Regionals at Waterville

This past weekend the women's team competed at Waterville Valley. Saturday was the SL and Sunday was the GS. Krista Consiglio provided me with this excellent writeup on the past weekend's events:

"Saturday was a rough day for the team as we had 3 girls fall. Blaine had a great first run and unfortunately had an equipment malfunction second run resulting in a DNF. Sophie and Elisa however were good team skiers and did what they had to do finishing 2 solid runs. After a good first run Anna had a little fall second run with a quick recovery. Sunday was a solid day for the team but Anna unfortunately had a bad crash which injured her knee, but she held her head high and was good support for our second run. Sophie, Elisa, and Blaine all had 2 very solid runs with Elisa really stepping it up her second run."

All told it was a trying weekend for the women, but they persevered through the thick to come out strong. Plagued with falls on Saturday, the women were able to pull things together enough to pull together a 5th place finish. Disappointing clearly, but that's sometimes the name of the game in slalom.

Staying out our old stomping ground the Day's Inn in Campton, the team was able to recollect itself for a strong showing on Sunday in the GS. The conditions were hard snow with sunny skies - the ski racer's dream. Unfortunately after some strong runs by Sophie and Krista, Anna went down hard on the top part of the course. She hurt her knee in the process. At lunch Anna's sister Grace told the rest of the team what they were there for: "In It to WIN IT!" While they didn't win the race, they posted a strong finish and are taking that message into next week's trip to Nationals at Sunday River.

The Bengtsons, Consiglios, and Taubs were also in attendance to cheer on the team. Thanks for the food and your continued support!

We're Going to Nationals!

After some hard work this weekend at Waterville for Regionals, the Brown Women will be headed to Sunday River next week to compete in the USCSA National Championships. I will be posting more about the efforts at Waterville later on this week, but for the time being please check out information on Nationals in case you are interested in attending. 

You can find a detailed schedule here

The women will be racing GS on Wednesday and SL on Friday.

Three men will also be competing in the SkierCross (a combination of jumps and ski racing) on Friday. 

Hope to see you there!

Ascutney Slaloms

This was the final weekend of the regular season in our division. We were fortunate enough to be able to stay at the Holby family home in Ludlow, Vermont (Sophie's family). Grethe Holby (Sophie's mom) fed us both days and the house gave us ample room and time for some much needed team bonding.

Women's team co-captain Anna Bengtson was gracious enough to write up a detailed account of the weekend, so I will defer to her comments:

"From the sunny skies and warm temperatures during the day Saturday to the snowstorm Saturday night that make it necessary for Mr. Taub to tow the van back to the Elgort's house to the white-out Sunday during the race, the races were full of unexpected variables just the way the Brown Ski Team likes it.

As the last regular season races the seniors were out in full force. Although there was a momentary one-run race scare on Sunday, the weather gods pulled through clearing up the skies for the afternoon, probably due to the recognition of the devastation that would ensue if the senior skiers were unable to express their creativity and true personalities in costume form. Brown was well-suited second run on Sunday in black tie formals (Axler), retro ski gear (Mallory), gold (Meaghan), metallics, bright pink (Kimbie), princely attire (Antonio) and lone ranger duds (DR). In my personal opinion however, despite DR riding his pony through the finish and Antonio slashing every gate with his sword, no one was able to top the hockey player from St. Anselm who "checked" every gate in the course and then proceeded to throw off his gloves and fight a gate that "hit" him.

These aspects aside, it is Mrs. Elgort who makes the Ascutney races the best weekend of the season. This year all- parents, siblings and friends included -were able to enjoy the cozy ambiance and home-cooking that is inextricably tied to Trollstua. Saturday night Grethe and Sophie single-handedly created a feast as they do every year that silenced the house.

Excellent food, comfortable lodgings and unending adventures. What more could we ask for? I could actually use some of the leftover carrot cake...

Anyway, thank you again and again Grethe for everything, and congratulations seniors I at least will miss you, although I may not speak for everyone (insert evil laughter)."

Amidst all those great comments about the fanfare at the final race and the homestyle accommodations we had, Anna neglectes to mention that the women's team ended up with two 3rd place finishes - the best of the season. Krista Consiglio took the slalom on Saturday, Blaine Martin had an outstanding performance in the slalom on Sunday screaming to her best result of the year, not to mention Anna's best-of-the-season top-10 on Saturday.

The men finished out a fantastic season with the costumes, and some outstanding ski racing by the freshmen. David Sonshine finally went for it in the slalom, bashing down every single gate on Saturday, having waited all season to "just hit the gates." Jeff Ernsting really pulled it together on Sunday with what was unquestionably the best slalom run of his career. He took the hard work he had put in this past week at Wachusett (which resulted in a broken ski pole) and transformed it into a solid run. Unfortunately, at the top he skied over on of the gates, which caused a disqualification. We are looking for some fantastic results by him next year.

There are tons of photos from this past weekend:
-Professional Photos (to purchase or just look at)
-Dave Casey Photos
-DR's Photos (This weekend and the rest of the season)
-The Consiglio's Photos

A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO ALL OF THE PARENTS! This year could not have been possible without you. This past weekend we had the Castens, Taubs, Caseys, Sonshines, Bengtsons, Elgorts, Ernstings, and Consiglios. It is fantastic to not only have your culinary support, but cheering as the racers come down for those 35 seconds of glory.

Archive Photos!

I've been doing some research at the John Hay and dug up a few photos. These are just a few of the close to 100 photos waiting in the library to be scanned. If you happen to know any of these people please add comments to that effect. If you happen to have any ski team photos lying around we'd love to put them up! Click the photos below to link the photo gallery!

Loon Mountain GS

This race was the final GS race of the season. For some on the team, it was the final GS race of their careers. It was carried out in typical New England fashion with a little new snow and lots of hard, hard ice underneath. The MIT coach set a super turny upper section (which gobbled many skiers) and then the course really opened up on the bottom section. There was one left footed turn that gave many in the top seed some trouble. Thanks again to Meaghan who sent me this report on the women's performance:

"The course was challenging and at times bulletproof, but once again our top consistent girls pulled through with great finishes. Krista, Anna and Sophie all finished in the top 15. Blaine finished as our fourth scorer for the team with a 22nd place finish and Kimbie also had a great day of GS as well placing 35th."

The men had some difficulty with the hard snow in the morning, but for second run they seemed to pull things together a bit more. The course was hardly changed for second run (as you will recall it was Super Bowl Sunday). There were some hard times again for the People's Captain Antonio del Balzo who lost a ski on the fourth gate on the first run. A tough season for him to be sure. We are hoping that he will step it up for "The People" this next weekend. Dow had a strong first run that put him within striking distance of the flip 30. We are hoping that his GS hiatus next year to train for the Olympics will bring him well within that group. Adam Axler pulled what was a popular move on Sunday of leaving a pole in the start. While his pole was later returned, the corresponding deduction in time was not made.

As for the videos that I had been hoping to upload, I have not been successful yet it getting the camera to work with my computer. I am hoping that it will work out this next week. In the meantime - please check out the photos (Pat's, Waterville GS )that Dave Casey has uploaded for us. Remember that all the photos are listed on the bottom right of this page.

Thanks to the parents who came on Sunday and a special thanks to John Gillis '07 and John Van Slyke '00 who made a day trip from Boston just to watch our men and women race. The value of passionate alumni cannot be underestimated. Thanks guys for coming out and we hope that we'll be seeing both of you at Slush Pool Party 2008.

We hope to see lots of parents for the final regular season race. It has been a fantastic year and we are hoping that we can translate a great week of training into some great results.

(Photo of DR Richardson '08 at WV GS)

Pat's Peak SL

Each ski season all of the teams have the pleasure to host at least one carnival. This past Saturday was our race at Pat's Peak. Hosting a carnival pretty much means that you have to do all the work that no one else really wants to do - carry gates, get up early, slip the course, etc. The men’s team volunteered to head out to the mountain before the sun rose to prep the hill and set the course for the first run. We had the entire course set by about 745 with plenty of time to fill out new scoreboards (we left ours in Providence, though Doug Allen brought them up for the race on Sunday). Women's Team Captain Meaghan Casey (who took down a 95 point race) had this to report back about the women's performance on Saturday:

"The women skied solidly on the first run and our top girls- Krista, Sophie, and Anna- once again proved that the team can count on them to perform consistently and consistently well. The women’s team helped maintain the course for the men, as the ruts mounted, and during the lunch break both teams stayed out on the hill to help set second run. A great deal of good team work allowed the Carnival to run smoothly, and the women’s team helped rally and motivate each other for the second run. Proof of this were two stand-out second runs from Elisa and Blaine, who both skied very well and very fast."

With six girls in the top 30 we were happy about their performance. We also had club team member of the men's team alum Nick Moore come back to the mic in order to deliver his crowd pleasing analysis of the race. While the microphone was not as well positioned as last year and he was not as "inspired" as last year, we did enjoy having him provide us with careful coverage of the race. Thanks Nick. As for the men, DR led the assault with a 135 point race which was the best of his career and better than any slalom points races of a former men's team member during his senior year (he will remain nameless). The men were also unfortunately plagues by three DNF's. We are hoping that the upcoming races at Ascutney will provide them with the chance to show off their SL skills.

Thanks to the Consiglios, Taubs, and Caseys for coming out to show their support.

(See Pat's Peak Photos Here)