Craftsbury, VT - Poor conditions canceled last weekend's event, but the Clarkson University Nordic Ski team did not allow the hiccup in scheduling to break its stride as the Golden Knights dominated both the Skate and Classic events at the USCSA ESCS Cornell Invitational.

The Golden Knights' women swept the top three spots in both the 10,000-meter skate and classic races while the men won the skate by eight points and the classic by 14 notches. Clarkson's women won the 10K skate with 6 points, followed by Cornell (26), Army (31), Hamilton (33) and Wellesley (52), and then won the 10K classic again with just 6 points, with Cornell (22), Army (31) and Wellesley (41) rounding out the pack. On the men's side, the Knights won Saturday's event with 14 points, leading Cornell (22), Army (30), Paul Smith's (38), and Hamilton (61). On Sunday, Clarkson won with 10 points, beating Army (24), Cornell (35) and Paul Smith's (36).

Senior Alyssa Dausman (Syracuse, NY) won both the 10K skate and classic races on the women's side for the Knights. She started off with the 10K skate victory in 32 minutes, 6 seconds, and was followed by teammates Andrea Walsh (Underhill Center, VT) in second (34:17) and Emily Garrant (Marcellus, NY) in third (35:44), respectively, to take the top three spots. Clarkson's dominance extended past the scoring portion of the race, though, as junior Rachel Bachman (Queensbury, NY) and senior Audrey Keene (Hilton, NY) took fourth and fifth place, while freshman Olivia Dawson (Scottsville, NY) and sophomore Eleanor Vane (Fairport, NY) also finished in the top 10. In the classic race on Sunday, Dausman again claimed the top spot by finishing in 38:12. Walsh was closer to her teammate this time around, finishing 47 seconds off the pace, and Garrant again took third in 39:58. Bachman was fourth, Keene finished sixth, Dawson passed the finish line in seventh, and Vane claimed eighth for the Knights. Senior Kallie Desmond (Central Square, NY) rounded out the top 10 for the Knights in another overwhelming effort.

Though the men weren't as dominant as the women, they still placed a number of skiers in the top 10 in both the skate and classic races. On Saturday, senior Alex Benway (Queensbury, NY) took first in the 10K skate in 27:17, while junior Andrew Klem (Dalton, MA) was next for the Knights in fifth place with a time of 28:04. Senior Bryan Rose (Honeoye Falls, NY) rounded out Clarkson's scoring with a seventh-place finish in 29:13, but was closely followed by three teammates vying for the next scoring spot in Anthony Caruso (Amherst, NY), Tim Sick (Chambersburg, PA), and Zack Russo (Fayston, VT), who finished eight, ninth, and tenth, respectively, a collective 13 seconds behind Rose. Sunday was more of the same for Clarkson, as Benway again took the top spot in 29:36 in the 10K classic race, and Klem was once again runner-up for the Knights in fifth place overall. Russo jumped up to sixth place on Sunday, while Sick (seventh) and Rose (tenth) also finished among the top times.