giant slalom race with the men’s victory ahead of Vermont freshman Griffin Brown. Brown’s teammate Dom Garand rounded out the podium in third.

“I’ve found confidence in the top of my turn, and I can really move through my skis and trust the snow and trust that my skis will hold. … As long as I’m sure of what my turns are doing, everything just builds from there and I know it’s going to work and be fast,” noted Cone of his early success on the EISA circuit.

Brown, who had the fastest first run at Bates the previous weekend but did not finish the second run, has made quite an impression on the EISA circuit in just two weekends of racing.

“I tried not to change anything (from the previous week). First run at Sunday River I skied really well – skied solid – and made it down for an awesome run. Unfortunately, I just went out second run. So I tried to keep a steady head on my shoulders (today) and stick to the game plan,” said Brown. “Hopefully I can be a pretty competitive skier in every race, and that’s my goal. Luckily I’m on a team with a lot of older kids who push me along, and it’s been an awesome experience so far.”

The following day in the women’s slalom, Dartmouth’s Lizzie Kistler blew away the field for a 1.12-second win over 2014 NCAA champion Kristina Riis-Johannessen of UVM. Colby’s Mardi Haskell rounded out the podium in third for the second week in a row.

The Catamounts officially sealed their victory in the men’s slalom with a podium sweep led by Garand in first, former Canadian development team skier William St. Germain in second, and Taylor Wunsch in third. Vermont’s Bobby Farrell finished fourth, but his result did not count toward team scoring which only includes the top three from each school. New Hampshire’s Chris Steinke finished fifth.

EISA skiers are now contesting the St. Michael’s Carnival at Smuggler’s Notch Resort and the Sleepy Hollow Inn.

EISA contributed to this article

Final Team Scores at UVM Carnival

1. University of Vermont – 941
2. Dartmouth College – 884
3. University of New Hampshire – 782
4. Middlebury College – 661
5. Colby College – 537
6. Williams College – 507
7. Bates College – 410
8. St. Lawrence University – 406
9. Harvard University – 284
10. St. Michael’s College – 226
11. Colby-Sawyer College – 188
12. Plymouth State University – 157
13. Bowdoin College 153
14. Universite Laval – 150
15. University of Maine Presque Isle – 93
16. Boston College – 87