For the first time ever, Tufts will be represented at the U.S. Collegiate Skiing Assocation national meet.
Sophomore alpine skier Andrew Benson was selected as the 26th skier from the Eastern region to compete at Nationals, which will be held Mar. 6-11 at Sugarloaf USA in Carrabassett Valley, Maine. Benson finished ninth in the giant slalom (GS) and 13th in the slalom at last weekend's ECSC Eastern Regionals held in Waterville, N.H.
His performance was good enough to merit the only individual bid to this year's Nationals. All of the other 25 regional skiers going to Sugarloaf are members of one of the top five regional teams, each of which sends five skiers to the meet.
"I was excited when I found out I was going to Nationals," Benson said. "I did have mixed feelings though because I really wanted the team to go; we had a really good chance this year. After my second GS run [on Sunday], I started thinking about what I needed to do before Nationals to do well up there."
Though he finished the regular Thompson Division season ranked second in the league behind freshman teammate Hans Tiefenthaler, Benson's two solid days at Regionals elevated him to Nationals status and helped the Tufts men to their best finish ever at a regional meet. The team came in sixth place overall, just shy of a top-five finish which would have ensured a Nationals berth. The Jumbos were the highest-placing club team in a mixed varsity and club competition.
"It was our best season ever as a team," junior men's captain Jeph Shaw said. "It was the first time we won our division, and it was our best finish at Regionals. I can't really complain."
With Benson taking 13th, Tiefenthaler placing 17th and junior Eric Johnson in 41st at Saturday's slalom event, the Tufts men were in fifth place as a team after the first day of competition. Their position heading into Sunday's GS portion of the meet, one place ahead of the varsity team from Babson, put the Jumbos in the running for a team berth to Nationals.
Though Benson finished ninth on Sunday in a two-race combined time of 2:05.85, Johnson's fall in the first GS race and senior Andrew Tonelli's fall in the second effectively pushed the Jumbos down to seventh place on the day and sixth overall, just short of the automatic bid to Nationals but the highest finish among club teams in attendance.
"We were the best club team there," Shaw said. "We beat one of the six varsity teams and were happy about
finishing sixth overall. But it was still kind of disappointing after we were beating Babson on Saturday."
"Our strategy was to ski more conservatively on Saturday so we would have a chance on Sunday," Benson said. "Our goal going into Sunday when we were ahead of Babson was to have no falls, but unfortunately that didn't happen."
The varsity teams upped the intensity of competition at Regionals to a level the Jumbos don't usually encounter during their regular club season.
"In the Thompson Division, if our best guys ski well, they are going to win. I'm used to being one of the better guys in our division, but going against these others, I get smoked," said Shaw, who finished 50th in the GS at Regionals. "There are a lot of guys at the top end a lot closer together at Regionals."
UMass' Rush Hawkins ran away with the weekend, winning both the GS and slalom individual events. Hawkins led the varsity UMass squad to a first place team finish in GS.
On the women's side, Tufts failed to advance to Nationals but still managed a seventh place team finish in the slalom, its strongest event. Seniors Lael Nelson, Chloe Snider, Megan Nelson and captain Eliza Appert all wrapped up their Tufts skiing careers with the highest regional finish by a women's club team.
Appert, who was ranked second in the Thompson Division at the conclusion of the regular season, finished 30th in the slalom. She also recorded a 44th-place finish in the GS, but suffered a fall that removed her from Nationals contention.
Snider and Lael Nelson recorded similar times in both the GS and slalom races. Nelson finished 37th in the slalom, but dropped off slightly in the GS, coming in 46th. Snider had consistent finishes in the two events, finishing 40th in GS and 41st in slalom. Megan Nelson also managed a top-50 performance in the GS (48th).
