GREEN SKIERS NOSED OUT

Most people rarely bother to read ski meet summaries with those four-digit totals down to a tenth of a point.

However, those ordinarily dull figures became breathless proof in mid-February that the current ski season has the closest, most exciting competition possibly in the history of Eastern intercollegiate meets.

For instance, in the Dartmouth Winter Carnival, February 12-13, only half a point separated the first two teams. And the following week in the Williams Carnival only one-tenth of a point was the margin.

Unfortunately for Dartmouth, Middlebury was the champion of both Carnivals although its total margin over the runner-up Big Green was exactly six-tenths of a point.

The pattern which has developed . . . and which undoubtedly will prevail in the important Eastern Championships at St. Lawrence March 5-7 ... is that Middebury skiers pile up a lead in the Alpine events (slalom and giant slalom or downhill) and then try to hang on desperately against Dartmouth power in the Nordic events of cross-country and jumping.

Middlebury lost one of its stars, Peter Ruschp of Stowe, on ineligibility just before the Dartmouth Carnival but it still had a fearsome twosome of Olympian Gordie Eaton and Ail-American Roger Buchika. First event on the schedule Friday morning was the slalom which was being run on Winslow Ledge, a new trail cut on the expansion area behind the Brundage Lodge at the Dartmouth Ski- way. Eventually it is hoped an entire network of trails will cover Winslow Ledge with modern lift facilities available. At present there are only two trails there with no lift, and this was a godsend to the Carnival committee. The regular trails on Holt's Ledge were complete ice from the lean conditions of this winter but the new Winslow trails with little traffic had a respectable though shallow cover for the Alpine events.

Buchika and Eaton, as expected, finished one-two in the slalom which had 51 gates. Then surprisingly came Dartmouth sophomore John Meek, son of the College Treasurer, who skied like a veteran in the alternate hail and rain. Chuck Lobitz, senior from Portland, Ore., and son of the former Dartmouth Medical School professor, came in fourth.

But Big Green favorite, Adrian (Skip) Bryan of Stowe, fell on his first run, lost a ski and was out of contention. And Dartmouth captain Dick Durrance of Aspen, after posting the third fastest first run, spilled on his second try and could place no higher than 12th. Middlebury with a first-second-seventh in the slalom was off to almost a six-point lead.

In the Friday afternoon cross-country race, being contested over nine miles of wet snow, Durrance made one of the grittiest efforts of the season. He finished with his face flecked with froth but he finished second, only 19 seconds behind Williams' ace Dave Rikert, who ordinarily beats Durrance by two to three minutes.

Sophomore Ned Gillette, a cross-country specialist from Barre, Vt., took third, one second behind Durrance, with senior Sel Hannah of Franconia in fifth place. The Big Green had gained only 2.5 points on Middlebury, however, as the Panthers placed fourth-sixth-seventh in the running.

Saturday morning was clear and cold as the giant slalom began over the same Winslow Ledge trail as for the Friday slalom. Skip Bryan, anxious to make amends for his Friday fall, led Middlebury's Eaton going into the final run but 24-year-old Gordie showed his experience with a flashing second run for first place. Buchika claimed second just ahead of Bryan, but then came Meek and Lobitz and the Green had lost only seven-tenths of a point to the Panthers in that giant slalom.

This took the crowd to the climactic Saturday afternoon ski jump with Dartmouth trailing Middlebury by 3.9 points. Could the Green overcome this impost which had been as much as 5.7 points the previous day.?

For a while it appeared the Indians would do it. Green sophomore Jimmy Speck, who is from Bethesda, Md., but learned his jumping at Lake Placid, opened with a 140-foot jump and near perfect style points. Durrance and Hannah were well out there on the first round along with soph Fred Henry of Aspen who had distance but was low on style points.

Then disaster struck. Speck got off the longest jump of the afternoon, 141 feet, only five under the Vale of Tempe Hill record. But he lost balance on landing and fell. And before his turn came up for the third and final jump a northerly wind came up into the face of the jumpers. Speck again got off the longest jump of this round, 129 feet, but his spill on the second jump sent the übiquitous Rikert from Williams (the Skimeister for the Carnival) into first place on the basis of two consistent jumps of 136 and 137 feet.

Middlebury's Tom Easton edged Durrance for third place on the basis of style points and the Panthers' Erie Morse took fifth ahead of Hannah.

When all the figures were totaled Saturday night, Middlebury had defended its Dartmouth Carnival crown by the slim margin of .5 of a point.

The week after the Dartmouth Carnival, Middlebury again eked out a team victory over the Indians in the Williams Carnival. Buchika won both Alpine events although young Meek grabbed second place from Eaton in the slalom. Dartmouth, despite the fact that Speck and Bryan were back in Hanover preparing for exams, made a great charge in the final events and missed by only one-tenth of a point of catching Middlebury.

Chances are that with everyone available for the first time in the Easterns at St. Lawrence, March 5-7, Dartmouth will show the balance to retain its championship there. Then come the NCAA championships at Crystal Mountain, Washington, March 25-27. A year ago Dartmouth finished second, only 1.4 points behind Denver. The task is tougher this season with Colorado loaded with Olympic stars, but this Green ski squad is on the move. After all, it is only six-tenths of a point from an undefeated season at this writing.

BIG GREEN BITS: Elected captain of freshman track is middle-distance star Dave Stanley of Glen Rock, N. J. . . . The baseball, golf, lacrosse and tennis squads leave during the third week of March for spring vacation trips through the South. . . . The basketball squad, buffeted by injury and ill luck, almost upset third-place Penn in an Ivy match February 20 but finally lost 74-70 as the Quakers scored their winning points from the foul line. ... A special tribute to swimming coach Karl Michael on the occasion of his 25th year of coaching at Dartmouth was held in conjunction with the Penn-Dartmouth meet in the new pool on February 27.

Dartmouth's second line which scored five of the six goals against Brown shownmaking their first score. The Green trio are Bill Smoyer (9), Karl Andrews (24), andDick Larson, who has just shot the puck past the Bruin goalie.

Ed Gillette (top) and Sel Hannah, 3rdand 5th in the Carnival cross-country.

Ed Gillette (top) and Sel Hannah, 3rdand 5th in the Carnival cross-country.