Skiing Trifecta Advances to NCAAs

Harvard skiers have a tendency to fly under the radar.

But the Crimson’s top three skiers, freshman Rebecca Nadler and sophomores Alena Tofte and Catherine Sheils, didn’t need the spotlight to succeed this winter. Their results proved to be statement enough: the trailblazing trio qualified to compete at the NCAA championships.

REBECCA NADLER AND CATHERINE SHEILS

The top two skiers on the women’s alpine team stand at different heights and operate at different decibel levels, but the skiers will be go down in school history for what they have in common. On Sunday, they became the first women’s alpine skiers from Harvard ever to qualify for the NCAA championships.

“I’m thrilled,” Sheils says of qualifying. “I got edged out last year. This year it really means a lot to me. I am also really ... thrilled that Rebecca’s going. ... I think it’s just indicative of how far the program has come in the last five years under [coach] Tim [Mitchell].”

But success isn’t the pair’s only similarity. Mitchell says that the two’s focus and attention on the hill allows them to separate themselves from many of their Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association competitors.

“They both have that ability to narrow their focus and really execute,” Mitchell says. “When they’re on the hill, they’re there. They manage to shut out all the other distractions. In skiing, especially alpine skiing, one little tiny slip can ruin an entire race. The margin for error is so small. You need to be mentally focused.”

That focus comes from a lifetime on the slopes. Nadler came of age racing at Mont Tremblant, and Sheils spent five years at Burke Mountain Academy. Both took time off between high school and college to better their skiing as well.

“They both have fantastic work ethics,” Mitchell says. “They took that time to buckle down and work toward achieving a goal that they had.”

Each was already a seasoned skier when she arrived on campus, but this season the duo has been able to work together to reach new heights on the slopes.

“We can get each other excited—she pumps me up for the slalom, I try to pump her up for the [giant slalom],” Nadler reports. “It’s been really great to push each other and feed off each other.”

ALENA TOFTE

With her teammates succeeding in alpine competition, sophomore Alena Tofte is pushing her limits and making her mark on the Nordic courses. After all, you don’t become the Crimson’s first Nordic skier since 2004 to qualify for NCAAs by playing it safe.

“She has an ability to push herself quite hard, sometimes too far,” says Nordic coach Chris City ’94. “She’s still learning how to harness the fact that she has an unusual tolerance. ... Most of us hit a point where we say ‘this doesn’t feel so good.’ Alena has the mental ability to go past that point.”

Growing up in Duluth, Minn., Tofte participated in endurance sports all year round: cross country in the fall, skiing in the winter, track in the spring, and crew in the summer.

“I really like racing,” the sophomore says. “And I really, really like being outside.”

But it was skiing that stole her heart.

“I’ve skiing since I could walk,” Tofte says. “My parents kind of put me on a little pair of purple and green skis and shoved me out the door. And I got involved in racing when I was in seventh grade and my brother had been on the team ... and it kind of went from there. I skied pretty competitively in high school. I didn’t really want it to be a deciding factor when I went to college, but it ended up working out really well.”

Tofte entered Harvard as a talented skier and earned several top-20 results in her rookie campaign, but it was during this past summer that the skier really distinguished herself.

“There’s a saying that cross-country skiers are made in the summer,” City says. “Alena did a great job ... of getting in quality work.”

Tofte made herself into a top-notch skier despite spending a month of her summer with limited training options while doing field research in Australia.

“I was in the rainforest so I was kind of bounded by that,” the sophomore says. “And there wasn’t really a good road that I could go and roller ski on; it wasn’t very safe. So I ended up running for a whole month on about a ten minute loop and doing all of my long runs there—and I was watching out for poisonous snakes.”

Despite the challenges, Tofte built up a strong enough fitness base to compete with the region’s top skiers this season.

“You could count on her being in every race,” City says. “She ... keeps producing.”

The same could be said for Sheils and Nadler. For Harvard’s three NCAA-bound skiers, excellence comes standard.

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