Nicole Ritchie '09 races to sixth place in the Classic Sprints.

PROSPECT MOUNTAIN, Mass. -- Bates College sophomore Nicole Ritchie (East Dummerston, Vt.) had a breakthrough performance in the Women's Classic Sprints Saturday at the Williams College Winter Carnival, finishing sixth out of 62 racers.

Bates' combined alpine and Nordic ski teams finished the carnival in sixth place out of 14 teams, with 639 points.

Ritchie was one of four Bobcat women in the top 34, along with first-year Abby Samuelson (Freeport, Maine) in 26th, sophomore Haleigh Armstrong (Vail, Colo.) in 31st and senior Lauren Jacobs (Winthrop, Maine) in 34th.

In Friday's Women's 10K Freestyle race, senior Emily Poole (Yarmouth, Maine) led the way for Bates in 22nd place at 38:05.0, with Samuelson (26th), Armstrong (31st) and Meghan Somers (Roseville, Minn.; 36th) also in the top 36.

The men's Nordic ski team had an outstanding day on Friday in the Men's 10K Freestyle, placing third out of 14 teams with 93 points. Sophomore Sylvan Ellefson (Vail, Colo.) and first-year Brandon Cooper (Aspen, Colo.) were each high up the leaders' list, in sixth and eighth places, respectively, in times of 30:25.8 and 30:34.9. First-year Dylan McGuffin (Northfield, N.H.) was 26th out of 75 men in the race.

Cooper led the Bobcats in Saturday's Men's Classic Sprints, posting a 17th-place showing out of 69 skiers. Ellefson was 25th and senior co-captain Martin Benes (Oakland, Calif.) came in 33rd.

The regular season concludes next weekend at the Middlebury College Winter Carnival.