WITH THE BIG GREEN TEAMS
THE winter sports scene for Dartmouth is dominated by the ski team, and considering the depth of the snow on Hanover's hills these days, this is perhaps as it should be. Of all the varsity squads this season, the ski team certainly ranks at the top in ability, potential, and winning ways.
As you read the following column, you'll come across familiar names out of Dartmouth's past, for there are several members of the 1963 squad who are following in the ski tracks of their fathers, stars of an earlier generation. These young men are twice welcome: for their prowess on the slopes and for the link they give to a great Dartmouth athletic tradition.
It was expected that this year's Winter Carnival ski meet would be a two-way struggle between Dartmouth and Middlebury, and that's exactly how it developed. A week earlier at the Williams Carnival, Middlebury had topped the Green, but this was against an undermanned Indian team. Middlebury, on the other hand, had been strengthened by the return of several top skiers including John Bower, one of the finest nordic skiers in the country.
The opening event, the downhill, was a disappointment for some Indian fans as Gordon Eaton and Bower placed one-two for the Panthers. Bob Hiller finished fourth, however, for the Indians, and Dick Durrance and Jim Jacobson were tied for sixth, while Pat Terenzini was ninth. This gave the Green a strong second place position behind front-running Middlebury and set the stage for the cross country event on the Hanover course. It was again Middlebury's Bower who had the best time for the course, but Ed Williams, Durrance, and Sel Hannah were right behind him in the next three positions. Jim Page was sixth.
As the final day of competition opened, the two leading teams - Dartmouth and Middlebury - were eleven points ahead of their nearest rival, and the Indians were only 3.4 points out of first. It was an all-around team effort which turned the tide in favor of the Indians as the scene shifted once again to the Dartmouth Skiway for the slalom.
John Clough of Middlebury was the victor in the slalom, but he had only one other teammate among the top ten. Dartmouth had four men all well up in the standings. Jacobson and Durrance were two-three, Terenzini was sixth and Hiller, eighth. Eaton of Middlebury, who had won the downhill, had the fastest time on the slalom course, but was marked out on his first run and finished 23rd.
The strong showing of the Indians moved them into first place as they entered the final event, the jumping. There was no doubt that Bower was the best jumper of the afternoon as he completed leaps of 142 and 139 feet, but again it was the Indians' depth which paid off. Captain Page was second with leaps of 136 and 138 feet, Durrance was fourth, Sel Hannah, fifth, and his brother Frank was in seventh place.
The final team standings showed Dartmouth with 582.8 points while Middlebury had 577.1.
Durrance, a sophomore from Aspen, Colo., the son of Richard Durrance '39, one of the College's all-time great skiers, was named skimeister for the Carnival on the basis of his fine showing in all four events.
Sophomore ace Dick Durrance, son of a Dartmouth skiing great, shows style thatmade him Carnival Skimeister. He took two third places, a fourth, and a sixth.
