UVM Claims a Commanding Victory at the Dartmouth Carnival
- mlwagner9
- 2 hours ago
- 4 min read
Oak Hill Outdoor Center, Hanover, NH
All photos courtesy of Phillip Belena
The third stop of the EISA carnival circuit brought skiers to Hanover, New Hampshire, for the Dartmouth Carnival. Temperatures remained cold throughout the week, setting the stage for a fast, hard-packed course at Oak Hill Outdoor Center. Bowdoin seniors Emma Crum and Lars Sorom summed up the weekend's conditions with a single word: apricity. As Crum explained, apricity is an old English term that describes the warmth of the sun on a cold winter day. Though the temperatures at Oak Hill were just as cold as at Quarry Road, the sun stayed persistent and the apricity made the days of racing feel warmer than they actually were.
The races began on Friday with the women's 7.5k classic individual start, where the skiers completed three laps of Oak Hill's 2.5k course. The cold temperatures created ideal conditions for hardwax classic skiing, and the course itself was pristine. Maeve Inglefinger, a sophomore on the Dartmouth ski team, noted that the "groomers did a beautiful job," giving a shout out to the Oak Hill staff for the fast and fun course.
The Dartmouth women put together a strong performance on their home course, putting four skiers in the top ten, including Inglefinger who finished ninth. Inglefinger explained that her team "is looking super strong. Everyone is getting faster every race, and Ava keeps on taking dubs." As Inglefinger had said, her teammate, Ava Thurston, earned her fourth win of the season. However, despite Dartmouth's depth, it was the UVM women who claimed the day's team victory, led by Haley Brewster's second-place finish. Middlebury's Shea Brams rounded out the podium in third.
On the men's side, the UVM skiers put on another impressive show, placing six skiers in the top ten. Petter Bakken led the charge with his first-place finish, and Tabor Greenberg followed close behind in third. Bakken shared that he "got a lot of motivation from seeing the guys do so well last weekend" in their performances at Quarry Road. Bakken brought this motivation into his 7.5k race and earned a result that he was proud of.
First year Nathan Doughty of Middlebury upset what would have been another Catamount podium sweep. Doughty finished in second place, only two seconds off of Bakken's winning time. Doughty, super excited about his first carnival podium finish, explained that his race strategy was to "take it out a lot easier than the past couple of weeks." After finishing his first lap in 13th place, Doughty said that he "dug with everything I had out there," and charged through the field to secure his second place finish.
Saturday dawned with the same apricity as Friday, the warmth of the sun lighting up the race course at Oak Hill. Throughout the morning, buses of Dartmouth students arrived at the venue to cheer on their classmates competing in the 15k freestyle mass start. By the time the races started, parents, friends, and large speakers blaring music had lined the course, especially along the back side. Sophomore Virginia Cobb of Dartmouth said that the energy from the crowd made the weekend extra special. "It was fun to have all of our friends come out," Cobb said, when reflecting on the day of racing.
A competitive front pack stayed together for much of the women's five lap race. Among the leaders was junior Breagh Bridge of Harvard ski team, who said that it was "fun to be right up with the front pack for the first couple of laps." Bridge noted that her team has been building momentum throughout the season. "Every weekend, one of our skiers has their best race yet," she continued. "It's really exciting to see the Harvard team moving up as a group."
Senior Emma Crum, another front pack skier, explained that her strategy for the day was to "stay with the lead pack, and try to be close enough to the front to see when any moves were made." That move didn't come until the final climb leading into the stadium, when Haley Brewster of UVM skied away to her second mass start victory of the season, leading her women's team to another win as well. Ava Thurston and Emma Crum were right behind her, finishing second and third, respectively.
An earlier move was made in the men's race. Tabor Greenberg surged away from the front group at the start of the last lap, pulling away from the rest of the field. Despite dealing with a nasty bloody nose, Greenberg didn't slow down. "There is a trail of blood for a whole lap," Greenberg said, putting both sweat and blood into his first carnival victory. Greenberg's teammates Petter Bakken and Luke Rizio followed him in a small chase pack, breaking away on the last hill to secure a Catamount podium sweep for the third time this season.
The Catamounts' efforts this weekend were matched by their alpine team's strong results. After tallying the points, UVM bested Dartmouth on their home course by a decisive 81-point margin, taking home their first team victory of the season. Looking ahead, the EISA skiers will make their way to Craftsbury, VT, next weekend for the UVM Carnival. There, the skiers will compete in a classic sprint and a 10k freestyle individual start.
Thank you to all the staff and volunteers at Oak Hill Outdoor Center for a great weekend of racing!
⭐️ Full race results are available at bullitttiming.com
⭐️ Full photo sets can be downloaded at https://phillipbelena.com/eisa
⭐️ For more news & updates on EISA carnival racing, follow @eisaskiing on Instagram
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