Harvard Finishes Season in Sugarloaf

This past season for the Harvard skiing team has illustrated just how hard it is for alpine and Nordic squads from the bustling metropolis that is Cambridge to compete against some of the top northeastern skiing schools, which often benefit from great training facilities in their obscure locations.

However, with five tenth-place finishes coming into the last weekend of the season, the Crimson was determined to prove that it +has been making gains on some of the top skiing teams in the country with which it competes and should not be viewed as the doormat of the northeastern skiing circle for much longer.

While the Harvard squads did not show significant progress this weekend in Sugarloaf, Maine, they did finish a season-high ninth place at the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association Championships. The improved performance left the squads in good spirits heading into next year.

“While this season did not quite live up to my expectations, I have seen a remarkable amount of progress in my four years here,” said Nordic captain Dave McCahill, who was competing in his last event for the Crimson. “While we will never have the facilities of schools like Dartmouth and the University of Vermont, I believe we are definitely headed in the right direction.”

Dartmouth blew away the competition over the weekend and won the regional affair by over 150 points. The Big Green effort was led by its senior standout, Ben True, the Ivy League cross country champion earlier this fall, who skipped the Ivy League Indoor Track and Field Championships at Gordon Track this weekend to compete in the skiing event.

Harvard’s efforts on the slopes this weekend were led by the women’s Nordic contingent, which accounted for 99 of the Crimson’s 235 points over the two-day meet. Sophomore Cara Sprague had another strong showing with a 21st-place finish in the women’s 5K Classic event.

Sophomore Alyssa Devlin also cracked the top-thirty in the event, as she placed 30th overall, earning 17points for her performance. In the women’s 15K Freestyle event, Devlin finished 27th and earned nineteen more points for Harvard.

“While we maintained our level of performance from last year throughout this season, I think this team will only continue to improve,” Nordic captain Anna Schulz said. “The team has experienced a cool transformation since I got here four years ago, and I think we will continue to see better results.”

The men’s Nordic squad did not have quite as strong of a showing as their female counterparts over the weekend, but there were still some bright spots for Harvard. McCahill placed 43rd in the men’s 10K Classic event and 46th in the men’s 20K Freestyle contest, while junior Trevor Petach placed 50th and 51st in the two races, respectively.

“I was able to put together two fairly solid runs out there in some tricky conditions,” McCahill said.

The men’s alpine team was led by junior captain Chris Kinner’s 27th place effort in the men’s Slalom event, moving up 18 spots from his starting position. He did himself three places better in the men’s Giant Slalom event, as he finished 24th in that race.

The small roster of the women’s alpine squad once again hurt the Crimson’s chances of moving up the ranks in the team standings, as the contingent had only one member compete over the weekend.

Freshman Caroline McHugh finished 35th in the women’s Slalom event, while Harvard did not field a team in the women’s Giant Slalom race.

Although this weekend’s results showed some improvement for the Crimson, McCahill believes this is just the beginning of Harvard’s ascent from the depths of collegiate skiing.

“We have some good recruits coming in next year,” McCahill said. “Now that Coach [Chris] City has a full year of coaching under him and everything is ironed out, I think it is just a matter of time until you see some great results from this team.”

—Staff writer Thomas D. Hutchison can be reached at tdhutchfas.harvard.edu.