Senior Sadie James earned a career-best fifth place finish Saturday in the 5K classic technique race at the Dartmouth Carnival. (File photo by Dennis Curran/EISA) 

CRAFTSBURY COMMON, Vt. -- Senior Sadie James turned in an outstanding performance in the 5K classical technique race Saturday to lead the Bates women's Nordic skiing team to a fourth place finish on the final day of the Dartmouth Carnival. 

James (Avon, Maine) raced to the finish in 15:51.5, picking up a new career-best carnival finish along the way. 

She came in fifth place out of 68 collegiate skiers on Saturday.

It's the second straight carnival that James has finished in the top 10 in a classic technique race. She finished ninth in the 10K classic technique race at the UVM Carnival last week. 

Coming off an NCAA Championships appearance last year, James helped her cause this year in a big way on Saturday by picking up 45 NCAA points and earning the Bobcats 39 carnival points.

The Bates women totaled 83 points on the day, good for fourth out of 12 schools. 

Senior captain Halie Lange (Brattleboro, Vt.) finished in 17th place, earning 23 carnival points and 14 NCAA points. Senior Laurel Fiddler (Crowley Lake, Calif.) rounded out the scoring for the Bobcats with a 24th place finish, enough to earn 16 carnival points and seven NCAA points.

The men's Nordic skiing team competed in the 10K Classical Technique race on Saturday and junior Parker McDonald (Wolcott, Colo.) led the way, finishing 30th out of 72 collegiate skiers. McDonald earned 18 carnival points and picked up an NCAA point as well.

Senior co-captain Max Millslagle (Bend, Ore.) came in just two seconds behind McDonald in 31st place, earning Bates 17 carnival points. 

First-year Leo Lukens (Bend, Ore.) also scored for the Bobcats, coming in 37th to earn 15 carnival points.

The Bobcat Nordic skiing teams combined with the alpine skiing teams to earn 413 carnival points over the course of two days at the Dartmouth Carnival, good for eighth place out of 15 schools.