The Middlebury nordic ski team sits in third place after the first day of action at the University of Vermont (UVM) Carnival. Dartmouth claimed the men's event and leads the field with 235 points. The Catamounts won the women's side, edging the Panthers by just two points (198) to nestle into second place.
 
MEN'S HIGHLIGHTS

• Leading the pack for the Middlebury men was Jack Christner who placed fifth overall with a time of 3:18.12 in the finals. The Panther's fastest time of the day came in the morning session, clocking in at a blistering 3:11.09 which was the quickest time during that portion of the event.
• Mason Wheeler finished in eighth place in his rookie debut. The Panther clocked in at 3:18.96 in the semifinals.
• Rounding out the scorers for Middlebury was Logan Moore, who also advanced to the semifinals, recording a time of 3:19.36 to help the Panthers finish in second place in the event.

WOMEN'S HIGHLIGHTS

• Maggie Wagner and Shea Brams placed seventh and eighth, respectively. Both Panthers' fastest times of the day came in the quarterfinals, with Wagner clocking in at 3:49.20 and Brams recording a time of 3:46.26.
• In her first collegiate race, Sofia Scirica finished in 13th place, stopping the clock in 3:50.43 during the quarterfinals.  

NOTES

• The 1.5K sprint began with all competitors in the morning, before the top-30 spots advanced to the five quarterfinal heats. From there, the top-12 times moved on to the semifinals and the six fastest competed in the finals.
• The alpine portion of the UVM Carnival was postponed until the weekend of January 26 due to slope conditions.

 
The Panthers return to the Craftsbury Outdoor Center on Saturday morning to close their portion of the carnival.