Skiing Races to Another Top-10 Finish

In its last race of the season, the Harvard ski team put on one of its strongest performances of the season, placing 10th in the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association Regional Championships at Lake Placid, N.Y. over the weekend. The team totaled 303 points over the weekend, with a particularly strong performance from the Nordic team, which placed no lower than eighth in any event.

As a follow-up to his impressive sixth place finish just two weeks ago at Dartmouth, Captain Akeo Maifeld-Carucci notched another top-15 performance, finishing in 14th place with a time of 1:02:04.4 at the 20K Classic race on Saturday following a 22nd-place finish on Friday during the 10K Freestyle race. He contributed 53 points over the weekend, securing his spot in the NCAA Championships, which will take place two weeks from now.

Maifeld-Carucci wasn’t the only Harvard athlete to have a strong performance, as the squad impressed throughout the weekend. Sophomore Ian Meyer came in at 22nd with a time of 1:03:55 followed by junior Soren Anderson, who came in 33rd, pacing the race in 1:05:25.3 in Saturday’s 20K Classic race. Behind them, sophomore Devlin Shea came in at 38th with freshman Connor Green and classmate Haakon Sigurslid finishing 53rd and 56th, respectively. The men’s nordic squad contributed more than a third of Harvard’s points over the weekend.

“Just overall, we had people skiing their best races ever, and a lot of them by not even a small margin, but skiing their best results by a large margin,” said Crimson nordic coach Chris City. “It was a really great way to end the season.”

The nordic women had an equally strong weekend, totaling 64 points on Saturday and 53 on Friday. Sophomore Rachel Hampton had another standout performance, coming in 14th in the 15K Classic with a time of 55:47.3—this was her third top-25 performance this season, which solidified her berth to the NCAA Championships.

Hampton wasn’t alone in the top-25 for the 15K Classic, as she was followed by junior Annie Harvieux in 21st with a time of 57:08, and sophomore Maile Sapp, whose time of 57:52.7 was good for 25th.

“I definitely had a rough patch at the middle of the season, but I feel like with this weekend I can definitely compete with some of the best skiers in the nation,” Hampton said.

While Maifeld-Carucci and Hampton are moving on to NCAAs in two weeks, the season has ended for the rest of the squad, but City expressed optimism in the team going forward.

“I’m really pleased with the season,” City said. “I thought it was really successful, and we saw a lot of really good skiing, so I’m excited going into next year.”

On the alpine side, freshman Kelly Steeves was the only female skier remaining for the Crimson on Saturday, following the injury of junior alpine skier Samantha Udolf on Friday’s giant slalom. Steeves gave another solid performance, placing 21st on Friday’s giant slalom with a total time of 2:15.58. The rookie built upon Friday’s run, placing 32nd on Saturday’s slalom with a combined time of 2:01.67. Steeves contributed 16 points on Saturday alone.

Despite being plagued by injuries for the last few carnivals, the men’s alpine team put on a strong performance, particularly on Saturday’s slalom. Freshman Pieter Weemaes led Harvard with a 37th place finish and a total time of 2:02.5, following a rough second run in the Giant Slalom the day before. Weemaes was followed by junior captain Simon Merryweather in 42nd with a time of 2:05.63. Sophomore James Stevenson and junior Dan Rittenhouse closed out the race for the Crimson with 44th and 45th place finishes, respectively.