Skiing Takes 11th at Carnival

The Harvard ski team ended its season with an 11th place finish this weekend at the NCAA Eastern Championship Carnival at Middlebury.

Out of the 60 skiers in each event, Harvard had only two top-20 finishes. Freshman Matt Bellizzi finished 17th, and Sophomore Molly Ware finished 18th.

There are four components of the team: men's Alpine, women's Alpine, men's Nordic, and women's Nordic, but all four compete as a unit.

Five skiers from each category compete, and the top three scores are recorded for results. The best three times from each group are combined and the results are tallied for the entire team.

Although this system helps the weaker divisions, it allows a bad race to affect the whole unit's score.

And that's exactly what happened this weekend.

After a beautiful first run on the giant slalom course, Captain S.J. Klein couldn't finish the race because the heel piece of his binding tore out of his ski. The accident cost the team fifteen points and a place in the top ten. Harvard's 11th place finish jeopardizes the Crimson's status as a division one team for next season. Bowdoin, a division two team that finished ninth ahead of Harvard and Cornell, now can decide if it wants to become a division one team.

If Bowdoin does move up, Harvard might fall to division two.

But Harvard Alpine Coach Jonathan Shefftz, who also coaches the Nordic team, said he thinks the Crimson's status as a division one team is pretty well assured since the team has performed consistently well over the season.

And even if the Crimson slips into the lower division, it will most likely be the top team in the group.

Earlier this season, the men and women Nordic skiers attended a division two carnival at Vermont, and Harvard took six of the top eight places. Ware, the only women's Nordic skier for the Crimson, came in a full seven minutes before anyone in her competition.

But Harvard would rather continue to be challenged in division one than go down a notch.

"If we get the chance to be in division one next year, we'll definitely rise to the challenge." Klein said.

That means competing with the top teams in the nation for five consecutive weekends and having a tough time doing it.