Bates junior Jordan Buetow reached his first career carnival podium on Saturday, claiming second place among 87 competitors in the men’s 3K prologue freestyle race to cap a superior St. Lawrence Carnival in Lake Placid, N.Y. The 2012 NCAA Skiing Championship participant's carnival season debut suggests that Buetow is on track for a return appearance.
It was a big weekend all in all for Bates’ combined alpine and Nordic ski teams, which scored 549.5 team carnival points, more than enough for fifth place among 16 teams there. Colby was sixth with 474.5. Bates last finished fifth at the 2012 UVM Carnival.
Buetow’s (Fairbanks, Alaska) time of 8:04.5 was second only to Vermont’s Scott Patterson, and 2.0 seconds ahead of third-place Cole Morgen of UVM. With sophomore Nick Michaud (Fort Kent Mills, Maine) and junior Sean Woods (Gypsum, Colo.) placing 22nd (8:19.5) and 29th (8:22.9), respectively, the Bates men’s squad placed an outstanding third as a unit among 13 teams.
The day before, Buetow placed 11th among 87 skiers in the men’s 20K freestyle race, as the Bates men scored the fifth most points among men’s squads in the event. Woods came in 29th in 51:35.0, while first-year Corky Harrer (Minneapolis, Minn.) rounded out Bates’ scoring in 41st place at 52:32.4, just ahead of junior Alex Hamilton (Truckee, Calif.) in 42nd at 52:35.3.
