FOUR TOP-10 FINISHES LIFT SKI TEAM TO 3RD PLACE FINISH AT WILLIAMS

AILEEN FARRELL

NATASHA KULLAS

WOODFORD, Vt. – Veronique Archambault-Leger (Verdun, Quebec), Paul Atkinson (Toronto, Ontario), Aileen Farrell (Ottawa, Ontario) and Natasha Kullas (Timmins, Ontario) all recorded top-10 finishes Saturday to lead the University of New Hampshire ski team to third place at the Williams Carnival.

New Hampshire, which recorded the third-highest team scores in both the men’s and women’s slalom and the fourth-best mark in the women’s 5K freestyle, amassed 705 points to finish behind Dartmouth College (892 points) and the University of Vermont (890); the Wildcats ascended to third after sitting in fifth place at the end of the first day of competition.

Farrell led four ‘Cats in the top 20 of the women’s slalom at Jimny Peak. She completed her two runs in a total of 1 minute, 32.91 seconds on runs of 45.97 and 46.94 seconds to take fourth place. Archambault-Leger vaulted up to seventh place overall following her second run of 46.47; she completed the first run in 46.68 for an aggregate time of 1:33.15.

Marie-Elaine Lepine (Mont-Tremblant, Quebec) skied the two runs at 46.85 and 46.79 for an overall mark of 1:33.64 that was the 15th-best effort of the day. Aliza Aylward (Warren, Vt.) did not score for UNH but earned NCAA points in 19th place; her individual runs of 42.56 and 46.50 produced a total time of 1:34.06.

Atkinson had the top performance by a Wildcat. One day after placing fifth in the giant slalom, he finished on the podium in the slalom at second place overall. His time of 1:28.82 was comprised of individual runs of 44.76 and 44.06.

Willie Ford (Plymouth, N.H.), Zach Clayton (Manassa, Va.) and Mike Cremeno (Pembroke, N.H.) were timed within six-tenths of a second to finish 13th, 15th and 17th, respectively. Ford completed his runs in 45.72 and 44.07 for an aggregate time of 1:29.79. Clayton had a mark of 44.99 in the first run and 44.92 in the second for a combined time of 1:29.91 to complete the team scoring. Cremeno had individual runs of 45.66 and 44.59 for 1:30.35 overall.

Kullas led the Nordic squad with her sixth-place finish in the women’s 5K free at Prospect. She completed the course in 14:53 and was followed by Liz Guiney (Park City, Utah) in 15:09.5. Anya Caldwell Bean (Wolfeboro, N.H.) rounded out the UNH scoring in 14th place; she crossed the finish line in 15:18.3 to edge out Katie Miller (Lenox, Mass.), who took 15th place in 15:21.6. Danielle Baron (Gilford, N.H.) recorded the 18th-fastest time of 15:26.4 to give the ‘Cats a total of five skiers in the top 20 of the women’s 5K free.

Dylan McGuffin (Northfield, N.H.) was the top ‘Cat in the men’s 10K freestyle race. He was clocked at 27:01.2 to finish in 12th place. Michael Lessard (Greene, Maine) was the next UNH skier across the finish line in 15th place at 27:04.1. Harrison Harb (Contoocook, N.H.) completed the course in 27:48.0 for 22nd place.

New Hampshire returns to action next weekend at the EISA Championship, which will be held Feb. 26-27. The alpine races are at the Snow Bowl, and Rikert Touring Center is the Nordic venue.