Emily Poole '07

Sylvan Ellefson '09

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. -- Sophomore Sam Evans-Brown (Gilmanton Iron Works, N.H.), first-year Brandon Cooper (Aspen, Colo.) and sophomore Sylvan Ellefson (Vail, Colo.) placed 12th, 16th and 18th out of 64, respectively, leading the Bates men's Nordic ski team to a fourth-place showing Saturday in the Men's 20K Classic race at the Middlebury Winter Carnival.

Sophomore Haleigh Armstrong (Vail, Colo.) led the women's team Saturday with a 21st-place finish in the women's 15K Classic Race, with a time of 57:31.8. First-year Abby Samuelson (Freeport, Maine) and sophomore Nicole Ritchie (East Dummerston, Vt.) came in 35th and 36th, respectively, as the women placed eighth in the event out of 11 teams.

Bates' combined alpine and Nordic ski teams finished in seventh place out of 17 teams at the Middlebury College Winter Carnival, which was also the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association championships. With 604 points, the Bobcats were only 2.5 points behind Colby for sixth place and 4.0 points behind Williams in fifth.

Bates' Nordic teams had an excellent Friday at Middlebury as well, as the men placed fifth out of 11 teams and senior captain Emily Poole recorded a career-best 10th-place finish.

Ellefson tied a collegiate career best by placing fourth out of 64 competitors in the Men's 10K Free Technique at the Rikert Touring Center, outpacing Dartmouth's Ben Koons by 2.8 seconds with a time of 25:12.6, earning 39 of Bates' 77 points in the event. Evans-Brown followed for Bates in 14th place for 31 points, and first-year Dylan McGuffin (Northfield, N.H.) came in 29th for 22 points.

Skiing in her final winter carnival for Bates, Poole (Yarmouth, Maine) raced the Women's 5K Free Technique race to 10th place out of 57 competitors, with a time 14:27.0, beating out Vermont's Emilia Demarchis by 2.8 seconds, earning 33 points for her team leading the Bobcat women to seventh place out of 11 teams with 76 points. Samuelson was Bates' second finisher in 25th place, followed by Armstrong in 30th and Ritchie in 37th.

The carnival resumes on Saturday with the women's 15K Classic Mass Start race at 10 a.m. and the Men's 20K Classic Mass Start at 11:30.

Some Bates team members will compete at the NCAA Championships, hosted by the University of New Hampshire March 7-10.