Harvard Skiing

Skiing recognized at Harvard’s senior awards night

May 27th, 2010

Every spring, Harvard honors its top scholar-athletes at the Senior Letterwinners’ Dinner. This year’s crew of eleven award winners featured two of our very own:

Trevor Petach took home the John P. Reardon award, which recognizes the senior varsity male athlete who best exemplifies the qualities of excellent scholarship, character, leadership and athletic ability. We’re happy that the greater Harvard athletic community recognized what we on the ski team already knew. We’ll miss Trevor’s scientific approach to skiing (not that the team seems to go lacking in this department… the coaches can recall their days on the team with lab rat Greg who talked often about the chemical properties of wax and was known to make jokes about peptides that everyone somehow found funny), but Trevor’s three rules of physics will continue to be part of our approach to encouraging aggressive downhill skiing. (Once we recall what the third rule is.)

Trevor, utilizing the physics of the pink headband

Katie Coil was the female recipient of the Francis H. Burr Scholarship, which holds the distinction of being the oldest of all the athletic awards at Harvard. It recognizes “all-around excellence,” another characterization with which we agree. We missed Katie’s enthusiasm and passion for skiing this season, but at the awards ceremony, her legendary squat prowess was highlighted among her many accomplishments and will continue to set the bar, so to speak.

Katie, with Trevor and Audrey at the awards dinner

Also during the ceremony, a dramatic and inspiring recap of the winter sports season recognized the roles that Chris Kinner and Tess Wood played in stepping up the level of Harvard Skiing in their four years and referenced Audrey Mangan’s role in making the women’s nordic team “a national powerhouse.” Duly noted.

Chris

Tess

Audrey

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Next year’s captains

April 20th, 2010

Congratulations to Margie, Alec, Cara, Clare, and Tor! At last week’s end-of-the-season banquet, the team elected these five to lead the way in the 2010-11 season:

Alpine

Nordic

Thank you to this year’s captains for a great four years. We’ll miss you!

Chris, Audrey, Tess, and Trevor

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EISA Championships Report

March 7th, 2010

Although it was delayed by a day due to stormy weather, the collegiate racing season came to a spectacular end at Middlebury over the weekend. We had two top-ten individual finishes, and the nordic women placed second as a team in the 5km Classic.

Alpine Report by Coach Mitchell

Harvard Alpine closed out the regular season at the NCAA Regional Championships at the Middlebury Snowbowl this past weekend. With last week’s weather and nearly 4 feet of fresh snow, difficult conditions and deep ruts were expected for the weekend, and that was certainly the case in the men’s slalom. Chris Kinner deftly negotiated knee deep ruts with a solid first run and 10th place on the second run for 24th on the day. Pitching in were Andrew Spielvogel, Sam Harrison, and Alec Boardman handling the ruts well in 35th, 39th, and 40th respectively. The men ended up 9th on the day in team scoring. Conditions for the GS were markedly better, though still quite bumpy in sections. Senior captain Chris Kinner again led the way for the Crimson in 26th, capping an impressive career with the Harvard Alpine team during which he was almost always the team’s top finisher and has been the cornerstone of the rebuilding process the team has undergone these last four years. Personally, I will never be able to adequately convey what Chris has meant to this team and the progress it has made. Backing him up were Andrew Spielvogel in 41st, and Alec Boardman and Brad Alvarez tied for 53rd.

Alec Boardman

The women had their best slalom performance of the season, in 7th place, just 5 points behind perennial alpine powerhouse UVM! Catherine Sheils continued her strong freshman campaign with a season-best 8th place, winning the second run of the slalom en route!!! Tenley Malmquist charged both runs to a solid 26th place and was backed up by Tess Wood in 47th, surely one of her best collegiate performances ever. The women followed that up with solid skiing in GS with Catherine Sheils relying on another great second run, 11th place, to finish 28th on the day. She was followed closely by the ever improving GS threat, Caroline McHugh who is poised for a breakthrough result soon. Tenley Malmquist and Tess Wood both put down two clean runs to round things out in 42nd and 51st respectively.

This season has been a quantum leap forward for Harvard Alpine, and look for more good skiing and strong results in our non-collegiate spring series races coming up in March and April. Thank you so much for your support, we would not be where we are without you!

Brad Alvarez

Nordic Report by Coach City

Last week I mentioned that over the course of the season the women had beaten every team in the league except Dartmouth at least once. On Saturday, the women repeated the feat in one race by finishing second as a team in the 5km classic! We knew the women had the talent to finish in the top 5 on a classic day and they’ve been getting faster over the past few weeks. Even so, second place was a very nice surprise that happened because freshmen Esther Kennedy and Alena Tofte continued their streak of very competitive classic performances and junior Cara Sprague popped a career race at just the right time.

2/3 of the women's nordic team basks in the warmth on Sunday

Breadloaf Touring Center at Middlebury had received about 2 feet of snow followed by heavy rain which turned the tracks quite slick on Saturday. This was complicated by intermittent snow squalls that blew through during the classic races and added some fresh, sticky snow to the mix. In the women’s race, those who had early start times (it was an individual start race) fared better because there was little or no snow falling then. Cara combined an early start time with a fantastic race effort to finish a career-best 6th. Alena (19th) and Esther (14th) had to fight through the beginning of the snow squall and still managed top-20 finishes. These three placings were enough to vault the women into second place as a team for the day – ahead of every team except Dartmouth. Senior Audrey Mangan had the bad luck to ski her whole race in heavy snow. She placed 27th although she was skiing almost as fast as everyone else who got caught in the snowstorm. Clare Miller (40th) and Anika Petach (51st) also had very solid races. Kudos to Sara and wax tech Scott Broomhall (who were both covered with klister by the end of the morning) for helping us find wax that was at least as good as any other team’s under very trying conditions.

Audrey fights through a snow squall

The men had their best weekend of the season. The men’s classic race was skied almost entirely in falling snow at about 32 degrees. All of our guys except one skied on a kind of waxless ski called “zeros” that are designed for just those kind of conditions (0 degrees Celsius). (We didn’t use zeros in the women’s race because the zeros had no kick on the glazed tracks that predominated when it wasn’t snowing–which was the case until after everyone had started.) Tony Ryerson was flying from the start and had a career-first top-30th finish (30th); Trevor Petach had a very good day, too, placing 41st overall.

On Sunday, the mass start race skate races were a demolition derby from the start. A combination of the mass start format, narrow trails and the heavy, wet snow from the previous few days meant for a lot of damaged equipment. Kevin Sprague broke a pole early in the 20km race and skied from dead last at one point to his second-best placing of the year (38th). Trevor finished his senior season with his best placing of the season (36th). Tony was just behind these two guys, and the three of them combined for our best men’s team points this season. Tor O’Brien skied very well until hitting the wall with about 1.5km to go. On the women’s side, Audrey (20th) and Cara (22nd) skied strong, smart races in the 15km and placed in the top 25.

: Trevor and Tony working together in the 20km skate

Trevor and Audrey after their last college race on Sunday

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Williams Carnival Report

February 24th, 2010

Our regular season is quickly coming to a close. This past weekend we were at the Williams Carnival, where our guys continued to move up the standings and our women put down some more historic finishes.

Alpine Report by Coach Mitchell

The Harvard Alpine Team competed in the last regular-season carnival of the year this past weekend, the Williams College Winter Carnival, hosted at Jiminy Peak. Conditions for Friday’s GS race were windy to say the least, with coaches needing to hold their athletes from getting blown out of the start gate. Nonetheless, our skiers skied agressively and had some good results to show for it. The women’s team matched its best-ever 6th place finish from the UVM Carnival with another 6th place on the strength of an outstanding race by Caroline McHugh in 18th place, supported by Catherine Sheils in 28th and Tess Wood in 38th. The women had another solid finish in Saturday’s SL, with the team in 8th place on the strength of another consistent SL performance by Catherine Sheils in 21st, with Tenley Malquist in 32nd, Caroline McHugh in 37th, and Tess Wood 43rd.

The men moved up a spot this week to finish 9th in the standings in both SL and GS. The team was anchored, as always, by solid skiing from Chris Kinner, 29th in GS and 27th in SL. The rest of the men pitched in with Andrew Spielvogel recording a 41st and 30th in GS and SL respectively, Sam Harrison with a 37th in SL, and Brad Alvarez and Alec Boardman going 46-47 in the GS. Up next, NCAA Eastern Regional Championships at Middlebury this Friday-Saturday. One more race to show our stuff, wish us luck!

Nordic Report by Coach City

The women have now beaten every team in the league except for Dartmouth at least once.

Chris and Sara prep skis for Saturday's skate race

Senior Audrey Mangan had a career weekend with two top-20 finishes at Williams. On Friday, she led the team with a 13th-place finish in the 5km Classic. Esther Kennedy (17th), Alena Tofte (22nd), and Cara Sprague (29th) also finished in the top 30, giving us our third 5th place women’s finish of the year. In the 5km Skate on Saturday, Audrey finished 17th, followed by Esther (27th) and Alena (28th). Anika Petach (47th in the classic) and Clare Miller (45th in the skate) also had solid races this weekend.

In the 10km skate, senior Trevor Petach matched his season best placing of 37th–and was just 30 seconds out of the top 25. Kevin Sprague showed signs of returning to his early season form, tagging onto 7th place finisher Sam Tarling near the end of his second lap and skating to a 43rd place finish. Both Kevin and Trevor finished in the 40s in the classic race. Tor O’Brien had career bests both days, finishing 54th and 56th, and might well have cracked the top 50 except for a collision with an overtaking skier. Races both days were held under overcast skies, but in otherwise surprisingly good conditions. Cover was thin in Bennington, but Prospect Mountain had a couple of feet and seemed to be the sole exception to the recent drought of snow in New England. Fortunately, Middlebury and much of the rest of northern New England picked up a deep snowfall last night.

I’m very pleased to report that two of our skiers have been named to regional teams for the 2010 USSA Cross-Country Junior Olympics in Presque Isle, Maine. Kevin was named to the Mid-Atlantic team based on his performances in EISA racing this year. Tony Ryerson was named second-alternate for the New England team following his outstanding skiing in qualifying races this weekend in Gunstock and Holderness, New Hampshire.

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Dartmouth Carnival Report

February 17th, 2010

Alpine Report by Coach Mitchell

The Harvard Alpine Team competed in the 100th Dartmouth Winter Carnival this past weekend at the Dartmouth Skiway. Conditions were fantastic, both weather and snow. The team skied well but struggled a bit on such a flat hill. Nonetheless, there were some encouraging results, with Chris Kinner putting down two solid, relatively clean runs in slalom to finish 25th, which he followed up with a 41st in GS. Alec Boardman also chipped in a respectable 43rd in slalom, which Kevin McNamara and Andrew Spielvogel followed up in GS with a 44th and 49th respectively. The women were in great position after the first run of the GS, poised to match their strong 6th place from the UVM carnival. A missed gate in the second run put a slight kink in the plans and the team moved back a few spots, but was only a few small points from moving up three places. Caroline McHugh was the best finisher on the day, with a 26th in the GS and Catherine Sheils added a 38th. The women showed some promising form in the slalom, with Sheils leading the way in 22nd, backed up by Tenley Malmquist in 35th and Margie Thorp in 37th. A big thank you goes out to Meghan Luck, who skied with a broken arm in the GS to help the team’s chances in scoring a good team result; that is some serious dedication!!

The women also had a GS FIS University race that was not scored as part of the Dartmouth Carnival on Sunday and there was some great skiing happening again. With a good chunk of the college field in attendance, Catherine Sheils charged to a 27th place with Caroline McHugh nipping at her heels in a very strong 29th. This weekend the team contests the Williams Carnival at Jiminy Peak, MA. The hill is a bit steeper and more technical, which is to our liking, so the team is fired up to do some fast skiing!

Nordic Report by Coach City

We had an excellent day in the 15km mass start classic on Friday. Audrey Mangan, Esther Kennedy and Alena Tofte were seeded near the front of the group because of their classic performances this season, and they maintained that position through the first 7.5 km lap. On the second lap Esther and Alena started to move up through the field, and they were in the high teens going into the last 5km. Both skiers found a finishing kick and passed several skiers in the last 2 km. Alena finished in 14th and Esther was about a second behind in 15th. Audrey skied a strong race, too, and was a minute behind Esther in 30th. Cara Sprague was not far behind in 35th and Clare Miller finished 58th in an expanded field. Tony Ryerson led the men’s team with a solid race and a 41st place finish. Tony skied up into the 20s at the start and, after recovering from what Sara jokingly called “a spot of bother” between the 2 and 5km marks that set him back into the low 50s, managed to ski up to 41st.

In the relay on Sunday, Audrey skied a split that was one of the 15 fastest on the day and put us in 7th. Esther held on to that spot despite a fall. Alena’s fast Friday race caught up to her with about 2km to go on the anchor leg and she slipped to 9th. Tony and Trevor Petach had good relay splits, while Kevin Sprague was a bit under the weather. We’re shorthanded, so Tor O’Brien only raced the first leg for our B team. After having raced 20km on Friday, he declined our offer to let him wear all three bibs and keep skiing.

Alena in the classical train

Tor catches a U of Maine skier

Audrey tags off to Esther in the relay

The women's team celebrates Carni Crush weekend with loud lycra

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UVM Carnival Report

February 15th, 2010

Last weekend the team was in action at the UVM Carnival in Stowe, Vermont, where both alpine and nordic women posted historic finishes!

Alpine Report by Coach Mitchell

The Harvard Alpine Team did battle last weekend (Feb. 5-6) on Spruce Peak at Stowe, VT for the UVM carnival. On a number of fronts, this weekend could be considered one of the best results for Harvard Alpine in the last 30 years or so. The women’s team led the way with a strong 6th place showing in Friday’s GS race despite the absence due to injury of the team’s top ranked GS skier, Meghan Luck. The Crimson ladies skied aggressively on a tactically challenging hill, with Catherine Sheils leading the way in 18th, followed closely by Caroline McHugh in 22nd on the strength of an amazing 2nd run. Tenley Malmquist and Margie Thorp both made huge moves forward as well, finishing 33rd and 36th respectively. The team was only a few points shy of catching Williams College for 5th place in the standings, so that will be a good target looking forward. The women were skiing well again in Saturday’s slalom, but a few tactical mistakes took the team out of contention for what looked to be a similarly promising result. Tenley Malmquist put down two solid runs to lead the way in 27th, with Margie Thorp matching her GS result in 36th, and Tess Wood right behind in 37th.

The Men’s Alpine squad continued to ski extremely fast, but suffer untimely mistakes that thwarted some otherwise good skiing. Chris Kinner had the most consistent weekend, finishing 36th in GS and 31st in slalom. Kevin McNamara chipped in a 38th in GS, with Andrew Spielvogel notching the men’s best finish of the weekend with 29th in slalom. Sam Harrison showed his continually improving form with 33rd in slalom and Brad Alvarez followed that up with a 38th in slalom.

Catherine on the Eastern Cup podium

A number of our skiers also competed in a FIS Eastern Cup slalom race on Sunday, with almost the entire collegiate field in attendance, as well as a few Olympians you’ll see racing for the US in Vancouver in a few weeks. So needless to say, the fields were very strong. Kevin McNamara overcame a start spot of 66 and deteriorating course conditions to rally to an impressive 22nd place finish, some of the best skiing we’ve seen from him to date. The women had a tremendously successful day as well, with Tenley Malmquist making a big move up to finish 17th, and Catherine Sheils linking two nearly flawless runs for 3rd place and a podium finish! In the process, these three Harvard skiers beat a good chunk of the regular collegiate field, so this should prove a valuable confidence booster heading into the upcoming Dartmouth Carnival. The teams are headed in the right direction, and we couldn’t be more excited!!!

Nordic Report by Coach City

Last weekend saw perfect race-time temperatures in the 20s and fresh powder that fell in the days leading up to the carnival. The highlight of our weekend was the women’s 5km Classic on Saturday when we put three skiers into the top 25 (Alena Tofte – 18, Audrey Mangan – 20, Esther Kennedy – 24). I’m certain we’ve never placed 3 women in the top 25 before, but would love to hear from any alums who can tell me otherwise! To give you a sense of how tough EISA is, it was only good for a team finish of 7th on the day (although just one spot behind Middlebury and a few points out of 5th). The 5km classic was a breakout race for Alena, a freshman whose previous classic best was a 36th. Cara Sprague and Anika Petach were not far behind our scorers in 34th and 41st, respectively. In Sunday’s 10km skate, Esther significantly improved on her previous skate finishes this year to lead the team with a 25th place finish. Alena was close behind her in 33rd, and Clare Miller scored for the first time for us with a 46th place finish. Audrey missed Sunday’s race due to illness.

Things are also looking promising on the men’s side. Freshman Tony Ryerson jumped into 41st in his second 10km classic race of the season (from a previous best 62nd). Trevor Petach led the men in Sunday’s 10km skate with a solid 43rd, a minute out of 27th. The guys looked much sharper after the rest week. Indeed, most of the team improved their previous placings in one technique or the other, which suggests that we’re rounding into peak fitness. Where we didn’t improve our placings, it was because we weren’t aggressive enough in passing slower skiers at the first opportunity. In an individual start race, like both events at UVM, one has to ski one’s best pace the whole time. By drafting or cruising for a few seconds behind a slower skier when you don’t need to, you can lose several places in a short race very quickly.