The ski team traveled away from the comforts of familiar Vermont peaks like Bromley and Killington, skiing instead at the unique Dartmouth Skiway in Lyme, N.H. for last weekend's giant slalom (GS) races.
The men's team adjusted without too much trouble, coming in second on both days and boasting first overall finishes in both races for senior captain Andrew Benson.
On Sunday, the Jumbos' top three finished both runs with impressive times, and all finished in the top 10 out of over 100 racers. Benson took his usual place atop the standings, finishing first with a time of 208.35 seconds, just .22 seconds ahead of Castleton St. freshman William Colt.
"I had a couple of good runs," Benson said. "I was pumped to win both days, and I am excited to go forward to Regionals."
Tufts freshman Brian Bresee tore down the course to capture a fourth-place finish, his third top-four finish of the season. Rounding out the Jumbos' effort was sophomore Pat Tonelli, who had two very consistent runs to take 10th overall.
"Brian had a great second run," Benson said. "He showed us he is capable of throwing down in GS and that he can be one of the top guys. Pat did a great job as well. It's tough with Castleton because they have so much depth. It's not that we didn't ski well - it's just that they did a great job, we did a great job, and it turned out that they came out on top."
Despite the three top-10 finishes, Tufts fell by more than six seconds to first place Castleton St., a varsity team that had five finishers in the top 10. But Tufts was pleased to be able to compete against such stiff competition.
"I think one of the biggest problems is that each team in the division has one very good skier," Tonelli said. "Only our team, Castleton and BU are the only teams that have any real support for that top skier. Our depth really helps us."
On Saturday, the Jumbo men once again raced to a second-place result behind Castleton. The showing was particularly impressive because neither Bresee nor Tonelli managed to finish clean races, which might have been partially due to the unique nature of the Dartmouth course.
"It was a long course with a pretty steep pitch starting off," Tonelli said. "But that went into a flat area, so you had to carry all your speed into it."
"This is definitely the longest GS course we have run and also probably the most challenging," Benson added. "It's good for us to see something closer to what we will be racing at Regionals."
Benson once again came in first overall while sophomore Greg Hering and freshman Thomas Valentin posted 16th- and 17th-place finishes, respectively.
"I thought that Tom did a great job," Benson said. "He has been skiing well in practice and on race days. We can definitely expect big things from him.
"Coming off his ACL injury, Greg is doing a great job too. Each week he's getting more and more confident on his knee, and we are looking forward to seeing what he can do."
As on Sunday, Tufts managed a second-place showing, finishing over 13 seconds behind Casteton.
"I think we would all have to throw down our best runs possible to beat them," Tonelli said. "We can handily beat them in slalom, but it's a much tougher challenge in GS."
The women finished the weekend without such impressive results, but they were nonetheless content with the way the team skied.
On Sunday, the Jumbos got the less impressive of their two finishes, coming in eighth overall. However, they did get an outstanding finish from sophomore captain Nicole Fontaine, who came in second overall, less than a second from winning the race.
"I was just more focused and knew what I really wanted to do," Fontaine said of her impressive finish. "I love Dartmouth and the course there, and I grew up in New Hampshire, so I raced there a lot. I kind of buckled down and was really just ready to race."
The Tufts attack was completed by freshmen Lindsay Rutishauser and Kaitlin Zach.
"Nicole almost won the race on Sunday and Lindsay did a better job of skiing closer to her ability," senior Lauren Vasey said.
Saturday was a more consistent day for the women, as the top three finishers all secured competitive times.
Fontaine came in third overall, while Vasey and Rutishauser followed her in 19th and 38th, respectively.
With the top-three times, Tufts managed a fifth-place finish, which is promising for a team that prides itself more on slalom racing than on GS.
"I think that we did very well," Fontaine said. "I am happy with everyone's performance. A lot of girls have really stepped it up and brought this team a lot farther than anyone had hoped."
Next weekend, the women's team will race its last competition of the season at Killington, and the men will race their last regular season gig before competing in Regionals.
Next weekend also holds in store the infamous costume race, in which skiers dress up before participating. Last year's race included Benson winning outright in a full-body penguin costume, while others raced in such garb as a giant banana, women's lingerie and a whoopee cushion.
