CRAFTSBURY, Vt—In the wake of Winter Storm Nemo, the Williams nordic teams vaulted the Ephs into 6th place Saturday at the Dartmouth Carnival.
In a cruel irony for a region that has suffered from a dearth of snow for several seasons in a row, the slalom races were postponed due to the strength of a storm that left snow knee-deep and wind too powerful to open the lifts.
The nordic races, which had been moved to Craftsbury Nordic Center in Vermont due to low snow totals, were able to continue on. After Friday's classic races, Saturday brought a change in format with a 3 x 5 freestyle relay.
Dartmouth followed up Friday's nordic success in with victories in each of the relays, in which their men's and women's squads each claimed victory over Vermont. In the women's race, UNH clawed into third, while Middlebury grabbed the final podium spot in the men's event.
The Williams men finished two teams in 7th and 8th place in the race, displaying the depth and intrasquad parity on the team.
Sophomore Will Wicherski skied the first leg for the first relay squad and got the Ephs off to a blazing start, rounding the 5-kilometer course in 14 minutes, 25 seconds. Wicherski's race put the team into 4th place, behind only the two Dartmouth teams and a team from UVM.
Wicherski's classmate Vanya Rybkin took over the reins for the second lap, losing some ground to the top teams but handing over to junior Isaac Hoenig with the squad in 7th.
Hoenig anchored the Ephs in style. He caught the Middlebury and Bates skiers in front of him and stuck with them. While he finished in 7th, he was just 5 seconds from 5th. Hoenig's split of 14:22.3 was the fourth-fastest anchor leg.
The second Williams team of Kalle Jahn '14, Ian Nesbitt '13 and Phil Tosteson '13 gave the first squad a run for its money, finishing just 25 seconds behind. Tosteson was particularly strong, anchoring the Ephs with the 7th-fastest split.
The Eph men earned 77 points, good for 5th place in the race.
Olivia Meyerson, Christina Knapp, and Hannah Smith carried the Williams women's team in a balanced attack that yielded a 7th-place result as well.
Meyerson, a first-year, led the Ephs through the first lap in 6th place with a time of 17:02.0 before tagging off to Knapp. The senior leader maintained the team's position with a strong time of 17:05.4, the fifth-fastest time in her leg.
Sophomore Hannah Smith anchored the Ephs, losing ground to two teams while passing another to leave the team in 7th place.
The Williams women earned 66 points, good for 6th place in the race (Dartmouth's second team finished 6th in the race and could not earn additional points for the hosts).
With its dual victories, the Big Green pulled to within 38 points of UVM. The Catamounts maintained their lead, however, 713-675. Williams leapt St. Lawrence and moved into 6th place with 346 points.
Complete results can be found below:
http://www.barttiming.com/eisa/Results13/doc13.htm
