Middlebury's Johnson dominates nordic races, Dartmouth wins UVM Carnival
It was a picturesque bluebird day at the Trapp Family Lodge today (Feb. 5) where Dartmouth drove the final nail into the Catamount coffin and claimed the overall win at the UVM Carnival with 916 points. On an impressive nordic performance, Vermont was able to rebound from fourth place the previous day to finish in second with 735 points. Middlebury was a scant six points behind in third.
Vermont’s Caitlin Patterson, whose last win came in the opening freestyle race at the Bates Carnival, grew weary of numerous second place finishes since and skated to victory in the UVM Carnival women’s 10k freestyle race. “Sophie [Caldwell] has had the past three wins, so I wanted to come back with a reply. When I got here I was extremely excited just to ski, let alone race, because of the great atmosphere and our team energy,” she said. Caldwell of Dartmouth was second, her teammate Erika Flowers was third, and Catamount Lucy Garrec was fourth. The UVM women’s positive energy enabled them to best the Big Green in team scoring for the race.
Middlebury’s Patrick Johnson, the story of the weekend, skated to his second win of the carnival by a noteworthy forty-two second margin over Dartmouth’s Sam Tarling. Johnson noted, “Every race right now, I feel like I have a good chance to win. This course has a long uphill finish, and I was definitely really tired at that point which means I was able to put everything out there.” Franz Bernstein of UVM was third and his teammate Alexander Howe was fourth.
The alpine races of the Dartmouth Carnival begin Feb. 10 at the Dartmouth Skiway while the nordic events will return to the Trapp Family Lodge due to limiting snow conditions in Hanover, N.H.
Final team scores at the conclusion of the UVM Carnival:
Dartmouth College – 916
University of Vermont – 735
Middlebury College – 729
University of New Hampshire – 698
Bates College – 534
Williams College – 512
Colby College – 576
St. Lawrence University – 441
Harvard University – 357
St. Michael’s College – 300
Plymouth State University – 213
Bowdoin College – 137.5
Boston College – 111.5
Colby-Sawyer College – 106
University of Maine Presque Isle – 72
Photo of double race winner Patrick Johnson by Cory Ransom