STOWE, Vt. - Vermont sophomore Greg Hardy (Stratton, Vt.) won the men's slalom, to claim his third first place finish of the year, and sophomore Jilyne McDonald (Bellevue, Wash.) won the women's slalom in day one of the Vermont Ski Carnival in Stowe, Vt. The Catamounts enter tomorrow's final day of racing in second place with 372 team points, trailing first place Middlebury by just four points.
"Tough day all around because of the weather but we're in good position going into tomorrow," Director of Skiing and head alpine coach Bill Reichelt said. "We need to go for it on Saturday and ski like we can in both alpine and Nordic and win our home carnival."
Rain during most of the day made for difficult conditions at Hayride but Hardy was unaffected winning the slalom for the second straight week. Sophomore Zac Brown (Sun Valley, Idaho) had the next best day for the men's alpine team finishing 11th while sophomore Sam Beck (Norwich, Vt.) finished 16th and senior Hunter Kaltsas (Stratton Mountain, Vt.) was 18th.
In the women's slalom McDonald had her best run of the season to take first place. Senior tri-captain Jamie Kingsbury (Waitsfield, Vt.) followed with a second place finish and has been in the top-three in all five of her races so far this season. Senior Amy Cochran (Keene, N.H.) finished sixth to pick up her fourth top-10 finish of the year.
Earlier in the day at Trapp Family Lodge in the women's 5k classical senior Anja Jokela (Shelburne, Vt.) led a group of three Catamounts that finished in the top-10 with a second place finish. Sophomore Carina Hamel (Southampton, Mass.) was seventh and freshman Marion Solbjorg (Lillehammer, Norway) was ninth. Senior captain Kate Crawford (Hawley, Mass.) finished 15th.
In the men's 10K classical freshman Juergen Uhl (Muhlenbach, Germany) led the way with a third place finish. Senior captain Anders Osthus (Duluth, Minn.) finished fifth and senior assistant captain Ryan Foster (Weston, Vt.) was 11th.
Competition resumes on Saturday with the women's 3x5K freestyle relay at 9:30am while the men's 3x10K freestyle relay is scheduled for 10:45am. The men's and women's giant slalom is set to start at 9:30am.
NOTES ... After a day of skiing or cheering on the Vermont Ski Team tomorrow fans, friends and family are invited to Stoweflake for a reception from 4:00-6:00pm. In addition, family-friendly activities such as sleigh rides and ice skating (bring your own skates!) will take place. Alpine coach Bill Reichelt, Nordic coach Alan Serrano and the Vermont skiers will be on hand to join in the festivities.