*All photos are courtesy of Flyingpointroad.com

The Dartmouth women’s cross-country ski team has a lot to be excited about.

The Big Green lost just one athlete to graduation, return a trio of national qualifiers, brought in two strong recruits and are bringing serious momentum from last season into one in which they’ll host the NCAA championships on their home course.

“This team is motivated,” head coach Cami Thompson said in late September, one week into practices. “As a group, they have returned stronger and more motivated than ever. We are struggling with a few niggling health issues but are hopeful we can have a strong fall once we settle into the routine.”

Dartmouth finished fourth overall in the team scores at the NCAA national championships last March, tops amongst non-scholarship schools. The Big Green was third in the Nordic standings, behind just Colorado and Utah, respectively. Thompson, who is entering her 35th year as women’s head coach, told Justin Lafleur in the spring that the fourth-place finish — the team’s best since 2019 and first time finishing ahead of rival Vermont since 2018 — signaled the team is “back on track.”

“I was very happy with the individual results in ’23-24,” Thompson told Seder-Skier.com in an email this fall. “We had some excellent results nationally, internationally and at the collegiate level. This season we are focused on competing more as a full team with less individual travel and hope that will put us in a good place for the championships in March.”

The Big Green will host this year’s NCAA Championship at Oak Hill and the Dartmouth Skiway March 5-8, with Nordic events being held on the second and final days of the competition.

John Steel Hagenbuch and Jasmine Drolet each won a national title last year and both are back to lead veteran squads. In fact, just two freshman joined the women’s team this fall. Virginia Cobb — the U.S. Biathlon youth female athlete of the year in 2023 and daughter of Max Cobb, the International Biathlon Union Secretary General — and three-time junior national champion Maeve Ingelfinger join a roster with five seniors and four juniors. The only graduation from Thompson’s 2024 squad was Garvee Tobin.

On the men’s side, Hagenbuch, the United States Collegiate Ski Coaches Association national skier of the year, is the headliner. Hagenbuch not only had a stellar World Cup season, which included a 13th-place finish in the Ostersund 10-kilometer freestyle on Dec. 12, he also won the 7.5k freestyle national title and was fifth in the 20k classic. He is the Big Green’s first national skier of the year since Alpine skier Tanguy Nef took the honor in 2019.

“John had an outstanding season from start to finish,” Dartmouth head men’s Nordic coach Brayton Osgood stated in a June 28th story on the Big Green’s home website.

“I was very impressed with his consistency from December through March, and his highlight races — including his NCAA Championship — were really special. I appreciate the USCSCA recognizing his success this winter and am proud of him for receiving this award,” Osgood continued. “We are looking forward to the 2025 NCAA Championships on our home trails with a lot of excitement and I’m eager for John’s next season of racing for Dartmouth.”

Hagenbuch won each of the six regular season meets he started and also won U.S. national titles in the 20k and 40k freestyle events.

***To hear Hagenbuch talk about his season in depth, check out our interview with him from last April.

Dartmouth also brings back junior Jack Lange, who earned second-team All-American status with his ninth-place team finish in the 7.5-kilometer freestyle, and senior Luke Allan, who was the third-ranked Big Green skier at the end of the EISA campaign. Minnesota’s Cooper Camp continues to rise, as well. The junior was 14th in the overall EISA standings.

Looking ahead, Thompson said her team’s big goal “is to be more professional this season.”

“That primarily looks like taking care of the small details so everyone can stay healthy and perform at their best,” she said. “We would like to be winning events as the top women’s team, and obviously, an overall win regionally and at the championships would be the ultimate goal.”

Top returners

Women

• Ava Thurston
  • Fourth overall in EISA rankings
  • NCAA’s > 12th in the 20k classic; 2x All-American from 2023
  • won the 20k classic mass start at the EISA championships
  • Competed at World Junior Championships – 7th in the 20k FS
• Jasmine Drolet
  • 20k classic NCAA champion
  • Seventh overall in EISA rankings
  • part of U23 world championship relay gold medal team (Canada)
• Emma Reeder
  • 13th overall in EISA rankings
  • 13th overall at NCAAs in 20k classic

Men

• John Steel Hagenbuch
  • National skier of the year
  • U.S. national champ (20k and 40k freestyle)
  • 7.5k NCAA champion
  • Won seven total races on the NCAA circuit last year

EISA notebook

2025 Carnival schedule

• Bates – Jan. 10-11 (classic sprint/15k FS mass start)
• St. Lawrence – Jan. 17-18 (20k FS mass start/ 7.5k classic interval start)
• St. Michael’s – Jan. 31-Feb. 1 (10k FS interval start/3x5k classic relay)
• Dartmouth – Feb. 7-8 (7.5k classic interval start/20k FS mass start)
• Middlebury – Feb. 14-15 (FS sprint/ 10k classic interval start)
• UNH – Regionals – Feb. 21-22 (7.5k classic interval start/ 15k FS mass start)
• NCAA championships – March 5-8

2024 EISA rankings (name, school, best FS, best CL, total)

Men

1. John Steel Hagenbuch DAR 200 200 400
2. Remi Drolet HAR 160 200 360
3. Finn Sweet UVM 130 160 290
4. Jack Lange DAR 160 110 270
5. Keelan Durham WIL 160 62 222
6. Jack Christner MID 90 116 206
7. Benon Brattebo UVM 126 56 182
8. Jack Young CBC 110 71 181
9. Luke Allan DAR 90 90 180
10. Logan Moore MID 77 100 177

Women

1. Haley Brewster UVM 200 180 380
2. Shea Brams MID 90 200 290
3. Lucinda Anderson UNH 160 95 255
4. Ava Thurston DAR 100 150 250
5. Emma Crum BOW 125 110 235
6. Marielle Ackermann UVM 140 90 230
7. Jasmine Drolet DAR 140 80 220
8. Annie McColgan UVM 105 110 215
9. Elizabeth Tuttle UVM 140 72 212
10. Hattie Barker UNH 68 112 180