RUMFORD, Maine – The Bates College Nordic ski team finished in second place on Saturday at the Maine Collegiate Nordic Ski Championships Broomhall Cup, as part of the TD Banknorth Tour de Rumford Eastern Cup weekend at the Chisholm Ski Club at Black Mountain.
The Bates men and women combined to total 86 points placing them ahead of in-state rivals Bowdoin (70), UMaine-Orono (37), UMaine-Presque Isle (35), and UMaine-Fort Kent (12). Only Colby (96), finishing in first place, scored more points than Bates. The Tour de Rumford attracts the top cross-country skiers in New England and beyond.
On the men’s side, junior Samuel Evans-Brown (Gilmanton Iron Works, N.H.) paced the Bobcats with an outstanding performance, finishing in fourth place out of the field of 41 and covering the 15K course in 39:30.7. Co-captain and Bates junior Sylvan Ellefson (Vail, Colo.) had a strong outing as well, finishing in seventh place with a time of 40:00.0. Fellow Bates junior Dylan Mogk (Bozeman, Mont.) also had an impressive day finishing in 12th place. Bates sophomore Brandon Cooper (Aspen, Colo.), senior co-captain Matt Dunlap (Farmington, Maine), and sophomore Harry Poole (Yarmouth, Maine) all finished in the Top 20, placing 15, 16, and 18th, respectively. The Bates men totaled 38 points and placed second in the event.
The Bates women placed first in the 10K course with a total score of 48 points, three points ahead of Colby. Bates was led by first-year phenoms Ingrid Knowles (Cumberland, Maine), Kirsten Gill (Jackson, N.H.), and Megan McClelland (Keene Valley, N.Y.). Knowles finished first for the Bobcats and second overall with a time of 31:25.1, and Gill and McClelland followed close behind placing in third and fourth place, respectively. Bates sophomore Abigail Samuelson (Freeport, Maine) also submitted a great performance finishing in fifth place, as did first-year Natalie Ruppertsberger (Plainfield, N.H.), who finished in seventh in the field of 26 skiers.
The Chummy Broomhall Cup is the second annual Maine Collegiate Nordic Ski Championships and is named in honor of Rumford native, 10th Mountain Division veteran, two-time Olympian and head of the Chisholm Ski Club, Wendall “Chummy” Broomhall.
To view the Broomhall Cup standings and other results from the weekend, click here.
