Harvard Skiers Surprising in Canada, While Repeated Mishaps Foil Radcliffe

The Harvard ski team slushed to a commendable finish in the Can-Ams at rain-soaked Owl's Head, Quebec, last weekend, while its Radcliffe counterparts suffered several mishaps and had a weak finish in the Canadian meet, according to coach Peter Tolnai. Exact results will not be known until later this week when the Canadians publish them.

After the first day's men's giant slalom on Thursday, the Crimson held down fifth spot out of the 20 teams from the U.S. and Canada participating in the meet. On Friday, Harvard dropped to sixth position after another day of giant slalom because the scheduled downhill had been cancelled.

Despite the absence of captain Dick Raines due to illness, the Crimson made a move for first on Saturday. Peter Anton streaked to a second in the slalom's second run. Overall he slipped into the top ten with a ninth. Allan Hale darted to a seventh place. Eric Jewett would have come in 12th but was disqualified for straddling a pole. His finish would have given Harvard a good shot at beating the victorious UMass contingent.

The Radcliffe squad had problems in Friday's giant slalom. Lenny Wilson turned in the best performance with a tenth. Carlyle Singer did not finish, and Karen Linsley barely completed the course after falling twice on an injured ankle.

The women's luck went from bad to worse at that point. While driving back from a banquet on Friday night, coach Tolnai, Linsley, and the men's manager, "Rocky," made a wrong turn and found themselves embedded in a snowdrift and stuck in the car. After extracting themselves, they spent the other half of the night in a farmhouse.

In Saturday's slalom held in a downpour, Linsley was unable to race while both Singer and Wilson fell. "We did not distinguish ourselves," Singer remarked yesterday.