February 18, 2011 (Middlebury, VT) – The 88th Annual Middlebury Winter Carnival kicked off today at the Rikert Touring Center as warm temperatures, 50 Fahrenheit (10C), greeted skiers meaning slower times were the order of the day. The men were off first as Dartmouth’s Erik Packer topped the field in their 10km freestyle race – an NCAA qualifier – besting his team mate Nils Koons by a scant 2.6s.

It was Packer’s first carnival win as other top skiers like series’ leader Sam Tarling also from Dartmouth who finished 5th could not unseat Packer’s time of 24:37.4. In third was Wyatt Fereday (Colby) at 21s behind the winner followed by UVM’s Alex Howe in 4th who was without top team mates Scott Patterson and Franz Bernstein to bolster UVM’s fortunes.

Dartmouth came out on top in the women’s 10km race as well as Erika Flowers put in a time of 28:44.5 to take her first top podium as well with a comfortable 8.4s margin over Lucy Garrec (UVM) in second with more green on the podium as Dartmouth’s Rosie Brennan claimed third.

Combined Nordic scores has Dartmouth with 269 points, the University of Vermont (UVM) with 222 and Middlebury College in third with 188.

Women’s 10km F results HERE.
Men’s 10km F results HERE.