Despite having an outside chance of succeeding this year, the ski team will have to go another season without qualifying for Nationals.
The men's top skier, freshman Andrew Benson, failed to complete the slalom run Saturday morning at Regionals, held in New Hampshire. By failing to clear all the gates, Benson was disqualified from the slalom event and the team did not score high enough to move on to Nationals, despite placing sixth in giant slalom (GS).
The men's and women's teams produced equal finishes in both GS and slalom, and as a result, each team placed ninth overall for the weekend. The two teams were 11th in slalom and sixth in GS, short of the fifth-spot overall needed to reach Nationals.
"Both teams' capability in slalom is better, so in that sense it's a shame we didn't do better in that event, "coach Rob McCune said. "We could do better in GS, but that's not our strongest event. The men had a legitimate bid at Nationals if they had performed well in this race."
The men's sophomore co-captain Joseph Shaw said that the men's team had an outside chance of making it to Nationals, but the stars just weren't aligned.
"We were going to need a little help from some other teams slipping up," Shaw said.
They didn't get it. Instead, it was the Jumbos who slipped up over the course of the weekend. The men's top skier, Benson, did not finish the race after falling at the top of the course and then missing a gate halfway through.
"The slalom was a complete debacle," Shaw said of what is usually the Jumbos' stronger race of the two events. "We'd gotten used to counting on [Benson]. I guess after a while, you have to slip up at some point."
On the women's side, despite a lack of depth, senior co-captain Erin Johnson said they had five strong skiers, and the day's results were what she was expecting.
"This is a building year," Johnson said. "I'm very happy with how we did."
The men and women's 17 points each were eight points short of fifth place, putting them each in ninth place out of 16 teams.
McCune said that the team was facing a tough course and that underperforming on slalom put a damper on the rest of the weekend.
"The men ran into some trouble early and that took a little of the fire out from underneath them," he said.
Shaw said that he and sophomore Eric Johnson also had slower than usual times for slalom. Johnson finished 20th in GS and 33rd in slalom, while Shaw finished 49th in GS and 42nd in slalom.
Freshman Jayson Uppal placed 57th in slalom, which "prevented the day from being a complete failure," Shaw said.
The men's sixth-place finish overall for GS was one of the highlights for Shaw this weekend.
"That was really satisfying," he said. "The five teams that beat us were serious varsity programs."
The Tufts ski team is a club sport, and its ability to compete with varsity squads is a good sign for the future of the program.
"It didn't turn out quite as well as we'd hoped," Shaw said. "We hoped to make Nationals. If we can get sixth in the GS this year, we can do a lot better next year."
McCune echoed Shaw's sentiment.
"The greatest thing about this season is the amount that both teams accomplished with the resources that they had," he said.
