Craftsbury, Vt. - The Colby College Nordic Ski teams opened the 2024 Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA) Carnival season Friday in Vermont with the UVM Sprint.  After opening qualifiers, the top 30 men and women advanced to a bracket style showdown to crown the victors.  Colby's men's squad finished in third place behind only Dartmouth and Middlebury, just edging out UVM and Harvard, while the women placed 7th in the 11-team field.  

Four men qualified for the heats (Jack Young, Andrew Defor, Taiga Moore, and Cooper Jones) where they were joined by Gretta Scholz and Maddie Hooker from the women's teams.  Moore and Scholz advanced through their respective first round heats, advancing all the way to the semifinal bracket.  After qualifying 15th, Scholz's performance advanced her all the way to the top-10, and Moore joined her in 10th after a 21st place in the qualifying round.  After the dust settled Young landed in 13th, Defor in 17th, Hooker in 24th, and Jones placed 27th.  

"We focused this fall on doing more training to get better at sprinting" said Head Nordic Coach Tracey Cote. "We were excited to qualify six skiers for the heats. The men's third place team finish is definitely a highlight as there are so many strong skiers and teams in the EISA."  The top two finishers on the men's side, John Steel Hagenbuch from Dartmouth and Remi Drolet from Harvard, finish 1-2 at the Division I NCAA Championships last winter.  

The Mules are back in action Saturday for the conclusion of the UVM Carnival, ready to battle the weather in the 10k Skate.