The ski team traveled north this past weekend to Cranmore Ski Resort in North Conway, N.H., for their penultimate regular-season race weekend. While the team excelled on Saturday, Sunday's events took a slight turn for the worse.
On Sunday, the women finished in 329.85 seconds, placing them third behind Northeastern (327.75) and Castleton State (297.11). Freshman Chelsea Stevens led the team, charting a time of 1:38.36 seconds, good for second place overall, but no one else on the team finished in the top 17 overall.
"Northeastern skied really well and we had some falls. It was just a tougher day than Saturday for us," senior Lindsay Rutishauser said.
The men had an even tougher afternoon on Sunday, finishing fourth in 304.09. Northeastern and Wooster Polytechnic Institute (WPI) managed to leapfrog the men to take third and second place, respectively, while Castleton again finished first in 279.52.
"Sunday wasn't our best," senior Brian Bresee said. "We had some falls that definitely hurt us. I straddled one gate; one of my skis went inside it, so I had to hike up. Considering our top four guys fell, though, it could have gone worse."
As usual in skiing, this season's turbulent weather had an effect on Sunday's race.
"Saturday was nice and warm, then we got a sleet snowstorm Saturday night. So by Sunday, the course was rutty, and we skied the same course after the girls had their event on it. We're adapting," Bresee said.
While Sunday's tough conditions had Tufts out of sorts, both teams had impressive showings on Saturday.
Both the men and women finished in second place behind New England powerhouse Castleton State. The Tufts men, who finished in a team time of 263.76, nearly took first from the Spartans, who were just slightly faster at 260.37. The women's team finished comfortably ahead of third-place Northeastern with a team finish in 294.86. The female squad got great results from a pair of freshmen, Stevens and Sara Hanneman, who finished in first and fourth, respectively.
"I think we did awesome on Saturday," Rutishauser said. "Having two girls finish in the top five is spectacular. Chelsea Stevens and Sara Hanneman really came through for us. Everything is coming together really well."
The men's team was similarly pleased with its efforts on Saturday.
"Saturday was solid. We had our top three guys stand up and finish well," Bresee said. "I came in fourth, while [senior] Tom [Valentin] got seventh and [senior] Arlin [Ladue] got eighth. They finished within a tenth of a second of each other, which is pretty cool."
For the women, it has become commonplace to see Stevens and Hanneman near or at the top of the individual leaderboards. But both are quick to admit that their personal success goes way beyond their individual talent.
"Ski team is awesome, easily the best club," Stevens said. "Being at Holderness Academy, on a very competitive Eastern Division ski team, the environment was so cutthroat and intense. I felt like it was getting in the way of my performance. But now, I've found it easier to perform better when I'm in a more relaxed and fun environment."
Going into the last regular season races on Saturday at Sunday River and Sunday at Burke Mountain, both the men's and women's teams have all but clinched their spots in Regionals.
The women stand comfortably in second place in the overall standings, needing to finish just fourth or better in their final races to reach Regionals. The men, who finished the weekend in third place but just one point out of second, also need to finish in the top four to qualify for Regionals.
"Castleton has a U.S. Olympic Ski Team member, they'll be difficult to overtake for first," Rutishauser said, "We're in second, and there's no reason we shouldn't finish there; we've had it all season."
