Eventful Weekend For Harvard Skiing

Two athletes on the podium, and one Olympic gold medalist defeated—so much for a week off.

While Harvard did not compete in a collegiate carnival this weekend, the Crimson Nordic team stayed just as busy yesterday at the TD Bank Eastern Cup races at Weston Ski Track.

The team competed in a morning 1.5k sprint and a longer afternoon race—5k for the women and 10k for the men, both skate events.

Sophomore Alena Tofte and freshman Chris Stock both reached the podium in their respective events, and Harvard saw several other skiers post impressive finishes over the course of the day.

Stock got the team off to a fast start with his third-place finish in the morning’s 1.5k race.

“I usually struggle more with skate races,” Stock said. “I have had good skate races this year. I thought maybe I would be able to put something together.”

The Lincoln, Mass. native took advantage of his familiarity with the course—home for both the Crimson and Stock’s former high school.

“I’ve skied it all my life,” he said. “I was feeling really quick and powerful today...my goal was to be on the podium, to wear the Harvard jacket on the podium. I was pretty psyched.”

Just behind Stock was sophomore Tony Ryerson, who finished seventh, but Stock was quick to laud his female counterparts.

“I think the girls were the real success of the day,” he said. “They were way up there...Our women have been skiing really well recently. Coming off Alena’s top-10 finish, I think, in some ways this is unsurprising, but it’s still a great result.”

The Crimson’s top female Nordic skier all season, Tofte again led the way in the morning’s 1.5k race, placing fourth. Freshman Jen Rolfes placed sixth in the event.

“I just went into it thinking that I’d do my best,” Tofte said of her morning race. “It ended up working out pretty well...I felt strong out on the flats.”

But Tofte’s best performance came in the afternoon, when she finished second in the 5k race. The afternoon racing differed from the morning racing in that all the racers started at the same time.

“We got to kind of jockey around,” Tofte said. “It was a nice change from just individual starts. I led for a while...I ended up sprinting ahead of the third-place woman. I felt really good. I felt strong. I’m excited for the rest of the season.”

The third-place finisher was former Russian Olympian Nina Gavrilyuk. Gavriluk won Olympic gold medals in the 4x5k in 1988, 1994, and 1998. Gavrilyuk also won a bronze medal in the 15k in the 1994 Lillehammer games.

“I found out about it afterwards,” Tofte said of beating Gavrilyuk. “It’s exciting to know that.”

Meanwhile, Rolfes placed sixth. With her two top-10 finishes on Sunday as well as her strong effort in last weekend’s relay, Rolfes has recently started to hit her stride as a top skier.

“We were trading positions a lot,” Tofte said of racing with Rolfes. “We got to ski together some. I skied against her in high school, and I’ve known her for a while. Jen had a great day. She’s an awesome spring racer, and she had a wonderful weekend. I think she’s probably really excited about how she did today.”

“That was probably Jen’s best day of racing,” Harvard coach Chris City ‘94 added.

City also noted that Rolfes bettered her chances of qualifying for the Junior Olympics with her performance on Sunday. Stock and Tofte have likely qualified, though they would not compete if they qualified for the NCAA Championships.

“Alena Tofte and Jen Rolfes skied awesome races this afternoon,” Ryerson said. “I was proud of them.”

With a successful weekend behind it, Harvard now turns it sights back to the collegiate carnival circuit. The Crimson heads to Stowe, Vt., next weekend to compete at the University of Vermont Winter Carnival.

—Staff writer Christina C. McClintock can be reached at ccmcclin@fas.harvard.edu.