Featured Image: Bradshaw Underhill. Credit: Stephen Cloutier @blockislandsteve
The EISA circuit continued this week with a trip to historic Whiteface Mountain, New York for the Saint Lawrence Carnival. Located in the Adirondacks, the snow was great, and the level was as high as ever for the thirteen teams who made the trek.
Giant Slalom
GS First Run
The series kicked off on Thursday with GS. Trevor Hamilton from Plymouth State set run one and put down a flowy course for the field to charge down.
The women were the first to get action underway, with Colby College’s Lydia Riddell setting the time to beat on the first run. She was by far the cleanest down the top pitch and carried her speed onto the middle flat section.
Saint Michael’s Helene Kristoffersen trailed her by a mere three-tenths of a second. Reigning EISA skier of the week, Hedda Martelleur from the University of New Hampshire, sat in third, and last week’s winner, Allie Resnick, placed fourth.
On the men’s first run, Dartmouth’s Benny Brown could not be stopped. Brown skied aggressively down the opening pitch and took a massive half-second lead into run two.
Behind Brown, the race was quite tight. Colby’s Nolan Sweeney sat in second place, just ahead of the Middlebury duo of Nick Unkovskoy and Brad Underhill.
GS Second Run
As the day wore on and the sun dipped down, the second run began. Hosts Saint Lawrence set run two, which had a few tricks, requiring smart, tactical skiing.
Middlebury’s Mika Reha and Dartmouth’s Izzy Washburn threw down phenomenal second runs. Both competitors moved up to fourth and fifth, respectively. For Washburn, the result represented a career-best finish; for Reha, it was a return to form after she did not finish the Bates Carnival GS.
Determined to retain the GS leaders’ bib, Resnick took plenty of risks on her second run. She moved up one spot to finish in third.
Martelleur pushed out of the gate next and skied a solid second run to come down in the lead. The UNH athlete saw off a challenge from Kristoffersen, who came down in second, and when Riddell lost a ski near the bottom of the course, Martelleur secured her first collegiate win.
Underhill has looked superb in GS this season, but he would have his work cut out for him on run two, as he trailed Brown by 0.84. By the end of the flip 30, the course had deteriorated, and the bumps and chatter created a significant challenge. Despite those variables going against him, Underhill delivered a great second run, moving ahead of four skiers. He achieved his second GS win of the season.
Underhill’s focus was solely on “continuing the great start to the season and putting down a run [he] was proud of.” His result vanquished some of his past struggles at Whiteface: “I was nervous coming into the races because of my past results at Whiteface.” With two giant slalom races completed, he currently holds a 70-point lead in the GS standings.
The men’s GS podium was rounded out with a tie between Brown and Sweeney for second.
Brown has already earned two podium finishes this season, and Sweeney achieved his best finish in his collegiate career. Sweeney’s result represents the best finish by a male Colby skier since Vincent Lebrun-Fortin placed second at the University of Vermont Carnival in 2010.
Slalom
SL First Run
The next day, the collegiate athletes were greeted with beautiful weather for the slalom.
The men got the action underway with bib one, Mack Wood, from the University of Vermont, setting the time to beat. He held a four-tenth lead over Dartmouth’s Dan Gillis.
With UVM eager to best Dartmouth in the team standings, the matchup would be crucial to who won the carnival. With very close margins, Bode Flanigan from Boston College sat in third place.
On the women’s first run, Zoe Zimmerman from Dartmouth was the first to kick out of the start. Her skiing across the top flats was strong, which helped her secure the lead for run one.
Zimmerman was ahead of Cydnie Timmermann from the University of Vermont by -0.46, and Martelleur rounded out the first run podium.
SL Second Run
Transitioning into second run, an easier set for the men left little room for error or anything less than full-charge skiing.
The margins were tight, with the top 10 being separated by only 0.76. Underhill did just what the set required and moved up six spots to earn his first collegiate slalom win. Wood (+0.04) and Unkovskoy (+0.47) rounded out the men’s podium.
Underhill stated, “I’m very excited about where I ended up. I never thought I would be able to take the top spot in a slalom race.”
For the women, Benedetta Caloro, from host Saint Lawrence, represented the Saints well. Caloro won the second run and moved up 13 spots as a result. She finished the day in 9th place, a career-best result.
Martelleur had a big mistake on the second run that dropped her out of the top 15, allowing Hannah Soria and Carissa Cassidy to take the fourth and fifth spots, respectively. The finish represented Cassidy’s second, fourth-place finish of the year.
Justine Clement, winner of the opening slalom race of the season, also moved up one spot to finish in third.
Timmerman was able to narrow the deficit to Zimmerman, but she could not overcome it, and Zimmerman grabbed her first collegiate win.
Team Results
Dartmouth won a second consecutive carnival on the backs of excellent performances by Zimmerman and Brown. They took home a whopping 931.5 points, and in second place, the University of Vermont concluded with 798 points.
Underhill’s double win accelerated Middlebury into third place, ahead of the University of New Hampshire and Colby.
For Underhill, his individual success is all about bringing the Panthers to victory. He stated, “I really wanted to do my part in pushing Middlebury up in the team rankings,” he looked ahead, “my goals are to continue to improve on the technical side of my skiing and help Middlebury win its first carnival in five years.”
Looking Ahead
The annual ‘bye week,’ a break in the racing schedule, will give some reprieve to racers who will look to catch up on training as cold weather pounds the East Coast.
Some athletes will be making the trip to Western Canada for the Nor-Ams before the final push of the season.
The Carnival season will resume next week (January 31st-February 1st) with the Saint Michael’s Carnival at Smugglers Notch.
About the Author: Caleb Horsch
