Killington, Vt. was teeming with racers this weekend as the mountain hosted the last event of the regular ski season. Both Tufts alpine ski teams entered the weekend second in the Thompson Division standings, hoping to maintain these positions and solidify their places in regionals, but the weekend had mixed results.
The men's team had a less-than-perfect showing, finishing fourth in both the Saturday and Sunday races to drop it to fourth overall in the point standings. The women, on the other hand, stole a first-place finish by under a second on Saturday, but finished in a disappointing sixth place on Sunday, dropping the Jumbos to second overall, behind powerhouse Boston University.
Still, these top four division finishes enabled both squads to secure spots at the regional races, held in Waterville, Maine on Feb. 24-25.
Junior captain and No. 1 racer Andrew Benson dominated the competition, coming in first overall on both Saturday and Sunday. Benson hopes to continue his solid racing two weeks from now at the regional competition, and is entering open races this weekend to stay sharp.
"I was happy with the way I raced this weekend," Benson said. "But my goal for regionals is definitely to take first in the [giant slalom], and come in the top ten in slalom."
Freshman racer Pat Tonelli filled the second-place spot for the entire weekend, with overall finishes of 13th and 12th, respectively.
"I skied pretty well and the course was set up to my advantage," Tonelli said. "It was really wide open, which was perfect for my long [giant slalom] skis."
In alpine skiing, the team point total is a compilation of the three racers with the fastest combined times on their two runs. This weekend, the Jumbo freshmen accounted for the third position, filling the void for senior Joseph Shaw, who fell during one of his weekend runs.
On Saturday, freshman Spencer Monson finished 26th overall to contribute to team scoring for only the second time this season, while freshman Sam Perrone finished 25th overall on Sunday to add to the team points for the first time this season.
"Perrone and Spencer really came up big for us," Tonelli said. "They stepped up when they had to after the No. 2 fell."
The Jumbo men are looking forward the imminent regional competition, but they will certainly have their work cut out for them, as they will be skiing against perennial contender Worchester Polytechnic Institute, who has finished first in eight of the 10 races this year, in addition to fellow NESCAC schools Colby, and Trinity.
As only the top five finishers at regionals advance to nationals, the men will need to come out strong.
"Regionals are a chance for us to gauge where we are in relation to the competition," Tonelli said. "There are a lot of guys competing at a higher level, so it will be a real challenge."
After a top finish this weekend, the women's squad will also have a berth at the regional competition. Several racers notched excellent performances on Saturday, including freshman Nicole Fontaine who finished No. 2 overall, senior Alexandra Nussbaum who finished at sixth, and sophomore Alissa Brandon who turned in a 15th-place finish. The women's team squeaked out a first-place finish on Saturday, with a combined time of 278.69 seconds, beating the Boston University team who finished with a time of 278.89 seconds.
"We were definitely happy with our finish on Saturday, and our No. 2 finish on the year," Brandon said. "But we think we are a team with first-place caliber."
On Sunday, the Jumbos did not fare quite as well, ending the day without any top 15 finishers. Junior captain Lauren Vasey led the way for her team, coming in 17th overall. Freshman Hayley Droppert followed at 26th, freshman Caitlin Rye came in 27th, and sophomore Kathryn Friedmann rounded out the Tufts skiers in 28th place.
The Tufts women will battle 16 of the division's best teams at the regional race, including their division-rival Boston University, and other tough non-divisional teams, such as Brown and Smith. Similar to the men, the women must finish in the top five in order to advance to the national tournament.
"We got a little unlucky in some of our races," Brandon said. "But I think we definitely have a chance at finishing top five in regionals. We would really like to beat BU, and hopefully at least a few of the other top schools."
