The Big Green participated in its third event of the season at the two-day Vermont Carnival held at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center this past weekend. Although the alpine events were postponed and ultimately canceled due to unsafe weather conditions brought on by an influx of snow, the Nordic events were able to proceed and ultimately dictated the scoring during the carnival. The Big Green placed second overall at 436 points, falling 82 points behind the University of Vermont and 100 points ahead of Middlebury College.
Multiple Big Green skiers moved beyond the qualifying heats, with Jasmine Drolet ’25 taking the best collegiate time and Callie Young ’22 taking the third best. Rena Schwartz ’22 and Molly Gellert ’22 also turned in strong performances.
Women’s Nordic head coach Cami Thompson Graves recalled the successful Friday sprint event for the women’s team.
“It was great to see [Young], one of our top sprinters, have the opportunity to shine,” Thompson Graves said.
Both Young and Drolet secured podium positions on Friday. Drolet won the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association Women’s Nordic Skier of the Week award prior to the carnival and earned a third-place finish in her Friday race.
Young and Drolet advanced past the quarterfinals and qualified for their semifinal heats; however, Young’s fifth-place finish and Drolet’s sixth-place finish earned them top three spots in collegiate standings, but not enough to push them into the finals.
On Saturday, Drolet set a record as the only collegiate skier to have completed both laps of her 10k in under 16 minutes. As Drolet secured a victory, Young followed close behind in fifth place and Mara McCollor ’23 in tenth. Vermont still managed to secure a victory with skiers accruing enough points to edge out the Big Green.
“It’s hard to pick the team from week to week because there are so many qualified women fighting for the top spots,” Thompson Graves said. “It’s great because it challenges all of us and forces everyone to race at their best.”
Representing the men’s team, Luke Allan ’25 had a strong performance during Friday’s qualification races. Despite the heavy amount of snow on the course, he was the only Big Green men’s skier to qualify for the quarterfinals.
“I had a tight quarterfinal, fighting for a finishing lane with one other guy to come second so I could move onto the semis,” Allan said. “I just edged him out, so I was super happy because this secured me a podium for the carnival.”
Allan placed sixth in his semifinal heat. Cameron Wolfe ’23 and Wally Magill ’25 also earned points for Dartmouth with their respective finishes on Friday. Men’s Nordic head coach Brayton Osgood celebrated Allan’s third-place podium finish, as well as the team’s accomplishments.
“[Allan] being on the college podium, our first [individual athlete] podium in a few years for the team, was really good,” Osgood notes. “Seeing [Magill] pick up his first top-five of the season was great.”
Osgood praised several skiers on the team, recalling that six different men have placed in the top 20, with Asa Chalmers ’25 racing in the junior heats this past weekend. Fulfilling goals as the season progresses, such as waving the flag on the podium and surviving cold weekends, is only the beginning for the team.
“Having so many people have strong results in the first half of the season gives confidence to everyone,” Osgood said. “We would love to win a day on team score, send skiers to the NCAA [tournament] and have everyone achieve a top 30 result during the season.”
Saturday brought more competition for the men’s team. Magill placed fifth in the 10k classic, with Allan following behind in 10th place. Wolfe secured 13th place, allowing the Big Green to accumulate 99 points for the team. Dartmouth was close behind Middlebury with 106 points and Vermont with 135 points.
Vermont’s strength this year has pushed the Big Green to challenge itself as it looks to overpower the Catamounts in upcoming races.
“We’ve been chasing down UVM the past couple of carnivals, so we are hoping to get close to them and take them down,” Allan said.
Dartmouth will ski on home territory during this upcoming Winter Carnival Weekend. The alpine team will compete at the Dartmouth Skiway, and the Nordic team will race at Oak Hill Touring Center.
“Knowing that we will be racing Dartmouth Carnival here this weekend is incredibly exciting,” Osgood said. “It will be the first time in three years, so it should be really good.”
