Alpine teams slalom to fifth place at UNH Carnival

Posted by: Andy Walter on January 27, 2007

Liz Thompson ’09

Carter Casner ’07

ATTITASH, N.H. — The Bates College alpine ski team posted another solid day of racing in the slalom event, helping the Bobcats finish fifth overall at the University of New Hampshire Winter Carnival on Saturday.

With 506 points, the combined alpine and Nordic teams from Bates came in fifth out of 12 teams for the second straight carnival, beating out St. Lawrence (462), Williams (446) and Colby (426) while trailing only Dartmouth, Vermont, Middlebury and host New Hampshire.

In the men’s slalom on Saturday, senior Carter Casner (North Kingstown, R.I.) led Bates with a 17th-place finish out of 59 competitors. Junior Dan Loman (Killington, Vt.) was right behind in 18th, while juniors Leo Menard (Portland, Maine) and Matt Brockman (Sudbury, Mass.) were 24th and 25th, respectively.

On the women’s side, sophomores Liz Thompson (Rangeley, Maine) and Emily Sampson (Plymouth, N.H.) had big days, finishing 11th and 13th, respectively, out of 57 skiers in the slalom. Junior Whitney Fahy (Carrabassett Valley, Maine) recorded a solid 30th-place finish, and both the men’s and women’s alpine teams were fifth in the event.

In Friday’s giant slalom, Bates sophomore Megan Papineau placed sixth out of 59 and Menard placed 10th out of 62 racers.

A week after placing third in the GS at St. Michael’s, Papineau (Keene, N.Y.) had runs of 1:11.55 and 1:13.53 for a total of 2:25.08. Fahy, Thompson, sophomore Perry Kleeman (Litchfield, Conn.) and Sampson were 19th, 20th, 22nd and 23rd, respectively, leading the women’s alpine team to fifth place in the event.

Menard headed the men’s alpine team to sixth place in the giant slalom, while seniors Casner and James Pelletier (Carrabassett Valley, Maine) were also among the top 32.

The Bates ski teams compete at the University of Vermont Carnival next weekend.