On Feb. 2, to the chagrin of many New Englanders, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow. But for a Jumbo skiing team a late-season tear, nothing could be better than six more weeks of winter.
Although the squad finished off its regular season this past weekend, if the last few weeks are any representation of the team's true talent, then it might be in for quite a prosperous postseason.
The men's squad capped off its regular season with a stunning Sunday as the Jumbos finished first, beating Castleton State by one tenth of a second between each team's top three racers combined, the first time that the Spartans did not win a day all season. With the win, Tufts locked up a spot at Regionals and finished second overall in its division.
Once again, the men's team was led by sophomore captain Brian Bresee, who finished second individually with a time of 44.86 seconds, only 0.27 seconds out of the lead.
As a team, the Jumbos' Sunday victory was a result of not only Bresee's excellence but the support of classmates Tom Valentin and Arlin Ladue, who finished seventh and ninth in the individual standings, respectively. Valentin clocked in at 45.92, while Ladue finished in 46.56. Both sophomores came within two seconds of the top finisher.
"Tom Valentin and Arlin Ladue really stepped it up this year," said senior Greg Hering, who finished fourth on the team and 23rd overall.
On Saturday, the only team to beat the Jumbos was Castleton State. Additionally, only Castleton State senior Justin Schwartz managed to edge out Bresee on Saturday.
"Castleton has a lot of depth in their team, and as we have fewer good racers, we all have to ski and finish well," Bresee said. "Because of that, we have to ski more conservatively than we would like, whereas they can go all out each run."
"Castleton trains five afternoons a week on the hill we race on," Hering added. "The school gives them plenty of resources for training equipment and hill space. At Tufts, we make a lot from nothing."
While the men rose steadily throughout the season and then peaked at the end of the year, the women's team stayed more consistent throughout. The women finished in sixth overall place out of 12 teams with fifth-place finishes on both Saturday and Sunday -- their fourth consecutive fifth-place finish after a seventh-place showing back on Jan. 25.
"On Saturday, we had a very difficult course for our first run," freshman Jessica Levine said. "Our second, fourth and fifth girls were disqualified and our third girl fell, so the team didn't finish well overall."
The top three finishers for the women's team on Saturday were senior captain Alissa Brandon, finishing with a combined time of 1:52.60, freshman Fritzi Pieper with a 2:13.91, and junior Lindsay Verola with a 2:17.64.
"On Saturday [Brandon] skied particularly well," Levine said. "She finished in 12th place on a course that nearly half the girls in the division didn't finish."
But though the Jumbos again finished fifth on Sunday, it was clear that the skiers' performances had improved dramatically from the day before. A strong top four teams and comparatively weak bottom of the ladder kept Tufts from moving place-wise despite an obviously stronger showing.
Sunday's top three finishers for the women's team included Brandon with a 50.86, Levine with a 52.32, and sophomore Lindsay Rutishauser with a 56.29.
Sunday's second race marked a special event for all the skiers in the Thompson Division of the United States Ski and Snowboard Association. The first race was the only one that actually counted towards rankings for the day, as the second race is the annual costume race for the skiers, who dress up and ski the course in the most outrageous costumes they can conjure. Needless to say, it's something for which the skiers always get excited.
"The league always dresses up for the last race of the season," Hering said. "It's a long-standing tradition. My Santa suit felt like a parachute when flying through the flats, and the clown-sized baggy pants made the steep section up top particularly scary."
"The whole team had a great time and there were some creative costumes," Bresee added. "It's a great way to end the season."
Levine, unlike Hering and Bresee, was completely new to the costume experience.
"I thought the costume race was great," she said. "It shows that even though we take racing seriously, we still have a lot of fun while doing it. It was also really amusing to see how creative both individual racers and teams were with costume ideas."
The Jumbos will now look ahead two weeks to Regionals at Waterville Valley, where they will seek a bid to Nationals, which will be held at Winter Park, Colo., in early March.
