Max Millslagle (pictured) teamed up with Parker McDonald to finish in 15th place out of 42 teams in the freestyle team sprints at the Colby Carnival on Jan. 24, 2016. (File photo by Dennis Curran/EISA)

WATERVILLE, Maine -- The Colby Carnival came to an improbable conclusion for the Bates Nordic ski team with Sunday's freestyle sprint relays, as the Bobcat women's squad tied for fourth place with Middlebury and the men's squad tied for fifth place with Middlebury.

The Bates women fielded three duos who finished in seventh, eighth and ninth places out of 45 pairs in all, with the Bobcats' top two pairs scoring the team points. 

Seniors Grace Wright (Rutland, Vt.) and Britta Clark (Ripton, Vt.) led the Bates women, recording a seventh-place time of 21:38.6. Senior Helen Sudkamp-Walker (Fairbanks, Alaska) and junior Halie Lange (Brattleboro, Vt.) placed eighth in 21:42.7 while juniors Laurel Fiddler (Crowley Lake, Calif.) and junior Sadie James (Avon, Maine) were ninth in 21:45.3. Underscoring Bates' impressive depth, Middlebury tied Bates' 127 carnival points by fielding the third- and 13th-place teams in the race.

The Bates men scored with the 15th- and 17th-place pairs out of 42 overall. Junior Max Millslagle (Bend, Ore.) and sophomore Parker McDonald (Wolcott, Colo.) were 15th in 18:06.5, just 0.3 seconds behind Williams and 1.1 seconds behind 13th-place Dartmouth. Bates senior Corky Harrer (Minneapolis, Minn.) and junior Nathan Moreau (Falmouth, Maine) were 17th in 18:17.3, enabling Bates to score 97 carnival points and tie Middlebury, which had the 11th- and 21st-place pairs.

Sunday's races helped Bates' combined Nordic and alpine ski teams to place seventh out of 16 teams at the Colby Carnival, just nine points behind sixth-place Williams and 195 points ahead of eighth-place St. Lawrence.

Bates' Nordic teams will compete Feb. 6-7 at the UVM Carnival, with Nordic races at Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont. The alpine part of the UVM Carnival takes place next weekend at Stowe.