HANCOCK, Mass./CRAFTSBURY, Vt. - Freshman Fredrik Sandell (Oslo, Norway/Donski Alpine) placed second in the giant slalom, and a pair of women approached the top 10 on Saturday during the Saint Michael's College skiing teams' 10th-place showing at the Williams College Carnival.
Alpine races were contested at the Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort, while Nordic was run at the Craftsbury Nordic Center. After Friday's Nordic races were canceled, Saturday's counted for double points. The Purple Knights finished with 309 points in a 16-team field, coming within 37 points of Harvard University. Dartmouth College topped the carnival with 869.5 points.
Sandell posted a time of 1:45.60 during his runner-up showing in a race that 73 skiers entered, finishing just 0.26 seconds short of the winner from Middlebury College. Sophomore Carl-Oscar Bredengen (Reistad, Norway/Donski Alpine) was 27th in 1:49.57, while senior Kevin O'Brien (Ridgefield, Conn./Ridgefield) had a two-run time of 1:51.57 as the third Saint Michael's scorer.
On the women's side, juniors Christina Billotti (Massapequa, N.Y./Green Mountain Valley School) and Gabbi Hall (San Anselmo, Calif./Forest Charter School) neared the top 10 in the giant slalom. Hall was 17th in the 64-racer field at 1:51.97, which left her just 0.85 seconds short of the eighth-place finisher, and Billotti took 19th at 1:52.20. Billotti also notched the fifth-best opening run, in 54.00. Senior Ashley Langlands (Shelburne, N.H./Gorham) was the third Purple Knight to score.
A pair of men were less than a minute outside of the top 30 during the 73-racer 10K classic, as junior Colin Delaney (Lake Placid, N.Y./National Sports Academy) clocked in at 29:38.6, and senior Robert Sitzer (Lenox, Mass./Lenox Memorial) crossed the finish line in 29:46.2. Freshman Brian Vargo (Shaftsbury, Vt./Mount Anthony Union) turned in a showing of 31:23.5.
Freshman Chloe Boutelle (Saratoga Springs, N.Y./Saratoga Springs) finished the women's 10K classic at 35:33.6, while sophomore Gabrielle Naranja (Fort Kent, Maine/Fort Kent Community) took second among Purple Knights in 36:24.2. Freshman Emily Burns (North Creek, N.Y./Johnsburg Central) was the third scorer.
The Purple Knights head to the Middlebury College Carnival next weekend, which also serves as the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA) Championship and the NCAA East Regional Championship. Races begin on Friday, with Alpine occurring at the Middlebury Snow Bowl and Nordic begin run at Breadloaf.
