February 27, 2010 (Middlebury, VT) – Dartmouth took the first day as one might have predicted

but Middlebury fired it up at their home carnival to walk into second only 25 points off of Dartmouth. However, UVM is lurking 20 points back in third so it’s anyone’s game tomorrow.

The weather of late has been absolutely nuts. Both the Nordic and Alpine venues received copious amounts of rain and snow leading to a less than desirable snowpack and resulting in a one day delay. Today the weather varied from blinding snowstorm to blinding sunlight. Despite these impediments, Middlebury put on a grand show today at both venues. Students were out in force, cheering for their home team. Speech, movement, and thought seemed strangely impaired for the alpine spectators. However, volume was not.

At the Rikert Touring Center the University of Vermont Classic meister Franz Bernstein once again showed his superb form, taking the win with a time of 31 minutes and 36 seconds for the Men’s 10k classic course. Williams’ Dimitri Luthi pulled off a spectacular race to place second with a time of 32 minutes and 13 seconds. Following Luthi by just two and a half seconds was St. Lawrence’s Eric Wolcott who also had a standout race and placed third. On the Women’s side Dartmouth’s Katie Bono blazed an 18 minute and 23 second time for the Women’s 5k Classic win followed by teammate Ida Sargent who clocked in an 18 minute and 36 second run for a second place finish in fickle conditions. Clare Egan showed up the EISA schools with a third place time of 18 minutes and 48 seconds for Wellesley College.

Sunday will prove an interesting day with the top four schools separated by only 50 points total. Dartmouth leads with 409 points, Middlebury follows with 384 points, UVM has 364 points, and the University of New Hampshire has 359 points. Join us tomorrow as these schools vie for the Eastern Championship and for bragging rights at what is the last carnival this year.

For more results, images, and videos please go to eisaskiing.org

Women’s 5km Classic results here.

Results(brief)

1. Katie Bono (DAR) 18:23.0
2. Ida Sargent (DAR) 18:36.3
3. Clare Egan (Wellesley) 18:48.4
4. Rosie Brennan (DAR) 18:54.7
5. Stephanie Crocker (DAR) 19:03.3

Men’s 10km Classic here.

Results Brief

1. Franz Bernstein (UVM) 31:36.9
2. Dimitri Luthi (WIL) 32:13.6
3. Eric Wolcott (SLU) 32:16.2
4. Patrick Johnson (ID) 32:30.4
5. Zachary Wetherell (SLU) 32:37.0