The races at Killington Ski Resort this weekend marked the end of the regular season for the men's and women's club ski teams. The men took up their usual post at second place of 11 teams on both days, while the women wound up with an impressive fourth-place finish in the slalom on Saturday before posting a seventh-place finish in the grand slalom (GS) on Sunday.
On Sunday, the GS results were based on just one run, as extreme weather conditions shot down any hopes of a festive final run. Since Sunday's second run is customarily the last of the regular season, the skiers have always dressed up in costume for the race. The Jumbos had costumes ready to go, but the weather did not cooperate.
"We got all dressed up with nowhere to go," freshman Brian Bresee said. "[Senior captain Andrew] Benson had a '70s women's one piece, [sophomore Pat] Tonelli had a multicolored women's jacket and I had a cut-off Buzz Lightyear tank top."
Costumes among the women ranged from a "Call on Me" theme to one racer throwing on a giant M&M costume.
Due to the cancellation, Sunday's results were based solely on the results of the first run, which also took place in extreme conditions.
"It was ridiculous," senior Lauren Vasey said. "You could barely see and there was snow everywhere. The second run ended up being cancelled because of lightning and thunderstorms."
"The weather was such that it wasn't even really worth running a race," Bresee said. "It was an absolute white out and we would get only 15 seconds or so of visibility. It was really tough to run a race in those conditions, and we were lucky to even get a run in. The results are not really indicative of anything because of the weather."
Despite the conditions, the men's team finished with a satisfying second-place finish behind Castleton State, while the women dropped to seventh position.
"All three of our top guys finished despite the weather," Benson said. "The conditions were interesting and led to some pretty funky results."
On the women's side, sophomore captain Nicole Fontaine impressed by pulling out a time of 45.54 seconds on the GS course, good enough to win the race outright.
"It was just kind of my type of course," Fontaine said. "It was straight and fast and I went with it. These last couple races I have been skiing GS more like I did last year. I feel better about the whole situation now and I am more confident."
On Saturday the teams were fortunate enough to enjoy a clean day of racing. The men's team once again took a second-place spot behind Castleton despite a few messy runs.
"I ended up hiking on my second run," Bresee said. "But we still came in second even with some rocky runs, some hiking and Tonelli straddling a gate, so I think we did pretty well."
The top three times on the day came from Benson, who finished second overall, followed by Bresee and sophomore Greg Hering, who came in at 11th and 12th, respectively. Benson finished less than a second and a half behind the leader despite missing his initial start time, which forced him to be the last racer to push off for his first run.
"He had to start from the very back and it's tough to do well from there," Bresee said. "The course got really rutted up, but he did a great job to still come close to the winner."
The women finished in a satisfying fourth place spot on Saturday after solid runs from all three of the usual top finishers. Fontaine finished in fourth overall, while Vasey and freshman Lindsay Rutishauser followed in 17th and 23rd, respectively. The women were especially happy about beating Gwynedd-Mercy College, the team that beat out Tufts for the last spot at Regionals.
"I am happy with the way the season went given how we thought we were going to do at the beginning," Vasey said. "Nicole and I were the only returning skiers who we knew could place. Lindsay stepped up and did a great job filling that third spot but it's a bummer that we didn't make Regionals."
One female skier will continue racing for Tufts, as Fontaine got the individual bid to move on to the postseason.
"I am so excited," Fontaine said. "It was a little close at the end in the standings but I just can't wait to go and compete against the other divisions."
The men's team will head to Waterville Valley on Feb. 23 for the regional race, where the Jumbos will need to get in the top four to advance to Nationals.
"I had two not-so-stellar runs on Saturday, but sections were good and I am definitely in good shape for Regionals," Benson said. "The team is looking great for Regionals. We will be training all week and we have a weekend off so it will be a good time to train and prepare ourselves. We have a great chance at Nationals if we ski well."
