Skiers Take Seventh at Williams Meet; Blodgett Places First in Fiske Trophy

A ski meet consists of four "events," slalom and downhill (the "alpine" events), and jumping and cross-country the "Nordic" events).

In a slalom race, the competitor must ski down a narrow, sharply twisting course, closely defined by bamboo poles with colored flags, in as short a time as possible. An average course takes about a minute, and the fastest times are often within a few tenths of a second.

In downhill, the competitor must ski that is usually the entire length of a mountain trail as fast as he can. In the deepest sections there are often "control gates" which define several turns that must be made to keep the racers from going to fast. But a good fast course will usually have one or two spots there the racer is going up to fifty or sixty miles an hour.

In jumping, a competitor's score depends half on his distance, and half on his form, as determined by a battery judges who stand on a special platform.

In cross-country, the competitors run around a ten to fifteen kilometer course on special light skiis with special loose bindings. The average time is about forty minutes.

The Harvard team, which does not receive official recognition or financial support from the University, has been built up largely by the volunteer efforts of Gus Jacaccl, who was coach through 1963, and Charles Gibson, the present coach. Despite the severe handicap of having no place to practice near Cambridge, the Harvard team has qualified for the last three years among the top five teams in the East who ski in the NCAA's against the Western teams.

This Friday and Saturday, Harvard placed a disappointing seventh at the Williams Carnival. Harvard's Alpine score was crippled by a number of falls The best cross-country runner, Jon Chaffee, was suffering from a head cold and placed only fifteenth. (Earlier in the season Chaffee placed third in the Hanover relays.) The Crimson co-captain, Mark Jensen, broke his leg during practice the day before the meet began, further weakening the alpine team.

In slalom, the field was led by Roger Buchika, with a time of 123.4 and ex-Olympian, Gordy Eaton, both of Middlebury. Harvard's top scorer was Greg Peters, in fifteenth place, with a time of 147.7 sec. In the downhill, the field was led by Gordy Eaton (120.6) and Steve Blodgett was the Crimson's first runner, placing tenth with a time of 128.6.

The biggest and best news of the weekend comes from the Fiske Trophy race held on Sunday at Suicide Six, in wood-stock, N.H. Sophomore Steve Blodgett swept a field of top Eastern racers to place first with a time of 1:43.2.