Skiers Fail to Place in Nationals; Hinkle Has Best Crimson Showing

The Harvard ski team's season ended on the same dismal note it began, with four Crimson skiers who compete as individuals finishing way out of the money in the National Collegiate Athletic Championship Ski matches held last weekend at Franconia, N. H.

Denver University overcame Dartmouth and captured the team title, their ninth national championship in the last ten years.

Harvard's participants in the four day event were Larry Carter, team captain, in the Alpine events: Steve Hinkle in the cross country runs: Chris Ferner in jumping; and John Boyle, who competed in both the Alpine and the cross country events.

Harried Last Day

The meet was highlighted by the final day jumping competition which was conducted at a somewhat he? pace. Officials hurried the contestants along in order to finish the events before the solar eclipse plunged the slopes into darkness.

A combination of poor skiing conditions and some strange quirks of fate contributed heavily to the Crimson's poor performance.

Unlucky

Larry Carter, who rated an excellent chance to place in the Alpine, was the first of the Harvard skiers to meet with bad luck. "He was handling the slopes well in the giant slalom." coach Bill McCollom explained. "when he must have clipped the top buckle of his ski boot with his pole. The buckle came undone and Larry lost control of his skis. He took quite a spill."

John Boyle didn't fare any better in the giant slalom. "John hit a bad piece of ice and ran into the woods. Fortunately he wasn't hardly hurt, but the incident shook his confidence a bit." McCollom said.

Not All Grim

One bright note was the performance of Steve Hinkle in the cross country, finishing 19th in the overall competition, and placing fourth among Eastern competitors.