Tufts' alpine ski team started its season with a trip to Bromley Mountain in Vermont on Jan. 12 and 13, the weekend before most students returned to campus for the spring semester. With two more meets under their belts since then, both teams have completed a strong start to the young season.
Some attributed the successful start to the return of coach Rob McCune, who took last year off to travel around Germany. "The return of [McCune] has been a great source of motivation for both the men's and women's teams," men's skier Jack Kramarczyk said.
With the momentum from having McCune back, the men turned in an impressive day at Bromley, finishing fifth in the slalom (SL) and fourth in the giant slalom (GS).
Following this race the teams skied the next two weekends, first at Haystack Mountain in Vermont and then this past weekend at Cannon Mountain in New Hampshire.
On the women's side, Bromley was equally a success. In their first race they finished second to the Green Mountain College (GMC) in both the SL and the GS races.
"We know that GMC will be almost impossible to beat," sophomore captain Courtney Benson said. "We are capable of consistently finishing second during the season and when districts come, try and knock off GMC then."
Traditionally, GMC is the division's strongest team, and this year is no different - the team has placed first among the men and women in both the SL and GS in all three competitions so far this year. Tufts' women might be the only squad able to compete with GMC, but the University of Connecticut and Boston University will likely offer the Jumbos competition for the second seed.
Tufts women have finished only two races below second place this season - third in the SL at Haystack and fifth in the GS at Cannon. Benson said the women's success is a result of "new, hard-working freshman, strong upper-class role models, and the benefit of no major injuries."
On the men's side, the team has fallen off slightly since Bromley, and overall has felt the effects of losing veterans to last year's graduation. Some team members are classifying this year as a rebuilding season. "Tufts graduated a number of top men's skiers and as a result has seen some inconsistencies this year," Kramarczyk said.
So far, the team has been led by Nat Sager, Michael Krafft, Jack Kramarczyk, and Michael Coughlin. Kraft finished eight out of 65 in the SL at Cannon, and Kramarczyk finished 10th out of 82 in the GS at Haystack.
For the women, Benson, Kate Meierdircks, and Sophie Dabuzhsky have led the way. The best individual finishes so far have come from Benson, who finished first out of 51 in the SL at Cannon and sixth out of 61 in the GS at Haystack.
With three races completed, the ski team has its sights set on the last three regular season meets. The women hope to maintain their second place seeding, while the men hope to climb from fifth in the district to fourth, which would then earn them a spot in the regional race.
"If we ski to our potential, we can definitely make up that difference and gain entry to the regional race," Krafft said. "We are starting to see benefits from summer workouts that should help propel us to that fourth seed."
The team heads to New Hampshire this weekend to compete at the Dartmouth Skiway.
