The University of Vermont ski team won its 31st consecutive UVM Winter Carnival Saturday, getting strong performances from the Nordic relay teams and more than enough from the alpine teams to give retiring Director of Skiing Chip LaCasse a victory in his 34th and final year at Vermont. The Catamounts finished with 741 points, 94 more than second-place New Hampshire, which finished with 647. Dartmouth was farther back in third (617.5) while Middlebury was fourth (604). The men’s Nordic relay team of Dave Smutok (Wayland, Mass.), Lowell Bailey (Lake Placid, N.Y.) and Ethan Foster (Weston, Vt.) won the 3 X 5-kilometer relay at Trapp Family Lodge, finishing in 38:21.5. The women’s Nordic relay squad of Molly Gray (Newbury, Vt.), Kate Crawford (Hawley, Mass.) and Emily Klemp (Laurium, Mich.) finished third in the women’s event, clocking in at 46:34.1. Crawford had the second-fastest split time, making up six spots on Vermont’s second leg. In the slalom races at Stowe Mountain Resort, the women finished 2-4-6 while the men went 2-4-5 to end any chance of a miracle comeback by another school. Ever-consistent Jamie Kingsbury (Waitsfield, Vt.) finished second, with Hilary McCloy (Bethel, Maine) taking fourth place and captain Gillian McFetridge (Ottawa, Ont.) sixth. For the men, junior co-captain Matt Knittle (Stowe, Vt.) finished second in a great performance, while Hunter Kaltsas (Stratton, Vt.) was fourth and Paul Epstein (Carlisle, Mass.) fifth.