Dartmouth dominates in front of a roaring Rikert crowd
The women's field battles through a wall of noise at Rikert Outdoor Center. Photo courtesy of Phillip Belena.
The roaring cheers from Rikert might still be ringing in the racers' ears a week later. The final stop of the 2026 carnival circuit, hosted by Middlebury in Ripton, Vermont, was a weekend to remember — cowbells, horns, boomboxes, and yes, even chainsaws.
Family and friends lined the trails with a wall of sound unlike anything the EISA has seen all season. For Middlebury senior Quincy Massey-Bierman, the rowdy scene was fuel for her final two races on the circuit.
"It was electrifying and inspired me to push myself to the limit. It filled me with so much joy and enthusiasm, even in the tough races."
Quincy Massey-Bierman · Middlebury
Friday: fast skis, a podium sweep
The weekend opened with a 7.5k classic individual start under gray skies. Tricky kick-wax conditions rewarded the teams who nailed it — and Dartmouth did. By the end of the men's race, the Dartmouth men had swept the podium, becoming the only team other than UVM to do so this season.
John Steel Hagenbuch led the charge, fresh off racing at the Milano-Cortina Olympics, with Aaron Power second and Cooper Camp third — both claiming their first career EISA podiums. Six Dartmouth men finished in the top ten. On the women's side, Ava Thurston won by over a minute, with UVM's Haley Brewster second and Dartmouth's Evelyn Walton earning her first career podium.
Aaron Power strides to his first career EISA podium finish.
Saturday: a snow globe, and history
Overnight snow turned Rikert into a snow globe for the 20k freestyle mass starts. Hagenbuch took the men's race out hard, broke away on the first of four laps, and never looked back. Behind him, Cooper Camp out-sprinted his pack for second and first-year Micah Bruner claimed his first career podium — a second Dartmouth sweep, making them the first team all season to sweep twice in one weekend.
The women's 20k came down to two familiar faces. Ava Thurston and Haley Brewster broke away on the final lap and raced head to head to the line, where Brewster out-kicked Thurston by a single second. Bowdoin senior Emma Crum closed out her EISA career with one final podium twenty seconds later.
As the women's race closed, the finishing pen was heavy with emotion — a few tears, long hugs, and seniors soaking in their final moments on the circuit. A huge congratulations to the Class of 2026. EISA skiers who qualified for NCAAs head to Midway, Utah, March 11–14.
The weekend in 10 slides
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