Ski Team Competes at UVM Carnival

The Harvard ski team competed this weekend at the University of Vermont Carnival. The Alpine team traveled to Stowe, Vermont while the Cross Country races were held in Craftsbury, Vermont. Improving their point total from last year at the same carnival, the Crimson ski team scored 293 points and finished in 11th place out of the 16 EISA teams.

Skiing in sub-ten degree weather on both days, juniors Nina Armstrong and Hannah Hardenbergh led the Harvard nordic team at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center. In Friday’s women’s 15K, Armstrong placed 16th with a time of 48:34.0, scoring her best career finish in that event. Hardenbergh crossed the finish line of the 15K at 50:12.0, taking home 23rd. In addition, she came in 20th in Saturday’s five-kilometer race.

On the men’s side, senior Connor Green, sophomore William Rhatigan and junior Jacob Meyerson were a dominant trio for the Crimson. In the men’s 20K, Green finished in 40th, Rhatigan placed 51st and Meyerson took 69th. In the 10K, Rhatigan led his squad in 27th place, Green was 44th and Meyerson finished in 47th.

“Crazy insane weather pattern here that normally would cancel an event for a day or two,“ said Alpine head coach Scott MacPherson. “But Stowe is an unbelievable mountain and they got the cats out first thing to blade all the snow off the hill.”

Battling the frigid temperatures and challenging snow conditions, the Alpine team left with multiple career-best finishes. In the Giant Slalom, sophomore Carter Kendig led in 33rd place. Fellow sophomores Dillon Smith and Robert Dorfman started with bib’s seeded to finish in the high 80’s, however, both had career best finishes and ended up placing 35th and 36th respectively. In the Slalom race, senior Pieter Weemaes was the lone Crimson men's scorer, finishing with a combined time of 2:24.64 to take home 52nd place.

For the women, Freshman Nellie Ide led the way in both the GS and SL races. In the GS, Ide’s top-15 second run helped her finish in 22nd place overall. In the SL race, Ide led the Crimson in 29th place and senior Kelly Steeves came in 40th.

“UVM was classic Stowe—a lot of highs and a lot of lows. We had three guys place in the top 40 in the GS. It was the best guys’ score in recent memory. Nellie got 23rd which was awesome and all three girls who raced the slalom qualified for second runs,” freshman Allegra Colman said.

—Staff writer Rena Simkowitz can be reached at rena.simkowitz@thecrimson.com.