Ski sins second straight EISA title
The Vermont Ski team has defended their EISA Championship accumulating 955 points, winning for a second consecutive year and the 32nd time in school history.
On the women’s side, sophomore Kate Ryley swept the alpine events winning both the GS and Slalom. Teammate and first-year Kristina Riis-Johannessen followed behind finishing second overall.
In nordic, senior Lucy Garrec won her fourth race of the year by taking the 15K classic by 30 seconds. Senior Amy Glen finished in third.
In men’s alpine, junior Kevin Drury won his second straight EISA men’s GS title and winning his first race of the year. Sophomore Jonathan Nordbotten won the slalom and posted the fastest GS run finishing third.
Across the carnival, UVM won six races and had eleven team members make the podium. Top skiers from around the country will meet in Montana on Mar. 7-10 at the 2012 NCAA Ski Championships hosted by Montana State.
Women’s relay highlights strong showing at New England Championships
At the New England Indoor Championships, the Vermont track & field teams finished strong. The women’s 4×800 relay team of seniors Marissa Guerette and Jennifer Magoon, junior Julie McGilpin and sophomore Yolanda Ngarambe set a school, meet, and facility record finishing in a time of 8:51.91. The 4×400 relay team finished in fourth.
In the distance relay, seniors Morgan Powers, Guerette, and juniors Kristen Weberg and McGilpin set a school record completing the race in 11:44.77 and placed second. Junior Sarah Bryan earned All-New England honors by finishing fourth in the 5000-meter run. Sophomore Brittany St. Clair continued her strong season finishing fifth in the high jump clearing 1.7 meters.
For the men, the 4×400 relay team of seniors Jake Hopkins, Nick Archer, and juniors Mitchell Switzer, and Alex Judge set a new school record finishing with a time of 3:19.29. Unfortunately, the relay team missed placing by two seconds. In the 1000-meter run, junior Ethan McBrien and first-year Nick DeLuna placed fourth and fifth respectively, both earning All-New England honors, while McBrien’s time met IC4A qualification standards. Junior Andy Stillman set a new school record during the 800-meter prelims, with a time of 1:54.94 before finishing in seventh with a run of 1:55.34.
Select athletes will travel back to Boston March 3-4 to compete in the ECAC/IC4A Championships. Men will compete at the Boston University Tennis & Track Center, while the women will run at the Reggie Lewis Center.
Women’s swimming and diving team fourth at America East Championships
When the four-day meet concluded on Jan. 26, Vermont had finished fourth behind Boston University, UMBC, and New Hampshire. Senior Caitlin Dowd set a new 600-breaststroke varsity record in preliminaries, breaking her own record set at last year’s championships.
First-year Laura Stephens broke the previous freshman and school record twice. She posted a 1:04.78 in preliminaries before finishing sixth overall with a time of 1:04.64. In the 400 IM, junior Chelsea Krisanda set a new varsity record of 4:25.31 to earn a seventh place finish. Krisanda also finished eighth in the 200 IM, while Stephens set a new freshman record by finishing with a time of 2:06.00.
The 200-medley relay team of senior Kaitlyn Evarts and first-years Laura Stephens, Ashley Mitson and Emily Green finished fourth in a time of 1:45.57.
“The ladies did a good job this year and I am proud of them,” said head coach Gerry Cournoyer. “The team competed very hard throughout the weekend and it is always good to see them continue to improve.”
