Skiers Finish 8th at Williams; Steele Wins Combined Alpine

Harvard's ski team could only manage an eighth-place finish in last weekend's Williams Carnival, but Captain Ben Steele captured the individual combined Alpine title in his best performance of the EISA season.

Steele combined a third place in Saturday's slalom with his second in the giant slalom on Friday to clinch first in the two event Alpine competition, held at Brodie Mountain.

Once again the Nordic events proved to be the team's downfall, as the Crimson finished dead last in the eleven team field in both the jumping on Saturday and Friday's Cross Country.

Steele's 23rd place in the jump and Jon Rickert's 24th place in the Cross Country were the highest spots that the Crimson could muster in the two events.

One of the biggest problems that the Crimson faces is that all of the jumpers, except Brot Coburn, are also Alpine skiers. Because one Nordic event and one Alpine event are run on each day of the two-day EISA carnivals, Steele, Mike Herter and Scott Johnson must compete in two events on the same day.

Saturday's near-zero temperature and gusty winds only added to the difficulties of attempting two events in one day.

Steele's third place, coupled with Tom Cavin's 32nd and Scott Johnson's 33rd, earned the Crimson eighth place in the team standings for the slalom.

Top Skiers Attracted

In other competition, coach Peter Carter took second in the slalom at the Atlantic Regionals competition at Stowe, Vt., last Wednesday and Thursday. Carter is eligible to compete for Harvard in all but EISA races. The Regionals attracted top skiers from all over the East, including several U.S. A and B Ski Team members.

Carter had a bad first run in the giant slalom at Stowe, and wound up 22nd, but Steele moved in to grab the sixth slot in the race.

Dick Raines, Bob Beusman and Gordon Adler also competed in the Regionals.

Carter (third) and Steele (tenth) were the Crimson's highest finishers in Sunday's Mt. Snow Cup giant slalom race. The race, which Beusman and Adler also qualified for, was an Eastern "A" race. A certain number of FIS points are needed to qualify for Eastern races.

Middlebury Carnival

The Crimson will compete in the Middlebury Carnival this weekend at Middlebury, Vt. The Carnival field will consist of the 11 teams in the EISA Division One and the top two teams from each of the other EISA divisions.

The EISA champion team and the other top three teams will qualify for the NCAA finals at Middlebury on March 8-10. The top four individual finishers from each of the four events will also qualify for the NCAA championships.