This weekend, each member of the Colby alpine ski team traveled for four-and-a-half hours to spend a total of four minutes racing down the slopes. Thirteen of the best college ski teams in the east faced off at the Dartmouth Skiway, home of the “Big Green” of Dartmouth College. Co-captain Cassady Roberts ’13 reported that “the conditions were really nice, it was sunny, and the team was in good spirits,” which is a rare combination in the world of ski racing.

On Friday, the first day of the Dartmouth Carnival, the men’s and women’s giant slalom (GS) race took place. With a combined time of 2:00.98, Roberts placed 23rd out of 70 women and was only three seconds off of the winning time of 1:57.21 (which was recorded by Courtney Hammond of Dartmouth). Michelle Seares ’13 was not far behind with a total time of 2:03.37, which put her in 30th place and helped the women’s team take eighth overall.

With strong finishes from Marc Massie ’13, Brian Morgan ’12, and Jim Ryan ’14, the men took sixth place overall in the GS. Massie, who was already in a strong position after the first run, had the third-fastest time of the second round, which put him in 14th place out of 80. His time of 1:56.38 was two-and-a-half seconds behind that of the winner and two-tenths ahead of Morgan, who placed 17th. Ryan, with a time of 1:57.16, was not far behind in 19th place.

The men’s team continued their pattern of success on Saturday in the slalom when Morgan, in 24th-place after the first run, smoked the field with the third-fastest second-round time, putting him in tenth-place overall. Massie was less than a second off of Morgan’s combined time, putting him in 16th place with his time of 1:40.43. Matt McKenna ’14 was the third-fastest on the Colby men’s team as he finished in 22nd place with a total time of 1:42.71. The men’s combined results  put the Colby Mules into fourth place for the slalom.

The women’s team also improved in the second day of competition, tying St. Lawrence University for sixth place overall. Natalie Biedermann ’12, Roberts and Devon Engle ’14 recorded the three fastest times for the Mules. Biedermann took 15th place with a combined time of 1:45.35, Roberts finished 17th with 1:45.59 and Engle was 26th with 1:50.18.

At the end of the weekend, the Colby ski team remained in sixth place in the overall carnival standings. “The courses were pretty straightforward,” Roberts admitted, “but we aren’t used to skiing on flats, which was the biggest challenge for us.” Currently right ahead of Bates College, within reach of fifth-place Williams College and pumped up from their exceptional late-race surges, the Mules are ready for the Middlebury College Carnival next weekend in Vermont.