The Wesleyan men’s ski team performed impressively this weekend, placing third in their division and qualifying for the Regional Championships at the end of the month in Waterville Valley, NH. The Wes Ski team is part of the USCSA McBrine Division, which includes colleges such as Brandeis, University of Maine, Vassar and Yale. The women’s team came in eighth place this weekend, but this was in large part because the Wes team had only three women racers. The women’s team did not qualify for the regional championships.
“The girl’s team did not make it to regionals, mostly because we had such a small team and were unable to really compete with the other schools,” said Kristen Nordstrom ’06. “But we still had some definite talent. Next year, hopefully more girls will join and we can maybe make it to regionals as well. I think that the guys will fare pretty well in the competition and they might be surprised by how well they do.”
Since skiing is a non-varsity sport at Wesleyan, the Wes Ski team relies on group fundraising and support from the WSA to stay afloat.
“We’ve struggled with a limited budget from the WSA,” said one the captains, Daniel Rubin ’06. “Since we are a club team, and skiing is so expensive, we’ve had to really work to make ends meet. Compared to other schools in our division – a lot of which are varsity teams- we receive half as much as the team who receives the least.”
The Wes Ski team welcomes all interested students, trained skiers and novices alike.
“We are the team in our division that probably has the most fun,” Rubin said. “We love fun. It’s what we do. After that, skiing just kind of falls into place.”
So why was the team so successful this year?
“I think the major factor in our improved success this year simply comes down to members on the team stepping it up and finishing races more consistently than last year,” said Colin Prensky ’07. “We regularly had at least three or four guys in the top 15 at races, where last year we maybe would only have one or two. We also got some great freshmen additions, namely Sean Levy [’08], but also Jamie Hiteshew [’08] who came through with some great late season results.”
According to Rubin, Will Leuchter-Mindel ’07 has also helped bring the team forward.
At weekend meets, each team in the USCSA league can hold a roster of ten men and ten women. Some teams have a fixed line-up of ten every weekend, but according Rubin, only Wesleyan’s top five or six racers consistently compete each weekend, including captains Daniel Rubin ’06 and Tom Facelle ’05.
The top women racers this season have been Tamar Marino ’07 and Kristen Nordstrom ’06.
The racers of the men’s ski team are very excited about entering the regional championships, which will take place the weekend of Feb. 22 and 23.
“This is really the next level of competition,” Rubin said. “I mean it’s the best skiers in the Northeast. At the regional level there are a lot of teams who practice regularly and recruit their racers, so it’s going to really push us as a team. We have the potential do reasonably well—we have some young blood who are really pushing us up the ranks.”
“It’s good to get a chance to ski with really good racers, but for us, I feel that qualifying for regionals was a big step for us as a team,” Prensky said.
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