Senior Laurel Fiddler continued her strong season with a 15th place finish in the 15K Freestyle at the Middlebury Carnival on Friday, Feb. 17, 2017. (File photo by Dennis Curran/EISA)

RIPTON, Vt. -- Senior Laurel Fiddler finished 15th out of 70 collegiate skiers in the 15K Freestyle race to pace the Bates women's Nordic skiing team on day one of the Middlebury Carnival Friday at the Rikert Nordic Center.

Fiddler (Crowley Lake, Calif.) skied to the finish in 42:22.9, good for 28 carnival points and 16 NCAA points. 

The women finished in seventh place overall out of 12 teams thanks to a pair of top 30 finishes from senior captain Halie Lange (Brattleboro, Vt.) and first-year Kaelyn Woods (New Gloucester, Maine). 

Lange came in 25th place with a time of 43:32.6, earning 19 carnival points and six NCAA points. Meanwhile Woods continued her strong first season with a 28th place finish. She earned the team 18 carnival points and picked up three NCAA points as well.

The men competed in the 20K freestyle race on Friday and junior Parker McDonald (Wolcott, Colo.) led the way with a 41st place finish out of 72 collegiate skiers. He earned 11 carnival points for the Bobcats.

Senior Nathan Moreau (Falmouth, Maine) took home 45th place and eight carnival points. First-year Graham Houtsma (Aspen, Colo.) rounded out the scoring with a 49th place finish and five carnival points.

The Nordic skiing teams and the alpine skiing teams combined for 167 carnival points on day one of the Middlebury Carnival. They currently sit in eighth place out of 15 schools, just 15 points behind St. Michael's College.