The team's first race took place at Mount Snow, Vt. The top finishers for the men were Seth Fitzsimmons '02, who finished 18th in slalom and Jay Harris '02, who placed 34th in giant slalom.
For the women, Victoria Salem '02 led the way in the slalom with a fourth-place finish. In the giant slalom, Meg Nelson '01 posted a ninth-place finish for the Jeffs, crossing the line in 1:59.67.
The following weekend at Cannon Mountain, N.H., Fitzsimmons was again the top finisher in the men's slalom. A.J. Korytoski '04 finished first for the men in giant slalom. For the women, Nelson shone again with a seventh-place slalom finish, while Kris Parker '01 posted the fastest Jeff time in the Giant Slalom at 1:18.73.
The most recent race took place at Dartmouth Skiway last weekend. Fitzsimmons finished 14th in Slalom and 25th in Giant Slalom. Consistency capped the weekend with strong finishes from Harris, Korytoski and Ezra Gordon '04. On the women's side, Nelson led the way in both the Slalom and the Giant Slalom, ending in seventh and fourth places, respectively.
"We are a young team," said Neslon. "The freshmen are doing a great job, though, and I think that they've been working hard to improve."
There are signs of improvement and growing confidence. Currently, the greatest hindrance to the team's performance is the large frequency of DNFs, a skiing acronym meaning, "Did Not Finish." In competition, a racer is required to successfully complete two runs in order to place for their respective team. Several vital racers have had difficulty in this regard, significantly hurting the team's overall standing.
Though Risley characterizes the Thompson Division as "extremely competitive, especially among the men," he speculates that the team's statistics could show improvement. "It is really going to depend on consistency."
"We need to achieve a level of consistency in terms of finishing," he said.