5k and 10k Classic recap: Dartmouth defends their home turf

Luke Allan at the Henchey Cup. (Image courtesy of flyingpointroad.com)

Today was sunny and warm with blue skies, and the home team impressed their strength on the bluebird day. Yesterday, some questions were posed. Dartmouth was heading into the races at Oak Hill today on the back of a number of promising season performances, though in the team scores, still playing second fiddle to UVM.

But today, in the classic races in Hannover, NH, the Dartmouth squad reached the level that had previously been just above their grasp. Jasmine Drolet continued to ski unconscious, placing first in the women's race and furthering an incredible run of form for the freshman. Drolet finished the 5k classic with a time of 16:06.4. Luke Allan, another freshman for the Big Green, similarly built on his own stellar freshman season. Allan placed second in the men's 10k, with a time of 28:43.6.

Though Allan and Drolet are the young standouts, the home team put in a well rounded team performance. The two other scoring Dartmouth skiers (Rena Schwartz and Callie Young) placed in the top ten in the women's 5k, and Tobie Garvin occupied the fourth spot. Wally Magill finished in fourth and Cameron Wolfe finished in seventh in the men's 10k, buffeting Allan's podium finish. Dartmouth ends the Nordic day top of the team scores, with 247 points. It's a scrap for second: UVM currently occupies that spot with 203 points, closely followed by UNH's 202.

Here's how the podiums shook out. Anna Bizyukova, from UVM, finished second behind Jasmine Drolet with a time of 16:38.0. Third place went to UNH's Jasmine Lyons, who finished with a time of 16:45.0. On the men's side, Peter Wolter, a Middlebury senior, won his first carnival race this year. Wolter finished second in the 10k classic at the UVM carnival. His time today: 28:06.5. Allan placed second and in a mimic of the women's podium, UNH's Scott Schulz finished third with a time of 28:52.9.

The home team is skiing fast and each of the squad's scoring skiers lodged good results. UVM and UNH remain in striking distance, though, and with all of UVM's men skiers finishing outside the top five today, you can expect the catamounts to make huge improvements in their finishes for the freestyle skate races.