HANCOCK, Vt./STOWE, Vt. - Saint Michael's College Alpine skiing freshman Fredrik Sandell (Oslo, Norway/Donski Alpine) landed on the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA) All-East second team on Saturday, as the Middlebury College Carnival came to an end. The Purple Knight teams combined to take 10th among 16 squads.
In the final team competition of the 2012 season, Saint Michael's totaled 295.5 points to narrowly trail ninth-place Harvard University, which had 313.5. With 955 points, the University of Vermont won the carnival, which was also the EISA Championship in addition to serving as the NCAA East Regional Championship. Alpine races took place at the Middlebury Snow Bowl, while the Nordic competitions were held at the Trapp Family Lodge.
Sandell paced Saint Michael's in the giant slalom, as his two-run showing of 2:01.79 put him 17th among 73 skiers, and just 0.73 seconds out of the top 10. He had the third-best opening run, clocking in at 1:00.30. The next four Purple Knights finished within 0.74 ticks of one another, with senior Kevin O'Brien (Ridgefield, Conn./Ridgefield) totaling a 2:04.93 performance and sophomore Carl-Oscar Bredengen (Reistad, Norway/Donski Alpine) at 2:05.27. Sophomore Matt Beers (Wrentham, Mass./King Philip Regional) turned in a showing of 2:05.55, and senior JD Levine (Toronto, Ontario/National Ski Academy) came in at 2:05.67.
Junior Gabbi Hall (San Anselmo, Calif./Forest Charter School) tied for 17th out of 69 in the women's giant slalom in 2:08.42, being buoyed by the 12th-fastest second run in the competition. Classmate Christina Billotti (Massapequa, N.Y./Green Mountain Valley School) was 31st at 2:09.89, and graduate student Heidi Robbins (Mendon, Vt./Killington Mountain School/Saint Lawrence) put together a time of 2:11.57.
Freshman Chloe Boutelle (Saratoga Springs, N.Y./Saratoga Springs) had the best showing for the women's Nordic squad, taking 30th out of 71 in the 15k classic mass start in 1:09.50.2. Sophomore Gabrielle Naranja (Fort Kent, Maine/Fort Kent Community) was next at 1:12.44.0, and freshman Emily Burns (North Creek, N.Y./Johnsburg Central) was the third Purple Knight scorer after crossing the finish line in 1:20.16.9.
On the men's side, senior third-year captain Robert Sitzer (Lenox, Mass./Lenox Memorial) capped his career by finishing the 20k classic mass start in 1:24.00.8. Freshman Brian Vargo (Shaftsbury, Vt./Mount Anthony Union) clocked in at 1:28.25.0, and junior Colin Delaney (Lake Placid, N.Y./National Sports Academy) had a 1:37.04.6 showing.
Saint Michael's student-athletes now await word on whether they have qualified for the NCAA Championship, which occurs at Montana State University between March 7 and 10.
