The club ski and snowboard team took to the slopes at the United States Collegiate Ski & Snowboard Association Regional Championships in Wintergreen, Virginia, last weekend, as subteams sought to qualify for the USCSA National Championships.
Each of Lafayette College’s subteams took to the slopes at regionals, including the men’s and women’s alpine and freeski teams. The men’s alpine team placed first out of 17 teams competing, while the women’s alpine team finished sixth out of 18 teams.
Senior alpine skier Charlie Steele said the team’s mindset was important going into the competition.
“Our team goal for everybody was always to one have fun and two to make nationals,” Steele said. “This is the one weekend race a year that we really try to lock in and focus.”
“We went in as a team saying, ‘Hey, we’re good racers. Let’s see our runs. We can handle these conditions,'” he continued. “And it worked out very well.”
The top alpine performer for the men was junior Sebastian Bjorkeson, who finished third out of 71 (50.72) after placing third in the giant slalom and fourth in the slalom. Two other men’s alpine skiers also placed in the top 10; senior Oliver Lehman and Steele placed eighth (206.19) and ninth (211.25), respectively. The top alpine finish for the women was senior Lindsay Correll, who finished 13th out of 74 (255.25).
For the freeski teams, the women finished second out of 15. Junior Vice President Grace Gazza placed third overall out of 23. This is her first season competing on the freeski team.
Gazza said that she was thankful for the support both the women’s freestyle team and the overall club have given her as she switched from snowboarding to skiing.
“With the ski team, everyone’s pushing each other, even selflessly,” Gazza said. “Everyone wants each other to perform as best as they can, even if it means someone beating you in a race, we’re still happy for everyone.”
The club had two snowboarders compete for the men’s team, with the team finishing 11th out of 13 schools.
The men’s alpine and men’s and women’s freeski teams will be competing at the USCSA National Championships from March 10 to 15 in Bend, Oregon. This will be the third consecutive year that the team will send skiers to nationals.
