Skiing Earns Fifth Consecutive Top-10 Finish

UPDATED: February 16, 2015, at 7:30 p.m.

The Harvard skiing team extended its streak of top-10 finishes to five this weekend with a 10th place finish at the Middlebury Carnival. The Crimson had a strong performance overall, coming in the top 10 as a team in six of the eight events.

It was a frigid weekend as temperatures were below zero most of the weekend, dropping as low as -14 degrees, along with moderate snowfall throughout.

“Weather conditions were challenging for pretty much everybody,” Nordic coach Christopher City said. “We had a few issues with people breathing in those low temperatures.”

Led by senior Akeo Maifeld-Carucci, the team totaled 224 points overall. Maifeld-Carucci finished sixth overall with a time of 26:05.1 in the 10k freestyle on Saturday after a 19th place finish in the 10K classic race on Friday. Maifeld-Carucci skied through sickness on Friday but would be one of the Carnival’s top nordic skiers over the weekend.

Sophomore Ian Meyer and classmate Devlin Shea followed Maifeld-Carucci in 43rd and 44th. Meyer posted a time of 28:14.3 with Shea behind him with a time of 28:14.5. The finishes were good for 23 points between the two skiers. Junior Soren Anderson and freshman Haakon Sigurslid closed the race for Harvard, coming in 50th and 51st place, respectively.

On the women’s side, junior Annie Harvieux finished top 30 in the women’s 5K freestyle. Harvieux was followed closely by sophomore Rachel Hampton, who crossed the line in 33rd place. Senior Emily Rogers and junior Hanna Barnes closed the race with 47th and 48th place finishes, respectively; the Nordic women would contribute 44 points on Saturday alone.

Hampton also had a solid performance in the 10K classic race, finishing 25th with a time of 33:57.6. The performance was the Telluride, Colo., native’s second top-25 finish in the event this season. Sophomore Maile Sapp finished the race in 31st with a time of 34:39.1, while Harvieux joined her teammates in the top 40 with a 36th place finish.

On the alpine side of the carnival, freshman Kelly Steeves came in 41st place in the women’s slalom and notched a 34th place finish in the giant slalom. She was the only Harvard athlete to place in either of these events. Alpine coach Tim Mitchell expressed a lot of confidence in the freshman.

“Kelly Steeves is having a real good freshman year,” Mitchell said. “She skied pretty well.”

Despite several injuries on the men’s alpine team, the men also had a strong performance at the slalom with Simon Merryweather and James Stevenson finishing 50th and 51st, respectively. Freshman Pieter Weemaes came within one place of qualifying for Saturday's run. Mitchell expressed nothing but confidence towards the way the rookies have been performing as the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association Championship approaches.

“I was definitely happy with the progress of the freshman,” Mitchell said. “I feel like with experience on that hill, Pieter and Kelly can reach their potential.”

The team has had its shares of ups and downs with the weather and injuries afflicting the team as a whole. Thus, the alpine team has had to manage without some of its best skiers being able to compete.

With the Eastern Intercollegiate fast approaching, the whole team is geared up to make a run against top seeds including Vermont and Dartmouth. Looking ahead to the EISC Championship Carnival, City had a positive outlook on the team’s chances to compete against national powerhouses like the Catamounts and Big Green.

“It’s a long season, and this often catches up with us about this time of year, but I think we’re in good shape,” City said. It’ll be nice to have the rest week, but I think we’re in really good shape going into championships.”

With the regular season portion of its schedule now over, the Crimson heads off to the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association championship at St. Lawrence two weeks from now.