The men's and women's alpine and Nordic ski teams took to the slopes of the Dartmouth Skiway and the trails of Trapp Family Lodge in the Dartmouth Carnival this weekend, finishing a somewhat disappointing 8th place in the fourth weekend of collegiate competition.

On the Nordic side, the races consisted of a 15/20km Mass Start in the classical technique and a 3x5km relay in the freestyle technique. In Friday's Mass Start, the Colby men were led by Jake Barton '13 in 26th, with a time of 1:01:56, 5 minutes off the winning pace, and the women by Lucy Garrec '12 in 12th with a time of 50:59, 2:37 back from the winner, Dartmouth's Ida Sargent. Coach Tracey Cote said "I wasn't pleased with our classic skiing this weekend. It was tough waxing, and for the women we certainly missed the wax."

Despite a disappointing day overall, Cote said there were some good individual performances, especially from young skiers, "Jake Barton skied really well, as did Kaitlyn Bernard '13. Molly Susla '13 also beat her seed in the race." The Nordic team fared much better in Saturday's relay, as the men placed fifth ahead of powerhouse schools like UVM and UNH, and Jake Barton '12 held off UNH senior Dylan McGuffin in a particularly strong performance. A very young women's relay placed a solid 8th. "I was really psyched about the men's relay," said Cote, "and our women's team is still very young. Most relay teams are made up of juniors and seniors, but ours is two sophomores and a freshman."

The team is looking ahead to this weekend, when some members of the team will compete in the Williams Carnival, while others will focus on Junior Olympic qualifying races.

The Alpine team competed in a slalom event on Friday and the giant slalom on Saturday. In Friday's slalom, typically the stronger event for the team, the women were led by Maddie Strachota '13, in a season's best 11th. She was followed by Cassady Roberts '13 and Natalie Biederman '12 in 25th and 26th respectively, for a seventh place finish as a team. The men were led by Brian Morgan '12 in a very strong ninth, followed by Justin Sperry '13 in 30th, and Joshua Kernan '10 in 31st. Vince Lebrun-Fortin '11, typically the Mules strongest skier in the Slalom, did not finish the race. The men, who have won this event in the past, finished a disappointing 8th.

In Saturday's Giant Slalom, the team looked for a measure of redemption after sub-par performances on Friday. The men placed three members in the top thirty, led by Lebrun-Fortin in 16th, Kernan in 25th, and Marc Massie '13 in 30th, for a fifth place team finish. The women took seventh for the second day in a row. The top women's finisher was Dana Breakstone '10 in 28th, followed by Katie Houser '13 in 31st, and Cassady Roberts in 33rd. The team now looks forward to this weekend's Williams Winter Carnival, where the alpine races will be held at Jiminy Peak.