2008 Woodie Awards
Alpine team qualifies two skiers for NCAAs
Teague Dugan
Issue date: 3/2/07 Section: Sports
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In the men's slalom, Kernan, a consistent performer throughout the season, was Colby's top finisher, skiing into 14th place overall after an impressive fifth place second run. He was followed by Sam Witherspoon '09 in 26th, Christian Talmage '09 in 33rd and Centauro in 35th. Centauro, who was ninth after the first run and less than a second off the leader, lost several seconds overall after some big errors near the top of the second course.
On the women's side Laura Littman '10 was Colby's fastest slalom skier with a solid second run putting her in 18th place overall. Littman was followed by Brett Wagenheim in 32nd, Ashley Best in 34th and Julia Peck-Coffin in 38th.
Witherspoon rounded out a strong weekend with a 19th in the men's giant slalom on Saturday. Colby's next best finisher was Cory Linton '10 in 24th, followed by Josh Kernan in 28th and Christian Talmage in 41st. After placing 12th in the first run and only 1.2 seconds back, Linton's slower second run meant he just missed out on a third Colby spot at NCAA's.
Littman was again Colby's fastest woman on Saturday, placing 13th overall. She was followed by Best in 28th, Dana Breakstone '10 in 35th, Peck-Coffin in 37th and Wagenheim in 41st.
"We usually perform well at Middlebury and we had a few skiers [Linton and Breakstone] who had an outside chance at making NCAA's," Centauro said. "We were hoping to come in fourth or fifth, but I still think we did pretty well," he added.
Placing second in all four alpine events (men's and women's slalom and giant slalom) and first in all four Nordic events, Dartmouth College won the carnival overall, with the University of Vermont and Middlebury coming in second and third, respectively. Colby, bolstered by some strong nordic results, placed a respectable sixth.
Colby's alpine team has shown flashes of brilliance, but has been plagued by inconsistency. Centauro's two top ten finishes, Witherspoon's solid end of the season and Kernan's consistency helped the men's team along, while Littman's consistency and some solid performances from Breakstone and Emily Colin '10 did the same on the women's side.
"Not finishing is pretty common-it's the nature of the sport," Centauro said. "We're a young team and the college circuit is different from normal ski racing. Our team had less experience than past teams coming into this year, but I think we learned a lot," he added.
"On a personal level this season was solid and I improved as it went along," Kernan said, after his 14th in the slalom qualified him for NCAA's. "We may not have met all the expectations we had coming in, but we look stronger going into next year. Mark Godomsky [the alpine coach] showed a lot of dedication to the program and as a team we improved over the year," he added.
With two skiers headed to the NCAA National Championships, some solid results toward the end of the year, only two racers graduating and a handful of exceptional individual performances interspersed throughout the season, Colby's young team can look to build on this season and make solid progress over the coming years.
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