The St. Lawrence University Nordic ski team began the 2012 EISA carnival season on Friday at the Bates Carnival, as the Saints competed in the freestyle events at Black Mountain.

The St. Lawrence men's team finished in eighth place overall in the 10k Free, while the women's squad was ninth in the 5K race. Seniors Adam Terko and Caroline Carpenter were the top finishers for the Scarlet and Brown in 32nd and 28th, respectively.

Terko clocked in at 28:38 to take 32nd place in the men's event, which was won by Middlebury's Patrick Johnson (26:20). Junior Connor Hunt's 40th place finish nearly matches his collegiate best, while sophomore Eric Lustgarten capped the team's scoring at 52.0 points with a 41st place showing.

St. Lawrence, which competed without senior Teo Jackson on Friday, had six first-year students compete along with sophomore Bill Prescott, who was 70th overall. Will Frielinghaus and Austin Meng led the rookies in 52nd and 58th place, respectively, while Evan Turner (76th), Reed Likely (86th), Austin Hart (91st) and Adam Swayze (106th) also competed for the Saints.

Carpenter was the top St. Lawrence finisher in 28th position of the women's 5k Free with a time of 15:58. With classmate Leah Hart and sophomore Amanda Moreland out of the line-up on Friday, rookie Kate Mulachy (57th) and junior Kelsey Nichols (76th) capped the scoring at 34.0 points.

First-year student Emma Duffany (81st) and sophomores Ally Baier (85th) and Bridget Shea-Gander (88th) rounded out the team's line-up.

Lucy Garrec of UVM won the women's 5k race, leading the Catamounts to the team title as well. Dartmouth College was victorious on the men's side with 127.0 points, 11.0 ahead of UVM.

The Saints will be in action again tomorrow, Saturday, January 21st as the teams compete in the classic races at the Bates Carnival.