Skiing

At the midway point in the Dartmouth Carnival meet, about the last man who felt that the University of Denver team, the solid pre-Carnival favorite, would overtake Dartmouth was the Pioneers' coach, Willie Schaeffler.

Schaeffler, who has directed Denver's skiers to 11 NCAA championships since 1954 (and finished second twice), was disappointed with his team's performance in the slalom and cross country on Friday. But Denver, which had won four Western meets with tremendous second-day efforts in the jumping, proved that the Vale of Tempe's 40-meter jump was made to order as the Pioneers rallied to edge Dartmouth by 1.8 points and spoil the Green's bid for a 34th Carnival Cup victory.

Ironically, a week later, Dartmouth used the same weapon - superior jumping - to overtake Middlebury and win the Williams Carnival meet. That victory elevated Dartmouth to the role of favorite in the Green's pursuit of the Eastern championship at the Middlebury Carnival.

Denver made its first appearance at the Dartmouth Carnival in 1952 and won then, too. The Pioneers' luck proved to be holding as they swept four of the first five places in the jumping. Only a second place by Dartmouth's Scott Berry blocked the Denver domination. Odd Hammernes, one of several fine Norwegian jumpers who dotted the Denver lineup, won with distances of 137 and 140 feet and 215 points, 9.6 better than Berry who did 125 and 130 feet.

Denver finished with a team score of 387.3 points to Dartmouth's 385.5. Middlebury was third with 370.1, followed by Harvard, 364.2; New Hampshire, 354.0; Williams, 345.0; Vermont, 337.4 and St. Lawrence, 301.8.

While Denver took the team crown, Dartmouth Captain Ed Damon from North Conway, N. H., earned the Carnival Skimeister prize as he finished fifth in the Nordic Combined scoring and 17th in the Alpine Combined. Damon also finished among the top ten in each event at Williams to earn Skimeister honors there, too.

Sophomore Chuck Bent from Hanover gave Dartmouth the proper heading as he captured the Friday slalom at the Skiway in Lyme. Leaders in the other Dartmouth Carnival events were Ev Dunklee of New Hampshire, who won the cross-country race, and Middlebury's Paul Reed, who took the giant slalom.

Teyck Weed, Berry and Sheldon Perry, all sophomores, scored well for Dartmouth, along with Nordic specialists Bill Cantlin, Larry Gillis, and Rick Lounsbury. George Perry, Jim McElroy, Captain Tom Kendall, and Art Moore led Dartmouth's freshmen to a commanding position in competition with UNH, Vermont, and St. Lawrence.

At Williams, Dartmouth finished with 390.7 points to 387.9 fo Middlebury. Gillis and Cantlin gave Dartmouth a one-two finish in the jumping while Weed was fourth and Dick Trafton finished fifth. Gillis had 201.1 points to 201.0 for Cantlin.

Lounsbury, who finished second to Middlebury's Reed in the giant slalom, reversed the trick in the slalom. Teammates Bill Ashton and Damon finished seventh and tenth in the slalom and Damon also came in ninth in the jumping.

Ski Note: Weed, a sophomore from Etna, N. H., was one of four young Americans selected to compete in the annual European Junior Nordic Championship, February 28-March 2 at Bollnas, Sweden. This is the first time American juniors competed in the European championship.