The Middlebury skiing teams excelled on their home turf, grabbing top-three finishes in five of the eight disciplines to claim runner-up honors in the EISA Championships. Dartmouth earned its fourth carnival victory of the year, scoring 982.5 points, followed by the Panthers, who amassed 808.5 points. The University of Vermont rounded out the top performers with 776 points. This weekend also served as the Middlebury Carnival, with nordic events at the Rikert Outdoor Center and alpine races at the Snowbowl.

MEN'S ALPINE HIGHLIGHTS

• The Panthers tallied 99 points during Friday's giant slalom.
• Nicholas Unkovskoy completed his two trips down the mountain at 1:57.19, earning a share of fifth place with the University of New Hampshire's Roman Elvidge.
• Finishing two-tenths of a second back was Julian Arthur. The rookie stopped the clock at 1:57.39 for ninth. Teammate Toby Jennings was a spot behind in 10th (1:57.44).
• The squad followed Friday's performance with 112 points in the slalom, good for the second-highest total behind Dartmouth's 132.
• Thomas Carnahan paced the Panther efforts, earning the top spot with a combined time of 1:38.63. His clocking was 0.45 seconds faster than runner-up Heming Sola of the Big Green.
• Sebastian Segre (1:40.48) and Arthur (1:40.63) joined Carnahan in the top 10, finishing in eighth and a share of ninth, respectively.

WOMEN'S ALPINE HIGHLIGHTS

• Kjersti Moritz excelled in the giant slalom (GS), earning the individual title with a two-run time of 1:59.68. She was the lone skier to have a sub-two-minute performance. The Panthers secured the top spot in the discipline with 121 points.
• Also excelling on the mountain was Kaite Fynn, clocking a 2:01.44 to finish in sixth place. 
• Sophia Palmquist was right behind Fynn at 2:01.73 for a share of seventh with Linn Liedholm of the University of Vermont.
• Middlebury kept the momentum going in Saturday's slalom, finishing third in the team standings with 103 points.
• Reagan Harrison and Sophia Palmquist clocked identical times of 1:39.70 with New Hampshire's Tilde Kandell for a three-way fifth-place tie.
• Sophia Tozzi clocked a 1:40.13 to secure 11th.

MEN'S NORDIC HIGHLIGHTS

• Middlebury excelled in the 7.5K individual start, finishing second with 105.5 points.
• Pacing the Panther efforts on Friday was Mason Wheeler, finishing fourth with a time of 21:18.7. 
• Abrahm Geissinger claimed 10th (22:04.9), while Peter Warner earned a share of 13th (22:17.5).
• Wheeler led Middlebury in Saturday's 20K mass start, crossing the finish line in 10th at 50:50.1. The squad recorded 80 points for fifth.
• Closing out the Panther scorers were Finn Veit (50:56.5) and Geissinger (53:17.3) in 13th and 28th, respectively.

WOMEN'S NORDIC HIGHLIGHTS

• In the 7.5K individual start on Friday, Shea Brams clocked a 24:55.1 to earn fifth place. 
• Sofia Scirica claimed 14th with a time of 25:51.9, followed by teammate Beth McIntosh in 15th at 25:55.0.
• Middlebury posted the fourth-most points in Saturday's mass start, accumulating 92.
• Brams led the way, crossing the finish line in eighth with a time of 55:12.2.
• Teammate Mica Bodkins was 13 seconds behind Brams for ninth (55:25.3), while  Scirica raced to 12th at 55:32.7.

NOTES

• Moritz earned her third giant slalom victory of the campaign, while Carnahan secured his initial discipline win as a Panther.
• Palmquist tallied season-best performances in both the GS and slalom. Harrison's top-five finish in the slalom is her best in a Middlebury uniform.

The Panthers await their fate at the NCAA Championship when the field is announced on Tuesday, March 3.