Nationals 2009
Mar 11, 2009
3/11/09
This past week, the alpine team competed at USCSA National Championships, held at Winter Park Resort in Colorado. After two brilliant training days, warm weather and sunshine softened the course on Wednesday morning for the women’s giant slalom event. Through a rutted course and tough conditions, the women brought all five of their starters across the finish line – something nearly every other team failed to do. The women stood strong on the challenging pitch, led by Elizabeth Loftus ’10 (58th). She was followed by Katie Post ’09 (62nd), Robin Davenport ’12 (67th), Becca Smith ’11 (70th), and Emily Dally ’09 (76th).
Wednesday night, the snow set up firmly, but warm temperatures came through again on Thursday, leading to an extremely chattery course for the men. With many men struggling to find the finish, three of Cornell’s men were among the 31 not to find the finish line. Standing strong was Ryan Serell ’12 (47th) and Tucker Moffat ’10 (60th). With only three finishers, the men placed 17th as a team in the GS.
The women’s slalom event became a different story. Under blue skies and cooler temperatures, the course set up nicely and the snow held firm. The women all skied strong races, again bringing home five finishes. They were led by Loftus (53rd), Smith (57th), and Davenport (66th). Also turning in strong runs were Post (69th) and Heather Merkis ’10 (86th).
The men picked their way through the falling snowflakes in fine form in Saturday’s slalom event. Knifing their way through a first run littered with 9 combinations down Winter Park’s NorAm slalom hill, the men fought their way to the finish in a race that claimed attrition on over 40 percent of the field. Men’s captain Bruce Hamlin led the charge with a strong second run, taking 22nd. He was followed up by great runs from Abelson (24th) and Kossar (35th). A strong finish was also turned in after a tough first run hike by Serell (58th). The men edged into the 7th place spot, putting them into 11th for the competition.