Ski Team Braves Icy Conditions

"We should have had ice skates on instead of skis," Wendy Svatek said.

Although icy conditions sent several members of the Harvard men's and women's ski teams tumbling down the slopes, the Nordic and Alpine squads turned in some strong performances this weekend in their last carnival of the regular season in Putney, Vt.

The Crimson's top two men's skiers--junior Dan Sheinberg and senior Greg Cavett--both took spills on the slalom course on Saturday, but bounced back the next day to finish fourth and 14th, respectively, in the giant slalom.

The women were victims of the ice as well when Valeria Scott went down with a deep thigh bruise before her race on Sunday. But Rana Dershowitz stayed on her skis to snag sixth place in the slalom, keeping her in contention for the individual Division I championships.

On Saturday, both Nordic teams were missing their top skier--junior Amber Duncan and freshman Chris Leggett were competing in the Division I qualifier held in Dartmouth, N.H. Still, Captain Bob Berle and freshman Paul Dufays turned in top-15 performances in the 15-kilometer race for the men and Svatek took second in the womens' 7.5K. Natasha Rasmuson placed 15th in only her second classical-style cross-country race.

Things went much better on Sunday, when both Nordic teams finished second in their relay races and the downhillers all turned in strong performances with three finishing in the top fifteen.

Next weekend, the injury-plagued squads will travel to Vermont again for the Division II championships at the Middlebury Winter Carnival.