Sylvan Ellefson '09 races to victory in the 10K Freestyle race Friday. (Photo by Kris Dobie/EISA)

RIPTON, Vt. -- Bates College junior Sylvan Ellefson continued his recent torrid pace with a second-place finish in the 15K Classic Technique Race Saturday at the Middlebury College Winter Carnival and EISA Championships at Rikert Touring Center.

Bates placed fifth out of 15 teams at the carnival, which doubles as the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association Championships. The Bobcat alpine and Nordic teams combined for 754.5 points, behind only Dartmouth (928), Middlebury (906), Vermont (868.5) and New Hampshire (796), and ahead of rivals Williams (732) and Colby (710.5).

Ellefson (Vail, Colo.) finished the race in 39:58.8, trailing only Vermont's Juergen Uhl in the field of 61 competitors. He scored 44 team points for Bates, leading the Bates men's Nordic team to second place out of 11 teams in the event. Ellefson also recorded 80 NCAA qualifying points, for a whopping total of 280 NCAA points in three races. Yesterday in the Men's 10K Free Technique race Ellefson won for his second straight individual race win, following a victory in the 10K Free the week before at the Williams Carnival.

Ellefson was the first of three Bobcats to finish in the top 10 in the race. Close behind Ellefson was Bates junior Sam Evans-Brown (Gilmanton Iron Works, N.H.), who checked in at eighth place in a time of 41:26.3. Junior Tim Whiton (Portland, Maine) took 10th place in 41:37.5.

On the women's side, first-year Megan McClelland (Keene Valley, N.Y.) led the Bobcats for the second straight day, finishing the Women's 10K Classic race in 31:11.0. Sophomore Abby Samuelson (Freeport, Maine) took 16th place in 31:21.1 and first-year Natalie Ruppertsberger (Plainfield, N.H.) took 24th place out of 63 competitors in 32:10.7.

In Friday's free technique races, Ellefson covered the course at Rikert Touring Center in a blazing 22:22.2, 19.9 seconds ahead of runner-up Wyatt Fereday of Colby College. The performance is only the second time a Bates Nordic skier has won a Nordic race on the EISA circuit, the first being Ellefson's winning performance last Friday in the 10K Free Technique race at the Williams College Carnival.

Evans-Brown finished tied for 13th overall out of 62 competitors in the men's race, with a time of 23:30.2, and sophomore Brandon Cooper (Aspen, Colo.) finished out Bates' scoring with a 27th-place showing of 24:01.8.

McClelland led the Bates women's Nordic team to seventh place in the Women's 5K Free Technique race, placing 18th out of 62 competitors with a time of 14:28.1. First-years Kirsten Gill (Jackson, N.H.) and Ruppertsberger led a pack of five Bobcats between 22nd and 30th places in 22nd and 26th, respectively.

Next up for the Bates ski teams is the NCAA Championships at Montana State University, which take place March 5-8 in Bozeman, Mont. Bates will find out this week who has qualified to make the trip, though Ellefson is assured his third straight bid to NCAAs.

View complete carnival results at http://www.eisaskiing.org/BART/Results08/mc2008-4.htm.