Huntington, Vt. - After a week layoff in the 2025 EISA Carnival schedule, the Colby Nordic Ski team hit the trails en force for Friday's Freestyle event.  Skating the trails at Sleepy Hollow for the opener of the Saint Michael's Carnival, Colby placed four skiers in the top-10, with the men's team coming in 2nd (out of 11 teams) and the women's team 6th.  Joined with their Alpine counterparts, Colby Skiing sits in third place ahead of UNH and Middlebury and just behind Dartmouth and UVM.  

With Jack Young back from his 11-start World Cup tour with the US Ski Team, top results were found from numerous Mules.  Young led the way placing 4th in the 10k event, followed closely by Andrew Defor in 5th and Benjamin Lewis in 9th.  Tyler Watt also skied well, landing in the top-30 to garner valuable NCAA qualifying points.  On the women's side, Maddie Hooker had a stellar day posting the top finish for the women's team this season, sliding into 9th place.  Lola Villafranco and Natalie O'Brien finished 23rd and 26th respectively in the 80-person field.  

"Our training at Quarry Road has been incredible these past two weeks," said Head Nordic Coach Tracey Cote. "Having some time to up our volume and quality of training, while not just focusing on racing, was really helpful.  The team was also excited to get Jack back as their teammate and it really felt like a whole family again!" 

The Mules will close the Saint Michael's Carnival Saturday with the 5k Classic Relay.