Skiing Posts Strong Results at Williams Carnival

The Harvard Ski team competed this weekend in the Williams Carnival. Among a field of competitive teams comprising the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association circuit, the Crimson improved upon its own previous performances to score 273 points across both genders and disciplines. The Nordic team competed in Woodford, Vt., where junior Hannah Hardenbergh led Harvard on both Friday and Saturday, while the Alpine team stayed closer to home, racing in Western Massachusetts.

In the Nordic events, Hardenbergh led the way with a solid 16th place finish in the 5K classic race on Friday and returned on Saturday to lead the Crimson again with a 12th place finish in the freestyle race. Also finishing strong for Harvard, junior Nina Armstrong, sophomore Tegan Thorley, and senior Charlotte Cole skied close together in both the classic and freestyle races. Armstrong led the pack, finishing in 28th place in both events with times of 18:30.3 and 10:06.3 in the 5K and freestyle, respectively. Thorley was the third scorer for the Crimson on both Friday and Saturday coming in 29th in the 5K and 37th in the freestyle race. Cole finished just behind Thorley on both days, coming in 30th and 38th places.

On the men’s side sophomores William Rhatigan and Mackinley FitzPatrick posted the best finishes of the weekend. In the 3.8 kilometer freestyle race, Rhatigan paced the team with a time of 8:45.90, coming in 36th. In this event, senior Connor Green finished in 51st with FitzPatrick also scoring a 54th place finish.

In the 10K classic, FitzPatrick led the way, taking 41st and finishing in 32:59.40. Rhatigan was right on his heels, coming in 42nd place and crossing the finish line just six seconds after FitzPatrick. Junior Jacob Meyerson was the third scorer in the 10K, placing 53rd in a highly competitive field of racers.

For the Alpine racers, freshman Nellie Ide followed up on her strong performance at the Dartmouth carnival last weekend with another top 25 performance in the Slalom race taking 23rd in 2:12.37. In the Giant Slalom, senior Kelley Steeves was the only racer to finish both runs in the women’s field, coming in 45th place with a combined time of 1:53.80. Steeves also scored in the Slalom race, coming in 49th. Coming in right after, freshman Allegra Coleman contributed to the team score, placing 50th.

“It was another tough weekend with some major highs and some tough lows,” Coleman said. “Nellie Ide had a strong performances in the Slalom.”

On the men’s side, sophomore Carter Kendig and senior Pieter Weemaes both qualified for second runs in the the men’s giant slalom with Kendig leadking the way for Harvard and taking 37th in the giant slalom and 35th in the slalom.

In the Slalom race, junior Dennis Bao and sophomores Lars Hornburg and Robert Dorfman also qualified for second runs. Making the most of this opportunity, Dorfman, Hornburg and Bao finished in 47th, 49th and 50th, respectively.

“Tough to see from the results, but ths Slalom was a huge day especially for the men’s team,” coach Scott MacPherson said. “The field was packed and deteriorating conditions made any movement hard, but we qualified five of our six athletes into the second run. The hard work and consistent training is paying off.”

—Staff writer Rena Simkowitz can be reached at rena.simkowitz@thecrimson.com