Two Wood River Valley skiers played prominent roles in last weekend's St. Michael's Carnival, the first event on the 2007 Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA) carnival schedule held in Vermont.
Zac Brown did it in alpine and Mike Sinnott in cross country.
Community School graduate Brown, 22, of Ketchum, has always been a terrific slalom skier. The University of Vermont junior showed it Saturday by taking the men's slalom silver behind Dartmouth junior David Chodounsky at Smugglers Notch in Jeffersonville, Vt.
Brown's finish led the Catamount men's alpine ski team, but it wasn't enough for Vermont to capture the team championship. Wood River High School graduate Sinnott, 22, of Ketchum had a lot to do with that.
Sinnott, a Dartmouth College senior bound for the U23 World Championships in Italy in early February, won the men's 10-kilometer freestyle race by 21 seconds Friday at Sleepy Hollow in Huntington, Vt. His result helped the Big Green to 100 team points in the men's 10k.
In the final team totals last weekend, Dartmouth (697 points) nipped runner-up Vermont (686) by 11 points and snapped a run of nine UVM team EISA winter carnival victories dating back to 2005.
Brown tuned up for the carnival season by winning an International Ski Federation (FIS) slalom race by 1.08 seconds at Stowe, Vt. Jan. 9. An NCAA All-American last winter, Brown had seven top 10s and was eighth in men's slalom at the 2006 NCAA Alpine Ski Championships.
The EISA carnival season continues Jan. 26-27 at the University of New Hampshire, Feb. 2-3 at Vermont, Feb. 9-10 at Dartmouth and Feb. 16-17 at Williams College leading up to the Eastern Championships Feb. 23-24 and the NCAA Alpine Ski Championships March 7-10.
