The men's and women's ski teams carved up the competition last weekend, taking second and third place respectively. The continued strong showing at Killington Mountain, Vt., will aid the team in solidifying its overall position in the league at the midpoint of the season.
The finish helped the women's team hold onto second place in the Eastern Division's Thompson League with 19 points, trailing behind Boston University's 12 points and Vermont's Green Mountain College's seven points.
The men's team is sitting in second place with 22 points, three points ahead of the University of Main and 15 points behind Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Freshman standout Andrew Benson garnered first overall in both slalom and giant slalom (GS) and has not finished below second overall in any of his six races this season.
Sophomore Eric Johnson took second in both slalom and GS for Tufts, finishing 11th and fourth in overall competition, respectively. Rounding out the Tufts scoring, sophomore co-captain Joseph Shaw came in third in slalom and GS for Tufts (17th overall for slalom, 34th overall for GS).
For the women's team, senior co-captain Erin Johnson finished second for Tufts in both events (17th overall for slalom, fifteenth overall for GS). Junior Lael Nelson finished first in slalom (eighth overall) and third in GS (sixteenth overall). Freshman Alex Nussbaum finished third in slalom (22nd overall) and first in GS for Tufts (eighth overall).
Freshman Kate Butler was right behind with a 19th place finish overall.
Only the top three skiers for each school contribute points to the team's final score.
Coach Rob McCune said that the performance of both the men's and women's teams halfway through the season is more than he ever expected.
"I'm pretty impressed with how they've been performing with all the injuries and few seniors we have," McCune said.
Junior Eliza Appert's season is over due to a torn MCL and Eric Johnson is still recovering from a knee injury last year. In addition, the team roster currently has only three seniors.
McCune was especially happy about Nelson's slalom run, in which she placed in the top 10 despite a poor first race.
McCune said that the men's team is managing to succeed so far this season, despite relying on its top three racers to get points.
"The depth of the [men's] team at the higher levels is really only three guys, so they continue to struggle to maintain their standings," McCune said. "If [those three] maintain, you end up with pretty good scoring."
The men's team has finished weekend races as high as first place and as low as ninth.
In contrast, Johnson said that the women's team is showing great depth through the first part of the season.
Johnson raced a personal best in GS over the course of two runs, despite a near fall on what she described as a "tricky" second course layout, set up by the UMF team, new to the league.
"I almost fell on the second run, but pulled it out," Johnson said. "The second GS run was really technical, not rhythmical. It was fun, though."
Freshmen skiers Kate Butler and Sarah Heath are both stepping in to fill the shoes of the injured Appert. This is especially fitting, as both Butler and Appert hail from Minnesota.
Johnson said that she has high hopes for the growth of both Butler and Heath through the rest of the season, and that the women's team had no shortage of depth.
"We have a solid top five, and even skiers in addition to that," Johnson said. "If any of us fall, we've got others backing us up and there is a ton of potential for the future considering that I am one of only three seniors."
Although Johnson did not concede anything, she does not see much chance of catching up to BU before the end of the season.
"We have a solid third. We'll continue to ski strong, but it will be a tough chase unless BU completely flops one weekend," Johnson said. "At this point in the season, it is difficult to catch up."
McCune agreed, and said since the women's team was losing one of their best skiers in Appert, it was going to have a tough time moving up a spot in the rankings.
"Without Eliza [Appert], it's going to be very difficult to move into second spot," he said. "They have a chance at it, but it seems like they probably aren't going to make it."
As for the men, McCune said that considering their issues with depth, a second place finish would be a remarkable achievement.
The team races this weekend at Dartmouth Skiway in New Hampshire.
