Middlebury finished in fourth place overall at the three-day Colby Carnival. Vermont (962) won the event, followed by Dartmouth (845), UNH (746) and the Panthers (709). Middlebury had a winner on both the alpine and nordic side on the weekend.
On day one, David Donaldson made it 3-3 in giant slalom races this season, earning another victory as he finished with a time of 1:40.18, besting his competition by .61 seconds. Also finishing in the top 10 was Hig Roberts, who placed sixth overall in 1:41.97. Andrew McNealus rounded out the Panther scorers with an 18th-place finish (1:43.55). The following day, Donaldson took home a second place finish in the slalom, finishing just .10 seconds off the winning pace. Roberts earned a solid fifth place finish (1:26.88) for Middlebury, while Bryan Shpall was 12th (1:27.12).
Yina Moe-Lange led the women, just missing a top 10 finish with an 11th-place effort with a time of 1:48.09. Just behind her in 12th was Mary Sackbauer in 12th with a time of 1:48.14, followed by Kerry Daigle in 32nd (1:53.66). Sackbauer was the team's top finisher in the slalom, coming in 12th overall in 1:32.56. Katelyn Barclay finished the event in 14th place (1:33.01), while Makenzie Brown came in 19th (1:33.78).
On the nordic side, Ben Lustgarten picked up a win the 10K classical race, covering the course in 24:59. The win was the first of his career for the Panther junior. Austin Cobb was next for the Panthers in 15th place (26:35), followed by Dylan McGarthwaite in 29th (27:12). The following day, Lustgarten again led the team, this time with a third place finish (47:31) in the 20K freestyle race. Cobb finished the event in 13th place (48:41), while McGarthwaite was 29th (50:31).
Kelsey Phinney paced the women's team in the 5K classical with a sixth place finish in 18:07. Keely Levins was next for the Panthers in 30th (19:19), followed by Hilary Rich in 37th place (19:33). Phinney repeated her sixth place effort the following day, earning a time of 44:36 in the 15K freestyle event. Issy Pelletier was Middlebury's second finisher, placing 18th in 46:24, followed by Rich in 25th (47:13).
