February 08, 2016 (Craftsbury Common, VT) – The adverse winter weather conditions has not slowed down the EISA field at all this season, as racing continued this past weekend, Feb. 6-7, at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center for the University of Vermont Carnival.

The event, which was paired with a USSA SuperTour and NENSA Eastern Cup, had to be relocated on short notice from the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, VT due to a lack of snow, and all races were contested on a carefully maintained 2.4-kilometer loop, which featured few of the typical climbs seen on previous Craftsbury race courses.

Saturday (Feb. 6) saw blistering fast freestyle races, with the temperatures hovering just below freezing for the entire day. The short course featured just three climbs, which held up quite well under the pressure of over 1,000 laps of racing on the day.

The women led the day with two laps of the course for their 5km freestyle, with Dartmouth freshman, Lydia Blanchet, chalking up her first collegiate win in a time of 11:54.2. She was joined in the top-6 by three of her teammates including Corey Stock, Mary O’Connell, and Emily Hannah placing third, fifth, and sixth respectively.

Middlebury College ended up being the spoiler of the Dartmouth podium, with Kelsey Phinney placing second (+0:03.5), followed by Annie Pokorny in fourth. Pokorny returned to Middlebury this season after competing for the SMST2 program for two seasons, with this weekend being her first collegiate finish since the 2013 NCAA Championships, where she placed 18^th in the 5k Classic, before pulling out of the 15km Freestyle the following day.

The afternoon session consisted of a wide open 10k for the men. Dartmouth junior Patrick Caldwell, winner of the same event at the 2015 NCAA Championships, topped the overall field with a time of 20:42.9. Like his SMST2 teammate, this was Caldwell’s first race for his alma mater this season. He was joined on the carnival podium by UVM teammates Jorgen Grav and Jack Hegman, in second and third respectively. Some athletes in the men’s race had noted that, due to the large amount of traffic on the open course, obstruction had become an issue, with there being some reports of racers colliding with skiers on course.

When asked about this after the race, Grav noted that he “… only had to yell track a couple times today at people, but I talked to several people who felt like they got obstructed. Those who got a ride from people starting later definitely had an advantage too, but that’s just how it is on a 2.5km loop.”

Sunday’s races featured much of the same conditions as Saturday, this time with the added traffic of the women racing a 10k classic instead of 5km. With it being such a flat course, many skiers chose to tackle the race using skate skis and double poled the entire course. Not among those was the women’s carnival winner Alayna Sonnesyn from UVM, who edged out Pokorny by half a second, finishing in 28:02.5. Trailing these two was Saturday’s winner Blanchet, placing third in 28:08.8.

Sonnesyn, who has been coming off of illness, wasn’t expecting to net her first collegiate victory. Saying that she didn’t have her energy back for the freestyle races, her goal for the classic was just to have a race where she felt good.

The final race of the day was another fast one for the men, who also raced 10km for their classic event. By this time, the final climb in the course, a mere 50 feet long, had been reduced to four to six inches of sugar over ice, requiring fast and high feet in order to herringbone up it. In the Classic, it’s most notable victim was freestyle winner Patrick Caldwell, who stumbled up it on his 2^nd lap.

The UVM men did not seem to have a problem though, being among those who chose to double pole the event.

“On today’s relatively flat course with klister kick conditions,” UVM’s Cole Morgan said, “I felt that going on skate skis would give me a substantial speed difference.”

Morgan would claim his first collegiate victory for the Catamounts, followed closely by his teammate Grav. These two would complete their four laps in 23:37.4 and 23:41.5 respectively, and were joined by Dartmouth’s Fabian Stocek in 23:50.0.

The Eastern Carnival season continues next weekend, again at Craftsbury, for the 106^th Dartmouth Winter Carniva.

Men’s Results here.
Women’s Results here.