By: Caleb Horsch
The EISA season continued Friday and Saturday, with the Dartmouth Skiway providing the fourth stop on the circuit. The site of this year’s NCAA Championships in March, the race provided an early glimpse of the championships. Dartmouth raced to their fourth victory of the season in four tries as they gear up to challenge the Western teams in a few weeks’ time.
Slalom Run One
A significant storm swept through the northeast on Thursday, blanketing the area with over six inches of snow. This weather forced a change in the race schedule, with the decision made to run Slalom first, followed by the GS on Saturday. The Slalom race took place on a new trail that had been cut during the summer.
The soft snow presented a challenge for skiers on run one, and the results were a clear reflection of the demanding conditions. The competition was intense, with those with early bibs mostly taking advantage, and those at the back struggling to make significant progress. Reigning EISA Skier of the Week, Jayden Buckrell from the University of New Hampshire, emerged victorious in the first run, closely followed by Mackenzie Wood from the University of Vermont and Bradshaw Underhill from Middlebury.
On the women’s side, the soft snow and considerable offset on the set produced a grindy and slow top section. Throwing down the gauntlet to the field was Harvard’s Skyler Sheppard, the first-year who looks almost assured to win Rookie of the Year had placed sixth at Saint Michael’s but now sat in the driving seat for run two. Chasing Sheppard down was Zoe Zimmermann from Dartmouth and Carissa Cassidy from Colby A duo of UVM Catamounts in Cydnie Timmermann and Justine Clement sat in fourth and fifth, respectively.
Slalom Run Two
Buckrell slipped back to sixth place on the men’s second run, opening the door for Wood and Underhill. Underhill skied an incredibly solid second run even as the course deteriorated significantly to claim another victory. The result marked his second Slalom win of the year and fifth win in seven tries. Wood would have to settle for second place for the second time this season. Fellow Catamount Magnus Berge Styren skied to third, moving up two spots on the second run. The top 5 was rounded out by another UVM skier, Cole Palchack, in fourth and Boston Colleges Bode Flanigan in fifth.
Kjersti Moritz from Middlebury was racing her first ever carnival this weekend after missing the first three carnivals of the season while racing on the Nor-Am circuit. The Middlebury first-year started with bib 33 as she had not earned any carnival points yet this season. After run one, she had moved up to tenth, but a superb second run saw her see off seven skiers and grab a third-place result. She will surely be a force to be reckoned with for the rest of the season and will now have a much better bib as she has secured valuable start list points.
Carissa Cassidy had landed in the top 5 in all three Slalom races coming in, but the top step on the podium had alluded her. Cassidy finally got a victory with a full attack second run that saw her move into the lead and then eventually ahead of Zimmerman and Sheppard. Cassidy’s victory was the first Slalom win by a Colby skier since Mardi Haskell in 2015. Zimmerman would have to settle for second, and Sheppard moved back slightly to seventh. Cassidy and Zimmerman are now locked in a fight for the Slalom title. Zimmerman currently holds a ten-point lead over Cassidy with two races remaining.
GS Run One
Sunny skies greeted the field on Saturday for the GS, but the weather remained cold. Run one set went to Cam Ciccone from Harvard, and the women got the action underway. Chloe Aust from Williams, who a week prior notched the best result by a Williams skier since 2020, won the first run by a staggering margin. In a race where the top 30 was separated by just 2.10 seconds, Aust won the opening run by 0.42. She was trailed albeit distantly by Lydia Riddell from Colby and Helene Kristoffersen from Saint Michael’s.
The men’s first run was all Dartmouth, with the top three skiers all on the host team. Oscar Zimmer led the race, followed by Benny Brown and Heming Sola. Middlebury’s Nicholas Unkovskoy sat in a tie for third with Sola. Notable on the run one results was how close the race was up and down the results sheet. The flip was all within 1.78 of the leaders, and the cut sixty was within 2.68. There was no margin for error; even small mistakes could make the difference between an early exit and a stellar day.
GS Run Two
Hosts Dartmouth got the second run set as Dartmouth coach JP Daigneault looked to set up his crew for the home victory. Winner of the Saint Michael’s carnival a week prior, Kristoffersen was eager to keep the momentum going, but despite her deficit on run one, her focus was purely on skiing free and having fun. “I’ve found that my best skiing happens when I relax, focus on my skiing, and just enjoy being on the hill with the team.” Her second run accomplished all of that, and she moved ahead of both Aust and Riddell to take a commanding lead in the GS standings. Aust slotted in second place again, a triumph for her, given her past struggles on the hill. “I struggled a lot last year at the Dartmouth GS, so figuring out how to be fast on this hill was great.”
The competition is fierce on the girl’s side, which Aust acknowledged as driving her to step up her game, “There are so many amazing skiers on the girl’s side, so it was great to be in the mix again and be a part of moving the Ephs up the rankings.” Riddell who finished third, has now secured three podiums in GS this year and will look to put her name on the top of the podium in one of the two remaining Carnivals. The top 5 was rounded out by Moritz, who, with another top 5, secured EISA Skier of the Week honors, and Clement.
Finally, it was the men’s turn, and Brown was eager to notch a victory on his home hill. A flawless full-attack run saw him move ahead of his teammate Zimmer as Brown grabbed his first EISA victory. The second-place finish by Zimmer was his best result of the season and his first podium, which will surely give him the confidence to defend his All-American honors in March on the same hill. Unkovskoy moved ahead of Sola on run two to grab his first podium of the season. The top 5 was completed by Mackenzie Wood from UVM and Bradshaw Underhill from Middlebury.
Team Results
Dartmouth notched an impressive 930 points in their victory ahead of Middlebury’s 800. The University of Vermont finished in third, but the result was not indicative of the alpine team’s efforts. The UVM alpine team notched victories in the men’s Slalom and women’s GS. They will look to return to the top step at the next two Carnivals. Placing fourth and fifth were the University of New Hampshire and Colby. Victories by Kristoffersen and Aust catapulted their teams into sixth and seventh respectively.
Looking Ahead
The EISA season will continue with the always raucous Middlebury Carnival on Friday and Saturday. Nearly a foot of snow is expected during the day on Thursday, which is likely to rechallenge the field. With only four races left, athletes will be desperate to garner the results needed for a birth at the NCAA Championships.
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