Skiing Places Ninth in Carnival

Harvard’s Nordic and Alpine skiing teams saw their first action of the season over the weekend at the St. Lawrence Carnival. The Crimson finished ninth out of 13 teams at the Lake Placid Olympic Complex.

In the Nordic events, junior Jennifer Harlow’s 48th-place finish in the 5k led the way for a women’s squad that finished 11th in that event. For the men, freshman Dave McCahill recorded the top time, finishing 61st in 29:25.2. He was followed by freshman Clem Wright at 74th and sophomore Oliver Burruss in 82nd. The relay team, made up of McCahill, Harlow, Burruss, and freshman Anna Schulz, finished 40th with a time of 46:59.2.

On the Alpine side, junior Katie Connor’s effort of 1:23.47 was good enough for 41st in the giant slalom, while her combined 2:18.41 landed her in 42nd in the slalom. Nipping at her heels in both events was freshman Jessica Alvarez, who finished 42nd in the giant slalom and 43rd in the slalom.

The men’s team was plagued by accidents. Sophomore Matt Basilico had the best performance on the men’s side, with a combined time of 2:24.59 giving him a 40th place finish in the giant slalom. Senior Sam Simon wasn’t far behind in 42nd with a time of 2:31.99.

Harvard skied the giant slalom events without a pair of its top skiers. Junior Dan Tsai injured his knee in a fall during the first run, while freshman Jake Segal was disqualified for losing his ski on the first trip down.

Battling through a broken thumb that was sustained on Friday, junior captain Eric Ode was the top finisher in slalom, with a combined time of 2:00.90 placing him 42nd. Senior Kyle Klopcic registered a time of 2:08.82 to place 45th. Once again, difficulties plagued the team, as Basilico was disqualified for missing a gate, Segal was again disqualified for a lost ski, and Tsai sat out the race due to his knee injury.

“I guess on the whole, a pretty tough weekend,” Basilico said. “But our four, five, and six skiers really stepped up in the slalom.”

The ninth-place finish in the season’s opening event comes after a 2005 season in which Harvard finished tenth in every carnival it attended. The team looks to continue its rise next weekend at the Vermont Carnival.

“We tend to progress and get much better as the season goes on,” Basilico said. “We’ll really kind of hit the learning curve and get back into our top form.”

—Staff writer Brad A. Hinshelwood can be reached at bhinshel@fas.harvard.edu.