Knowles Paces Saints to Second Place at 2010 Dartmouth Carnival

by: 

Nancie Battgalia

Senior Ben Knowles was second overall in the Men's 20K Classic on Friday.

Feb. 12: The St. Lawrence University men's Nordic ski team continued to roll on Friday, as the Saints' senior trio of Ben Knowles, Zach Wetherell and Eric Wolcott combined to lift the squad to second place overall in the Men's 20K Classic at the 2010 Dartmouth Carnival in Stowe, VT.  Knowles landed on the podium as an individual behind a second place finish, the best finish by a St. Lawrence Nordic skier in over a decade.

The Saints' men's team combined for 106.0 points, falling 11.0 shy of Dartmouth College for the team title.  The Saints, who edged Middlebury by only 3.0 points for second, matched their runner-up finish from a week ago.  Knowles earned a career-best finish as the individual runner-up, racing in 57:11.2 to earn 47.0 points for the carnival and 80.0 towards NCAA's.  Franz Bernstein of UVM was the lone skier to beat Knowles, earning the men's crown in 56:56.7.

"I think we've known for some time that Ben (Knowles) was capable of a top-3 finish," said St. Lawrence head Nordic ski coach Ethan Townsend.  "He races very well on difficult classic courses like the one we faced today.  It was a lot of fun to see him accomplish it."

Wetherell and Wolcott, who are each having outstanding seasons, finished in 11^th and 12^th place, respectively, to complete the men's squad's scoring.  Wetherell earned 30.0 points for his time of 59:11.3, while Wolcott was only 4.0 seconds behind his teammate.

Junior Steven Vargo and sophomore Adam Terko each produced collegiate-best finishes on Friday in the Classic race, finishing 27^th and 45^th, respectively.  Junior Kyle Marvinney (50^th) rounded out the team's competing roster.

Meanwhile, senior Johannah Ludington finished in 23^rd position overall in 51:50.6 in the Women's 15K Classic to pace the Scarlet and Brown's women's team to eighth place.  The Morrisville, VT native gathered 21.0 points towards the carnival.

Sophomores Caroline Carpenter and Leah Hart chipped in on the scoring for the Saints on Friday, lifting the team's point total to 51.0.  Carpenter was 31^st overall while Hart finished two spots back in 33^rd place.

Junior Sophie Allen (36^th), first-year student Kelsey Nichols (42^nd) and junior Hannah James (48^th) also competed in the women's event to kick off the Dartmouth Carnival.

The hosting Big Green won both the men's and women's Classic events on Friday, as the men totaled 117.0 points and the women produced 131.0.  Dartmouth's Ida Sargent also claimed the women's individual title in a solid time of 48:22.0.

The St. Lawrence University Nordic teams will be in action again tomorrow, Saturday, February 13 when they compete in the 3x5 Freestyle Relay races.