Skiing ends season in costume
By Justin Sharaf, Contributing Writer
The Amherst men's and women's ski teams concluded their respective seasons this weekend in Haystack, Vt. The men's team, coming off their best race of the year last weekend, finished eighth on Saturday in the slalom race and sixth on Sunday in the giant slalom.

On Saturday, Ezra Gordon '04 crossed the finish line first for the Jeffs in 32nd place. On Sunday, Seth Fitzsimmons '02 and James Harris '02, competing in the last race of their Amherst careers, skied to 20th and 24th place finishes.

Sarah Sklar Heyn '05 (13th place Saturday and 22nd place Sunday) led the women's team to a sixth place showing on both Saturday and Sunday. Kelly Smith '04 and captain Amy Randall '04 also raced well on Sunday, placing 25th and 26th respectively.

"Sunday was a lot of fun," said Fitzsimmons. "It's a tradition to ski the last race of the season in a costume." The men's team loses four seniors to graduation, but hopes to rely on a strong group of underclassmen in the coming years.

"We had a good season. The seniors will be missed, but the rest of the team is primarily sophomores, so they will continue to improve," said Fitzsimmons.

The costume race was also a highlight for the women's team.  Some of the women's costumes included a bikini and a duct tape dress. 

Steven Hollister '05 of the men's team sported a whipped cream bikini for the occasion. Other costumes included a cross dresser, a mummy costume and a skier wrapped in tinfoil.

"It was really fun. Everyone in the league really gets into it," said Randall. "Amherst is known for having great costumes."

The women's team will return every skier next year and looks to improve upon their sixth place standing in the league. "We had a really good season and came together as a team. We should be strong next year," added Randall.

For the season, the women were led by Sklar-Heyn who finished 11th and Smith who finished 26th in the league. Fitzsimmons paced the men's team in 18th place overall, followed by Harris, who completed the season in 26th place.

Issue 17, Submitted 2002-02-20 01:49:55