Skiing Ends Season With Best Performance

The Harvard nordic and alpine ski teams closed out their seasons with flair, compiling their highest point total of the season at the Middlebury Carnival last weekend.

The Crimson finished with 232.0 points and came in tenth place overall out of 15 teams at the Carnival.

In soft, deep snow replenished by last week’s blizzard, the two seniors on the alpine team came up with solid races to close out their Harvard careers.

Captain Ryan Myers finished the giant slalom with a combined time of 2:24.07, ending in 55th. Senior Bryan Bellmare was right behind him in 56th.

“Despite the early mornings and those fun speedsuits, I’m really going to miss it,” Myers said.

Myers, who has raced for the past twelve years, said that he hoped he would be able to compete in the future.

In the men’s slalom, junior Matt Perone led Crimson skiers with a 45th place finish, followed by Myers at 46th and freshman Sam Simon at 49th. The team members remarked that the unseasonably warm temperature of 52 degrees made for very soft and bumpy terrain.

In the women’s GS, the Crimson women finished in a pack—the 64-66th places—led by freshman Susannah Dickerson’s time of 2:33.55. Behind her were sophomore Molly Simmons and junior Rachael Wagner.

In the slalom, Dickerson again led Harvard competitors with a 57th place finish, followed by Wagner in 59th and Simmons in 60th.

For Dickerson, who had never competed prior to attending Harvard, her impressive finishes are hopefully an indication of the years ahead.

“I’ve never seen anyone adapt so quickly,” Myers said. “Some of her results were phenomenal. Hopefully she’ll become an integral part of the women’s team.”

“We have, all of us, improved,” Dickerson said, adding that next year she felt she would be better able to take advantage of the pre-season training trip.

The nordic squad had a strong end to its season, with women’s junior captain Anna McLoon coming in third in the 5K free technique with a time of 14:23.3. Freshmen Anna Bingham and Sarah Mitchell were 54th and 55th, respectively.

In the 10K Classic, McLoon finished fourth in 54:23.4. Bingham was 50th.

For the men, sophomore captain Ross Feller finished the 10K freestyle in 62nd with a time of 34:28.0, with junior Ross Macdonald behind him at 64th.

In the men’s 20K Classic, Feller came in 56th with a time of 1:12:25.8. Macdonald was 61st.

Next weekend will be the NCAA Championships in Hanover, N.H., at which McLoon will be the sole Harvard representative.

—Staff writer Lisa J. Kennelly can be reached at kennell@fas.harvard.edu.