FROM STAFF REPORTS
RIPTON & HANCOCK Vt. — Annika Taylor won her fourth Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association women’s Nordic race of the season, and Coley Oliver made it a clean sweep of men’s alpine weekend races to propel the University of New Hampshire skiing team to fourth place at the Middlebury Carnival, which wrapped up Saturday.
UNH compiled 773 points to finish in fourth place, behind Vermont (931 points), Dartmouth (788) and Middlebury (783). Sixteen schools competed in the carnival.
Taylor continued her torrid Nordic season by topping the podium in the women’s 5K free at Rikert Touring Center in 16 minutes, 8.6 seconds for 50 points; she bested runner-up Heather Mooney of Middlebury by 2.6 seconds. Taylor has three freestyle victories (UVM Carnival-Jan. 23, Dartmouth Carnival-Feb. 7, Middlebury Carnival-Feb. 14) and one classic victory (UVM Carnival-Jan. 24) this season.
Maddy Pfeifer placed 12th in 17:07.09 for 29 points, and Hannah Peterson crossed the line in 17:11.08 for 13th place (28 points). UNH totaled 107 points for second place behind Vermont (111).
Oliver, who earned his first career EISA victory in Friday’s slalom, made it back-to-back wins at Middlebury Snow Bowl by recording a two-run combined time of 2 minutes, 8.61 seconds, which was 0.42 seconds ahead of runner-up William St-Germain of UVM, for 50 points. Jay Ogle posted a ninth-place time of 2:09.94 for 31 points, and Chris Steinke racked up 19 points in a 24th-place time of 2:12.24. UNH totaled 100 points for third place in a race won by Vermont (121).
Raleigh Goessling made it back-to-back Top-10s by skiing to 10th place (26:23.7/30 points) in the men’s 10K free. Peter Holmes tied for 24th place in 27:12.8 for 21 points, and Per Lindgren collected 17 points by virtue of his 29th-place time of 27:36.1. With 68 points, UNH placed fifth in the race won by UVM (133).
Lisa Wedsjö and Randa Teschner finished seventh and eighth, respectively, in the women’s giant slalom. Wedsjö clocked in at 2:14.33 for 35 points and Teschner’s combined time of 2:14.46 earned her 33 points. Kelly DiNapoli notched 23 points by finishing in 20th place (2:17.91). The Wildcats’ 91 points placed them fourth in women’s GS, which was captured by Middlebury (124).
UNH will compete in the St. Lawrence Carnival, which serves as the EISA Championships and the NCAA East Regional Championships on Feb. 27-28. Alpine races are set for Whiteface Mountain and Nordic races are scheduled for Mt. Hoevenberg.
