HANCOCK, Vt./STOWE, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College skiing teams stood a combined 10th out of 15 squads following the opening day of the season-ending Middlebury College Carnival on Friday, as their 149 points left them just three short of Harvard University. The meet, whose Alpine races are occurring at the Middlebury Snow Bowl and whose Nordic competition is being held at the Trapp Family Lodge, is also the championship for the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA), as well as being the NCAA East Regional Championship. The carnival concludes tomorrow.
The men's Alpine team finished sixth among 13, as the 64 points it raised comprised nearly half of the Saint Michael's total for the day. Freshman Fredrik Sandell (Oslo, Norway/Donski Alpine) was 13th among 73 starters with a two-run time of 1:35.90, leaving him just 0.64 seconds short of the top 10. Sophomore Carl-Oscar Bredengen (Reistad, Norway/Donski Alpine) took 23rd in 1:38.52, coming within 0.63 ticks of placing in the top 20. Rounding out the Purple Knights' three scorers was senior Nathan Bryant (Lee, N.H./Oyster River), who captured 39th in 1:42.62.
On the women's side, graduate student Heidi Robbins (Mendon, Vt./Killington Mountain School/Saint Lawrence) was 26th among 68 in the slalom, as her showing of 1:43.01 was within 0.8 seconds of the top 20. Junior Gabbi Hall (San Anselmo, Calif./Forest Charter School) put together a two-run time of 1:47.63, while sophomore Shannon Conroy (Auburn, Calif./Home Schooled) finished in 1:48.89.
In the men's 10k freestyle technique race, junior Colin Delaney (Lake Placid, N.Y./National Sports Academy) claimed a 31st-place finish in a time of 27:08.1, leaving him just 30 seconds outside of the top 20 in a field that included 68 starters. Senior Robert Sitzer (Lenox, Mass./Lenox Memorial) clocked in at 28:15.9, while freshman Isaiah St. Pierre (Charlestown, N.H./Fall Mountain Regional) was 32.5 seconds behind Sitzer.
Freshman Chloe Boutelle (Saratoga Springs, N.Y./Saratoga Springs) paced the Purple Knight women in the 5k freestyle technique competition, finishing in 16:35.4, while sophomore Gabrielle Naranja (Fort Kent, Maine/Fort Kent Community) was 6.1 seconds back. Freshman Emily Burns (North Creek, N.Y./Johnsburg Central) scored third-place points for Saint Michael's.
