LEWISTON, Maine — The Middlebury College ski team finished third at Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association championship hosted by Bates at Sunday River and Black Mountain this past weekend. Dartmouth won the title with 896 points, followed by Vermont (820), the Panthers (659) and New Hampshire (634). Individual qualifiers will return to action from March 8 to 11 at the NCAA championships hosted by UNH.
The Panther effort was highlighted by Rob Cone’s eighth career Alpine win in Saturday’s slalom, in which Middlebury finished second as a team. Cone’s two-run time of 1:51.03 was tops among a field that saw 25 racers not finish the first run. Cone has now won three of his last six races. Panthers Colin Hayes took ninth in 1:54.13, and Devon Cardamone was 16th in 1:55.49.
Caroline Bartlett led the Middlebury women in the slalom in 11th in 1:55.01. Jackie Atkins was 16th in (1:56.76), while Lexi Calcagni was 25th (2:02.88).
Sam Wood was Middlebury’s top Nordic finisher on day two, placing 14th in the 20-kilometer freestyle race in 53:07. Adam Luban was 31st in 55:36, while Jacob Volz took 35th (55:41).
Kaitlin Fink led the women in 17th in 47:34. Middlebury’s next two finishers were 26th and 27th, Katie Feldman (48:34) and Cate Brams (48:42).
On day one, the women’s Alpine team took second in the giant slalom, while the men were third. The events were limited to just one run after warm temperatures created poor snow conditions.
Bartlett led the Panther women, placing second in 1:12.34. Atkins was 10th in 1:13.87, while Calcagni was 16th in 1:14.91.
Cone took third in 1:13.52. Hayes took 11th (1:15.34) and Cardamone was 12th (1:15.86).
Brams earned her fourth top-10 effort for the Nordic women, finishing the 5K classic in sixth in 16:59. Feldman was 24th in 17:42, and Orli Schwartz took 29th in 18:13.
Wood led the men in the 10K, finishing 13th in 30:30. Lewis Nottonson was 18th in 30:58, and Volz was 21st in 31:12.