Dartmouth finishes on top

Denver's Adam Cole earned a gold medal yesterday with a two-run total of 2 minutes 20.47 seconds in Alpine skiing at Attitash, but Dartmouth finished a point ahead with 330 in the NCAA Skiing Championships in Bartlett, N.H.

Denver had two of the top three men's finishers with Francesco Ghedina finishing third in 2:22.17.

"This is my first year of competition at the University of Denver and this atmosphere is very different than racing for the US Ski Team and doing things for yourself," said Cole. "If you get fifth or first here you are accumulating points, but if you fall, it doesn't do anything for your team. There is so much more pressure, but I knew I could win today. It was more about accumulating more points so we can catch Dartmouth and hopefully win this whole thing."

Dartmouth's Evan Weiss, another former US Ski Team member, finished with a two-run total of 2:21.09 to earn the silver medal. All three, plus fourth-place Andrew Wagner of Middlebury and fifth-place Lara Loeseth of the University of New Mexico, were named first-team All-Americans.

Utah finished in third place with 289 points, followed by Colorado (275), Vermont (211.5), Middlebury (204), Northern Michigan (189), Nevada (181.5), New Mexico (177), Montana State (145), Alaska Anchorage (124), Bates (118), New Hampshire (107), Alaska Fairbanks (106), and Williams (84).

Sarah Schaedler of Western State College led the women's field with the fastest first run and second- fastest second run for a 2:30.17 total. Denver's Jenny Tank took the silver with a 2:31.35. Schaedler and Tank were the only two skiers with two sub-1:16.00 times. The women's top run of the day was Colorado's Lisa Perricone, who finished in 1:15.00 in her second run.

UNH freshman Veronique Archambault-Leger earned a bronze for the Wildcats with a 2:31.35.

Material from the University of New Hampshire athletic website was used in this report.