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Jan. 26, 2006 Vermont Ski Team Competes in St. Lawrence Carnival This Weekend VERMONT SKIING NOTEBOOK The Vermont ski team returns to action this weekend at the St. Lawrence Carnival in Lake Placid, N.Y. on Friday, Jan 27 and Saturday, Jan. 28. Last weekend Vermont took first place in the Colby Carnival at Sugarloaf in Carrabassett Valley, Maine. LAST TIME OUT … The Vermont ski team began its season last weekend by winning the Colby Carnival at Sugarloaf in Carrabassett Valley, Maine … Vermont finished the weekend with 639 team points ranking ahead of second place Middlebury (624 points) and third place Dartmouth (614 points) … On Friday in the Women's Classical Sprint, senior Anja Jokela (Shelburne, Vt.) came in first place while freshman Marion Solbjorg (Lillehammer, Norway) was third and Emilia DeMarchis (Burlington, Vt.) was fourth … Senior assistant captain Molly Gray (Newbury, Vt.) picked up a 15th place finish and junior Carina Hamel (Southampton, Mass.) was 19th … In Friday’s Men's Classical Sprint, freshman Juergen Uhl (Muhlenbach, Germany) was the top racer with senior captain Anders Osthus (Duluth, Minn.) finishing fourth and senior Ryan Foster (Weston, Vt.) coming in eighth place … On Saturday in the women's 15k freestyle the women’s nordic team took home the top six spots … Hamel led the pack for the Catamounts taking first place … Vermont would also claim the next five spots with DeMarchis finishing second, Jokela placing third, Solbjorg was fourth, freshman Katrina Howe (Gilford, N.H.) was fifth and senior captain Kate Crawford (Hawley, Mass.) finished sixth … Gray came in 14th place … In the men’s 20k freestyle, Osthus finished first, while Foster was 10th and Uhl finished 11th … In Saturday’s women's slalom senior tri-captain Jamie Kingsbury (Waitsfield, Vt.) grabbed a second place finish … Senior Amy Cochran (Keene, N.H.) followed with a fifth place showing and sophomore Ashley Spina (Guildhall, Vt.) was sixth … In the men's slalom sophomore Sam Beck (Norwich, Vt.) was eighth and senior tri-captain Paul Epstein (Carlisle, Mass.) finished 18th … In Sunday’s final day of racing Kingsbury, a two-time national champion in the giant slalom, led the way for women’s alpine team taking first place in the GS … Senior Hilary McCloy (Sunapee, N.H.) finished less than one second behind to take second place … Cochran was sixth while Spina was seventh … Freshman Julie Czesnowski (Killington, Vt.) was eighth and sophomore Jilyne McDonald (Bellevue, Wash.) finished 11th … In the men’s giant slalom sophomore Greg Hardy (Stratton, Vt.), the defending national champion in the GS, finished fourth and Epstein came in 11th place for the Catamounts. FORMER CATAMOUNT SKIERS IN THE 2006 OLYMPICS … Lowell Bailey ’05, Jimmy Cochran and Kris Freeman are former Catamount skiers that will be competing in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy. Bailey, a three-time All-American at Vermont, earned a spot on the US Biathlon Team. Last season he led the Catamounts to a second place finish in the NCAA Championships. Cochran, a former standout on the UVM men’s alpine team, was named to the US Ski Team on Wednesday. Cochran skied for the Catamounts for just one season in 2003, but earned All-American honors that year. Freeman, a former nordic standout, skied for the Catamounts for one season before moving on to train with the US Ski Team on a full-time basis. He was named to the US Cross Country Ski Team for the 2006 Games. While at Vermont, he earned All-America honors at the NCAA Championships in 2000 and competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. The 2006 Winter Olympic Games run from February 10 to February 26 and NBC will carry much of the action on its family of networks (NBC affiliate, MSNBC, CNBC, USA). FORMER UVM SKIERS COACHING IN THE 2006 OLYMPICS … Three Vermont graduates will also be in Torino as coaches for the US Ski Team. Johno McBride ’88 is the head speed coach for the US Ski Team, while Jesse Hunt ’90 is the alpine director for the squad. Hunt was a two-time All-American at Vermont. Trond Nystad, inducted into the UVM Athletic Hall of Fame two years ago, will serve as the head cross-country coach for the US Ski Team. He won the NCAA Championship in the 20K classical in 1992, leading Vermont to the national championship that year. Nystad was also a three-time All-American during his nordic career. ALL-AMERICANS … Last season the Catamounts had seven All-Americans: Lowell Bailey ’05 (nordic), Amy Cochran (alpine), Paul Epstein (alpine), Ethan Foster ‘05 (nordic), Greg Hardy (alpine), Jilyne McDonald (alpine) and Jamie Kingsbury (alpine). Vermont has had a total of 278 All-Americans in its ski history. HEAD OF THE CLASS … The Vermont ski team has six student-athletes on the 2006 roster that were named NCAA Academic All-Americans last season: Amy Cochran, Kate Crawford, Emilia DeMarchis, Molly Gray, Anja Jokela and Hilary McCloy all earned the honor. VERMONT CARNIVAL … The Vermont Ski Carnival is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 3 and Saturday, Feb. 4 in Stowe, Vt. On Saturday after a day of skiing or cheering on the Vermont Ski Team fans, friends and family are invited to Stoweflake for an afternoon reception and family-friendly activities such as sleigh rides and ice skating (bring your own skates!). Alpine coach Bill Reichelt, nordic coach Alan Serrano and the Vermont skiers will be on hand to join in the festivities. More details are listed below: Saturday, February 4, 2006 4pm – 6pm Stoweflake Resort & Conference Center 1746 Mountain Road Stowe, Vt. Register online at alumni.uvm.edu/wintercarnival or by calling 1-888-458-8691. There is no cost for this event. NCAA SKI CHAMPIONSHIPS … This year’s NCAA Ski Championships are in Steamboat, Colo. The NCAA’s were last in Steamboat in 1993 and the Catamounts took home a second place finish that year. UNICEL TEXT MESSAGING: All UNICEL customers, receive scores for ALL the Vermont teams via your cell phone. E-mail skiing contact Chris Wojcik at [log in to unmask] to sign up. -30- Chris Wojcik Assistant Director of Athletic Communications University of Vermont Phone: 802-656-1110 Fax: 802-656-8328 [log in to unmask] http://www.uvmathletics.com