Skiing | Tufts' men's and women's ski teams post strong weekend performances

    Just about the only sports team on campus actually enjoying this wave of cold weather is the alpine ski team.
    This past weekend, the ski team headed to the slalom courses at Bromley Mountain for its third of five weekends of racing. Once again, the Jumbos put up strong numbers: the men's team finished second out of 11 teams on Saturday and sixth on Sunday, while the women's team came in at fifth and seventh out of 12 teams on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. The strong performances helped cement the Jumbos' position as one of the top teams in the Eastern Division of the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association (USCSA).
    "This weekend, we did awesome again," said sophomore Evan Chasan, the team's treasurer. "Several of our team members placed in the top 10 in both men's and women's. Overall, I think the races went very well."
    On the individual level, Sunday saw men's sophomore captain Brian Bresee have a day to remember. In his first of two races, Bresee missed a gate and was subsequently relegated to finish more than 10 seconds out of first place despite a miraculous effort to even finish anywhere near the top. Given that in the sport of skiing each second lost can have drastic consequences, a speedy recovery after the missed gate was paramount to not only Bresee's individual recovery but the team's overall finish as well. It was only after the race of a lifetime — a first-place finish out of 72 finishers in his second race — that Bresee was able to salvage a 19th-place overall individual standing on Sunday.
    The men's team's top finisher on Sunday was sophomore Thomas Valentin, who finished approximately three seconds ahead of Bresee overall, taking 15th place with a combined time of 1:42.15. Finishing third for the men on Sunday was sophomore Arlin Ladue with a combined time of 2:03.60.
    But the story on Sunday was the teamwork and support within the team after the slip-up. Valentin stepped up to the plate when his team needed him most.
    "Tom had an awesome run," Chasan said. "As always, the way that the scoring works, we count on the entire team in case the unexpected happens. We've got a very strong overall team."
    While the men put on a show during Sunday's competition, the women's team was no less impressive. The Jumbos finished seventh overall out of 12 teams, but saw senior captain Alissa Brandon put in another impressive performance on her own, finishing 14th out of 71 racers with a two-races-combined time of 1:52.22. Rounding out the top three were sophomore Lindsay Rutishauser with a combined time of 2:11.06 and senior Sarah Leenen with a combined time
of 2:11.96.
    "I think this weekend we really persevered," Brandon said. "We hit some really unique courses and we all skied our best despite the challenges. And in addition, a lot of the Tufts racers came out with our best runs this season and blew away expectations ... Lindsay Rutishauser has shown great improvements from last year and is really showing leadership out on the hill and great skiing. In fact, a lot of the underclassmen are showing a lot
of promise."
    Oddly enough, both the men's and women's teams finished better on Saturday than they did on Sunday. Saturday saw the men's team reel in an astounding second-place finish out of 11 teams, with Bresee taking home another first-place finish in his first race and a third-place overall individual finish. Valentin and Ladue finished second and third for the Jumbos, respectively, 15th and 21st overall. Senior Greg Hering came in at 23rd overall with a solid second race to put him less than four seconds overall out of the top 10.
    The women followed suit with a fifth-place overall finish of their own. Brandon once again led the team with an 11th-place overall individual finish, followed by freshman Jessica Levine in 25th individually and Rutishauser in 31st.
    "Honestly I've done the best that I've ever done this weekend," Brandon said. "I was very pleased."
    In fact, Brandon performed so well that after her first race on Saturday, a coach from an opposing team stated: "That Tufts girl just had the run of her life." Brandon finished seventh overall in that race.
    Up next, the Jumbos will be traveling to Dartmouth for their second-to-last weekend of racing before Eastern Regionals at Waterville Valley.
    "We have our next race at Dartmouth and we'll be skiing giant slalom," Chasan said. "We'd love to have Tufts support on the hill."