Skiing

Dartmouth ski coaches Al Merrill and Bill Beck continue the Prager tradition with the Big Green skiers capturing both the Dartmouth and Middlebury Winter Carnival meets and finishing second at Williams as they prepare for the NCAA meet coming up the end of February in Hanover. Victory at Middlebury gave Dartmouth the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association crown.

With Middlebury not competing at the Dartmouth Carnival this year, the Big Green skiers had an easy time winning the seventh consecutive Carnival Cup with 584.6 points over St. Lawrence with 549.3 with Norwich third. Excellent snow conditions permitted all four events to be held on Dartmouth terrain, with the slalom and downhill at the Skiway, the cross-country race on the golf course and the jump on Dartmouth's 40-meter hill.

The Indians jumped off to an early lead as Bob Gebhardt placed second in the slalom, co-captain Bill Smith third, John Ceely fourth and Dave Harwood eighth. In the afternoon cross-country race Dartmouth increased its lead with Dick Taylor placing first, Bill Smith third, John Ceely fourth, and co-captain Dave Harwood ninth. Smith won the downhill for Dartmouth, followed by Dave Britten third, while Harwood was tenth and Gebhardt twelfth. The Indians also did well m the jump, with Don Peterson, Frank Noel, Dick Taylor and Dave Harwood taking third through sixth place. Co-captam Bill Smith's fine performances in all four events won him the Carnival Skimeister title.

Smith also won Skimeister honors at the Williams Carnival, finishing second in the slalom, fifth in downhill, fourth in the jump, and tenth in cross country, but the Indians were edged out by Middlebury, which scored 578.13 points to Dartmouth's 566.16, with St. Lawrence third. Dartmouth was handicapped in the Nordic events by the absence of Dick Taylor, Don Peterson and Frank Noel who were competing in the National Nordic Meet in Maine. Bob Gebhardt won the downhill and was third in the slalom while John Ceely finished sixth in the slalom and seventh in cross country for other Dartmouth points.

At the Middlebury Carnival, Dartmouth showed its team strength by edging the Panthers, 583.13 to 576.09, with Bill Smith annexing his third successive Skimeister title as he won both the slalom and downhill, finished sixth in cross country, and seventeenth in jumping. Bob Gebhardt placed second for the Big Green in the slalom with Dave Vorse in fourth place. Harwood and Ceely were sixth and seventh respectively. Don Peterson was fourth in the jumping for Dartmouth, and Frank Noel and Dick Taylor tied for eighth place.

In other skiing action, Brooks Dodge '51, Coach Bill Beck '53 and senior Bob Gebhardt placed second, third and fourth, respectively, in the Gibson Trophy Race at Mount Cranmore which was won by Edi Mall. More recently, Bob Gebhardt won the Eastern Giant Slalom Championship and the Fiske Trophy in a blizzard at Suicide Six in Woodstock, Vt. Dave Vorse and Dave Harwood, teammates of Gebhardt, were third and fourth.