By: Caleb Horsch
Lyme, NH - Warm temperatures became overwhelming on Saturday as the lack of a freeze led to a peely top layer. Salt was thrown, which improved conditions, but it remained softer in sections, providing an extra layer of challenge.
Declan McCormack, riding high from his results in the previous two days of racing, maintained his elevation on the top pitch and then found the fall line on the open 12-meter flats to win the first run. Hayden Dahl (UNH), who was third in the Harvard Slalom, slotted in right behind McCormack, with his teammate Isac Hedstroem (UNH) in third. UNH looked incredibly well positioned on the men's side, with their third scorer being Hunter Brayton, in fourth place at the halfway point.
Magnus Berge Styren (University of Vermont) - Stephen R Cloutier
Allie Resnick (Dartmouth) was gunning for her third win of the season after two disappointing GS races. On run one, she skied well but again found herself in a hole as Cydnie Timmerman (UVM) won the first run. Third place belonged to Mike-Anne Reha (Middlebury), with Timmerman's teammates Clement and Clementson in fourth and fifth and eager to seal up the carnival for the Catamounts.
On run two, Slalom bib leader Dan Gillis (Dartmouth), eager to move himself back into the conversation after a difficult first run, did just that. He moved up six spots to take third place on the day and hold onto the prestigious red bib. He wasn't the only one with an impressive second run charge as Harrison Digangi (Colby), Max Martin (Dartmouth), and Olof Hedelin (Dartmouth) registered top 15s on the backs of their run-two efforts.
The win on the day came as a shock to most. After the first run, Magnus Berge Styren (UVM) was 0.91 behind McCormack, but after a lights-out second run and crashes from Brayton and McCormack, he moved up to the top step on the podium.
The University of Vermont women's team was determined to join Styren on the podium, and they wrapped up a dominant weekend of racing with another podium sweep. Timmerman took the win, her first of the season in Slalom, ahead of Clement, who won the second run and has now finished no worse than second in Slalom this season. Third place belonged to Clementson, her first podium of the season.
Cydnie Timmerman (University of Vermont) - Stephen R Cloutier
Combined with a day of Nordic racing at Oak Hill, the Catamounts look nearly unstoppable as they won seven of eight events contested on the weekend. Hosts Dartmouth sat in a distant second but clear of the University of New Hampshire in third.
A busy stretch of racing continues as teams will trek down to Jiminy Peak for the Williams Carnival on Friday and Saturday before a quick trip down the road to Catamount Mountain for the makeup UVM Slalom. The race on Sunday will be the league's first time at Catamount and is sure to be a barn burner, with very few athletes having skied at the small Massachusetts mountain.
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