UNH hosted the second Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA) event this weekend, placing third overall thanks to strong performances by Geneviève Frigon, Lisa Wedsjö, Phil Rivet and Peter Holmes. Frigon improved from a tenth-place finish on the Jan 21 St. Lawrence Carnival to sixth place (2:02.01, 37 points) in the Slalom event at Cannon Mountain.
Frigon didn’t represent UNH women’s slalom alone. In 13th place was Lisa Wedsjö (2:05.62, 28 points) with freshman Emma Woodhouse finishing less than a second thereafter (2:06.41, 26 points). Woodhouse placed 19th in the St. Lawrence Carnival and improved to 16th this Saturday at Cannon Mountain.
The men’s slalom team did their part and served as a healthy contributor to the third place overall finish. Phil Rivet, Tõnis Luik and Chris Steinke represented the best of those UNH men’s slalom skiers. Rivet, who finished first in the Grand Slalom at Colby College last year, is consistently among the team’s top performers.
UNH’s excellence in the alpine events served as a buffer for a somewhat struggling Freestyle team at Jackson Touring Center. In the women’s 15-kilometer freestyle MS and men’s 20k freestyle MS, the ‘Cats’ finished in fourth and seventh place, respectively. Top Wildcats Lizzie Gill (ninth place, :44:27.6, 31 points) and Peter Holmes led their teammates to a respectable finish.
Altogether, the team put up 659 points.
Though third place overall is a solid result, the team finished in similar fashion to that of the first ECSA event: behind Dartmouth and UVM by nearly 200 points. In each case, UNH has been at least 100 points ahead of the fourth-place team. They’ve got plenty of room to work with in either direction, but would surely like to close in on those top teams.
The EISA season continues throughout February and into March. The team will travel to Stowe, Vermont to compete in the Vermont Carnival on Feb. 3-4. Nordic races will take place at the Trapp Family Lodge, and the alpine events will be held at Mount Mansfield Ski Club. The Carnival will start that Friday with the Skate Sprints and Giant Slalom, then continue on Saturday with the Slalom and women’s and men’s 10k Classic.
UNH will host the 2017 NCAA Skiing Championships for the first time since 2007 and fifth time overall, at Cannon Mountain (alpine) and Jackson Ski Touring Center (Nordic) on March 8-11.
