STOWE, VT--Geordie Lonza was going to be hard-pressed to better her performance after a third-place finish in Friday's giant slalom. But a day later the senior did exactly that, taking the individual victory in the slalom on an historically successful day for the women's alpine team.
Lonza was actually in second place after her first run of the day, which she completed in 54.32 seconds. The good news for the Ephs was that the skier in front of her was Laurel Carter. Carter threw down a blazing time of 54.01 in the first run, putting her and Lonza nearly a second and a half clear of the field.
Lonza's 55.57 in the second run was enough to bridge the gap, however, giving her a winning time of 1:49.89. Carter did enough to hang onto second by skiing the run in 56.47 for a two-run total of 1:50.48.
First-year Sarah Cottrill had a stellar second run of 55.51 to cap off a successful day of scoring for Williams. Shannon Campbell '14 skied into 20th place for the second consecutive day.
The women totaled an impressive 127 points, well clear of second-place Bates.
Only one Eph cracked the top 30 for the men, who were led by Dylan Thomas. Thomas took 27th in 1:59.51. Sean Cummiskey struggled in his first run but skied a good second run to finish 36th. Hig Roberts of Middlebury was the individual winner in 1:43.31, and UNH was the top men's team on the day with 120 points.
The nordic teams skied in classic races at Trapp Family Lodge. The women were led by Elena Luthi, who skied the 5-kilometer course in 17:35. although the Ephs didn't have a clear frontrunner they packed it in after the first-year. Kristen Halvorsen (17:57) wasn't far behind her teammate in 35th, and Christina Knapp was 37th, just a second behind Halvorsen.
Holly Whitney and Hannah Smith were 40th and 41st, respectively. The team's 48 points placed them 10th on the day. Dartmouth's Sophie Caldwell continued her dominance of the league with an individual victory, and her team won as well.
Dimitri Luthi took 28th place in the 10-kilometer classic race. Luthi skied the course in 30 minutes, 34 seconds, tops for the team. Vanya Rybkin was next on the results page in 29th, and Ian Nesbitt was 32nd to round out the scoring. Phil Tosteson also cracked the top 40.
The men's efforts put them seventh as a team for the event. Middlebury's Patrick Johnson (28:18) was the individual winner, but Dartmouth packed three skiers into the top five to claim the team title.
Buoyed by the women's alpine results, Williams leapfrogged two teams to settle into 5th place for the carnival. Dartmouth has a healthy lead, with 675 points to 558 for second-place UNH. Williams has 393 points, a tenuous one-point lead over sixth-place Bates.
The nordic teams wrap up racing action for the weekend with freestyle races on Sunday.
Complete results can be found at http://www.barttiming.com/eisa/Results12/uvm12.htm
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| Geordie Lonza |
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| Laurel Carter |
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Action photos from today's racing
courtesy of Christine Feehan
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