Crimson Ski Hopes Blow Hot And Cold for Carnival Meet

Ski Coach Bill Halsey avers a halting optimism and team members anything but, as the Dartmouth Carnival looms a day away.

The eight man team and Halsey shoulder their boards and poles early this afternoon and, trundled into two member-owned cars, ship off to Dartmouth for the crucial meet of the season.

Nobody expects them to win. Even Halsey, with all his optimism, hopes for nothing better than a fifth in the ten team contest. But that fifth is a plenty big order.

Four Top Teams

Middlebury, Dartmouth, McGill, and New Hampshire, if records, weather terrain, reputation, and big amateur names mean anything, will top the star studded field of the Invitation meet. The Crimson schussmen will probably have to let the big boys from the Magic North battle it out for the laurels.

But Halsey wants fifth place.

St. Lawrence, Maine, Amherst, Vermont, and Williams are the combos that the Halsey team will have to take. St. Lawrence has lost some of its talent to injuries and the sick list, but it looms as a big threat, even to the top four teams. Maine and Amherst are big glaring question marks. As for Vermont and Williams, most observers see them as competing candidates for the cellar.

The Crimson has been pulling itself up by the boot straps during the past few weeks, in preparation for the Carnival. Over-specialization, a big bump blocking Harvard ski hopes for decades in their long climb to top ski ranks, has been assuaged somewhat.

The Woburn ski jump, perfected last December after off and on construction work by team members for over seven years, has proved a big factor in providing the team with four-event men. Halsey sees great improvement in all his cross country runners since early practices.

The Carnival will tell the story.

The lineup:

Downhill: Griffin, Genn, Wasserman, and Abbott.

Slalom: Genn, Wasserman, Abbott, and Bogert. Griffin for alpine combined only.

Cross Country (nine miles): Taylor, Nordblom, Lund, and Wasserman. Glenn and Begert for nordic combined only.

Jumping (40 meter): Griffin, Bogert, Genn, and Taylor. Nordblom for nordic combined only.

Alpine combined: paper event scored by adding points of each of four men in both downhill and slalom.

Nordic combined: paper event scored by adding points of each of four men in both cross country and jumping.

After the Carnival, the ski team will fan out toward two other sabbath competitions. Coach Halsey, Laurie Griffin, Dee Bogert, Gerry Genn, and Graham Taylor will take off for the invitation jumping at Brattleboro, Vermont, and Gordie Abbott and Rod Nordblom for the Fiske Trophy Race, a slalom competition, at Woodstock, Vermont.