Ellefson’s return sparks nordic team at Lake Placid

Posted by: Andy Walter on January 18, 2008

Sylvan Ellefson ’09

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — Bates junior Sylvan Ellefson returned to action Friday to lead the Bobcats nordic ski team to fourth place in the Men’s 10K Free Technique race on Friday, while the Bates ski team as a whole stood in fifth place out of 10 teams overall at the St. Lawrence University Winter Carnival.

With 200 points thus far, Bates ranks behind Dartmouth (300), Middlebury (296), Vermont (237) and New Hampshire (234) in the team standings after one day of the carnival, and ahead of Colby (191), Williams (170), St. Lawrence (126.5), St. Michael’s (48.5) and Bowdoin (44).

Ellefson (Vail, Colo.), who sat out last weekend’s Bates Carnival due to illness, finished ninth out of 95 men in the race with a time of 25:10.7. Four of his teammates finished 19th through 22nd, with Sam Evans-Brown (Gilmanton Iron Works, N.H.) in 25:47.9, senior Matt Dunlap (Farmington, Maine) in 25:53.1, junior Dylan Mogk (Bozeman, Mont.) in 25:54.5 and sophomore Brandon Cooper (Aspen, Colo.) in 25:54.9. Junior Tim Whiton (Portland, Maine) also made the top 30 with a time of 26:15.1.

First-year Ingrid Knowles (Cumberland, Maine) led the Bates women to seventh place as a unit in the Women’s 5K Free Technique race, finishing 19th out of 84 competitors. First-year Megan McClelland (Keene Valley, N.Y.) was 23rd in 15:02.2, followed by sophomore Abby Samuelson (Freeport, Maine) in 26th in 15:15.7, first-year Kristen Gill (Jackson, N.H.) in 29th in 15.21.5 and junior Haleigh Armstrong (Vail, Colo.) in 33rd in 15:25.7.

The carnival continues Saturday at Mt. Van Hovenberg with the Men’s 20K Classic Mass Start race at 9 a.m., followed by the Women’s 15K Classic Mass Start race at 11:30.

Complete carnival results are posted at http://www.eisaskiing.org/BART/Results08/slu08.htm