Recap: Week 4 USCSA Races

By: Emma Logan

Featured Image: Racer from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in a Thompson Division race. Credit: Brigitte Belanger

Week 4 of the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association (USCSA) includes races held Feb. 2-4. Races were held across the country throughout multiple conferences and divisions. Full results can be found at https://www.uscsa.org.

Allegheny Conference

In its last final qualifying race of the season, the Allegheny Conference hosted two slalom races for the men’s and women’s competitors. Races took place on Saturday and Sunday at Tussey Mountain in Pennsylvania.

In the men’s race on Saturday, Caleb Richert of Messiah University had the two fastest times of the day and led the men’s field by almost five seconds. Pennsylvania State University took the next two spots. Charles Smith finished in second, and Micheal Duddy finished in third. The Penn State men’s team held five positions in the top 10, leading them to victory in the team competition, finishing ahead of Villanova University.

On Sunday, Noah Richert led the field. Trailing by 0.20 seconds, Hugo Lee of Carnegie Mellon University took second place, and Caleb Richert placed third. The Penn State team took the title with another five finishers in the top 10.

In the women’s race on Saturday, Molly Burns of West Virginia University led a close field with the fastest combined time. Less than 0.50 seconds separated first and fourth place. Penn State’s Carolyn Mole finished second place, and American University’s Quinn Albright finished third. The Penn State women’s team took the title in the team competition.

On Sunday, Faith Richert from Messiah University had the two fastest times of the day and led the field by over three seconds. Burns finished in second place, and Albright finished in third. The Penn State women’s team continued their momentum from Saturday and took the team title on Sunday.

Atlantic Highlands

The Atlantic Highlands Conference hosted a giant slalom race on Saturday for the men and a slalom race on Sunday for the women. Both were held at Camelback Mountain in Pennsylvania.

Aaron Martin of Lehigh University led the field in the men’s race with the fastest combined time. Trailing by 0.55 seconds was Cole Paton of Fairfield University in second place, and Sebastain Bjorkeson of Lafayette College took third. The Lehigh men’s team took the title in the team competition finishing just ahead of Lafayette College.

Erika Wiebe of Fairfield had the two fastest runs of the day and finished comfortably in first place, leading the field by 13 seconds. Sloane Goldberg from Columbia University finished second, and Claudia Liu from University of Pennsylvania finished third. With the most finishers in the top-10, the Fairfield women’s team placed first in the team competition.

Eastern Conference

MacConnell Division

The MacConnell Division had a busy weekend at West Mountain in New York. The men had a one-run giant slalom makeup race on Saturday, as well as a full giant slalom race on Saturday and Sunday. The women had one full race on Saturday and a makeup race, and a full race on Sunday.

On Saturday, Samuel Hayden of Clarkson University led the field with the fastest combined time. Trailing by 0.19 seconds, Raphael Fischer of Vermont State University Castleton took second place, and Filippo Collini of Castleton took third. The Castleton men’s team held half of the top-10 positions and took the team title.

In the one-run makeup race, the Castleton team completed a podium sweep led by Fischer and followed by Lorenzo Mencaccini in second and Collini in third. These three led the Castleton men’s team to its second team victory of the day.

On Sunday, similar faces found themselves on the podium. Mancaccuni finished in first, leading by 0.10 seconds ahead of Fischer. Collini finished 0.06 seconds behind Fischer in third place. These three led the Castleton team to a victory over Babson College who finished in second place.

Emilie Stene of Castleton led the field in Saturday’s race. Morrison Travis of Babson finished second place, and Hannah Goetz of Clarkson University finished in third. Stene VTSU Castleton led the women;s team to a victory over Babson.

In Sunday’s full race, Stene stood atop the podium again with the two fastest times of the day. Her teammates Karleigh Hollister followed in second place, and Travis finished in third. VTSU Castleton finished in first place in the team competition.

In the makeup race, Elyse Donaghue from Clarkson won the one-run battle. Stene placed second, and Hollister placed third. The VTSU Castleton women’s team took their third team title of the weekend.

McBrine Division

The McBrine Division hosted two slalom races on Saturday and Sunday for the men and one race on Saturday for the women. All races were held at Gore Mountain in New York.

In Saturday’s race, Eli Seaver from Wesleyan University led the men’s field by 0.08 seconds ahead of Chase Muller of Marist College, who finished in second place. Maxwell Werner from Yale University finished in third. Muller led the Marist team to a combined team victory over the University of Rhode Island by almost one minute.

Muller came back for redemption in Sunday’s race, taking first by 0.37 seconds ahead of Seaver. Leyton Sheppard of Brandeis University finished in third. Muller led the Marist men’s team to the team title on Sunday as well.

Drew Taylor from Marist led the women’s field with the two fastest times of the day and a combined time of over six seconds ahead of second place. Ursula Vlases of the United States Coast Guard Academy placed second, and Hailey Fesai of Marist placed third. Taylor led the Marist women’s team to a first-place finish.

Reynolds Division

The Reynolds Division hosted a slalom race on Saturday at Pats Peak in New Hampshire and a giant slalom race at Mittersill on Sunday in New Hampshire.

On Saturday, St. Joseph’s College of Maine completed a podium sweep led by Jack Price with the fastest combined time of the day. Logan Davis closely followed in second, and Caleb Gorton finished in third. Less than a second separated first and third place.

Lake Lindelof from the University of Maine at Farmington led the giant slalom field with the fastest combined time. William Strobeck from SJCM finished second, and Sam Roy from UMF finished third. The UMF men’s team finished first in the team competition by less than two seconds.

Hokulani Caroselli from UMF finished first place in the women’s slalom race, leading her teammate Elanore Robb by 0.08 seconds. Erica Irvin from SJCM finished in third. The UMF women’s team finished ahead of SJCM in the team competition.

In giant slalom, Robb led the field with the two fastest times of the day and a combined time over three seconds faster than second place. Courtney Pingree of SJCM finished second place, and Grace Mahmood of UMF finished third. UMF finished first in the team competition.

Thompson Division

The Thompson Division hosted two giant slalom races on Saturday and Sunday at Jay Peak Ski Area in Vermont.

Colton Sankey from Dartmouth College led the men’s field on Saturday with the fastest combined time of the day. Nicholas Szuba of Worcester Polytechnic trailed by 0.03 seconds for second place, and Miles Rucker of Northeastern University finished in third. A total of 0.29 seconds separated first and third place.

On Sunday, Stuart Goodbody from the University of Vermont led the field. Ryan Thomson from GT followed in second place, and Ryan Turnbull from GT placed third.

Kelly Gebhardt from UNH placed first with the fastest combined time. Hadley Platt from the University of Vermont followed by 0.04 seconds for second place, and Haley Kutzer from Northeastern University placed third. 0.46 seconds separated first and third place.

Mideast Conference

The Mideast Conference hosted a slalom race Sunday for the men and women, and a giant slalom race for the women on Saturday. All races were at Bristol Mountain in New York.

Isaac Foster from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute led the field with the two fastest times of the day in front of Antoine Marc from Cornell University in second place and Charles Snyder from Colgate University in third place. Marc led the Cornell men’s team to the team title ahead of Colgate.

Charlotte Croft of Hamilton College led the women’s field in Saturday’s giant slalom race. Cara Gagliardi of the University of Rochester placed second, and Tatum Treherne of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute placed third. The Cornell women’s team placed first in the team competition, led by Eliza Hodgkins, who finished in sixth place.

Hodgkins led the field in Sunday’s slalom with the two fastest times that day. Treherne followed in second, and Kate Broderick from Hobart and William Smith Colleges placed third. Hamilton College had the fastest team combined time by 0.11 seconds ahead of Cornell.

Midwest Conference

The Lake Superior and Chicago Division had two races scheduled for Saturday and Sunday at Mt. LaCrosse but were canceled due to limited snow.

NorCal Conference

The Northern California Conference had a night race scheduled for Friday night at Boreal Mountain, but the race was canceled.

Northwest Conference

The Northwest Conference hosted two slalom races on Saturday and Sunday at Lookout Pass in Idaho. The Montana State University team from the Grand Teton Conference joined the race this weekend as a guest team. Guest teams do not count in team-scoring competitions.

On Saturday, Demitri Panos from the University of Idaho led the field with the fastest combined time. Carson Parco from the College of Idaho followed finishing in second place, and Zackary Niedzwiecki from Montana State placed third. Parco led the College of Idaho to the fastest combined team time.

Parco led the field with the two fastest times of Sunday’s race, putting together a combined time over five seconds faster than Anders Holtenman of MSU. William Paquette from the College of Idaho placed third. The College of Idaho had the fastest combined team time for the second day in a row, leading the second-place team by over 30 seconds.

Isabelle Gustafsson from the College of Idaho led the women’s field with the fastest combined time on Saturday, leading her teammate Caitlyn Bumpers by 0.22 seconds. Sage Curtis from MSU placed third. The College of Idaho women’s team placed first, almost a minute ahead of the University of Washington in second place.

On Sunday, Gustafsson placed first with the fastest combined time. Piper Estelle Davis from MSU finished second place, and Sasha Mueller from the College of Idaho placed third. For the second day in a row, The College of Idaho placed first in the team competition.

Rocky Mountain Conference

The Rocky Mountain Conference hosted a slalom race on Sunday at Powderhorn in Colorado. The University of Utah team of the Grand Teton Conference joined the race as a guest team. Guest teams do not count in team-scoring competitions.

Tj Weaver from the University of Utah led the field with the fastest combined time. Tucker Schultz from Western Colorado University placed second, and John Olson from the United States Air Force Academy placed third. The Air Force Academy had the fastest team combined time.

Katie Bervy from Colorado State University led the women’s field with the fastest combined time. Grace Venverloh from the Air Force Academy followed in second place, and Melissa Umble from Utah trailed by 0.17 seconds for third place. The University of Colorado Boulder women’s team had the fastest combined team time led by Skylar Manka, who placed fourth.

Southeast Conference

The Southeast Conference hosted a dual slalom race on Saturday and a slalom race on Sunday at Bryce Resort, Virginia.

The men’s dual champion was William Queally from Washington and Lee University, followed by Sebastian Franks from Virginia Tech, and Thomas Johnson from the University of Virginia in third.

The women’s dual champion was Marian McDaniel from Georgia Institute of Technology, followed by Ella Blair of Appalachian State University in second and Savannah Taylor from Georgia Institute of Technology in third.

In Sunday’s race, Derin Berkin from Georgia Institute of Technology led the field by almost three seconds with the fastest combined time. Jacob Wierer from Virginia Tech followed in second place, and James Fox of Georgetown University placed third.

Logan Lindstrom from the University of Virginia led the women’s field with the two fastest times of the day and a combined time of over four seconds faster than the competition. Aimee Ramsey from James Madison University placed second, and Mia Lossius from Georgetown placed third. Virginia Tech had the fastest team, led by Julia Gregory, who finished seventh place.

Southwest Conference

The Southwest Conference hosted a one-run giant slalom race on Saturday and a slalom race on Sunday for the men. The women completed a one-run giant slalom and full-slalom race on Sunday. All races were at Mountain High Resort in California.

Musashi Eto from the University of California Los Angeles had the fastest one-run time in the giant slalom race. Shane Cole from the University of Southern California finished second place, and Cooper Laloli from Arizona State University finished third.

Aidan Le Francois from UCLA led the field in the Sunday slalom race with the fastest combined time. Trailing by 0.24 seconds, Cole finished in second, and Will Sedo from The Claremont Colleges finished in third.

Gemma Hill from UCLA led the women’s slalom field with the fastest two times of the day. Nikola Barkwell from Arizona State University finished second, and Lily Waldman from The Claremont Colleges took third.

Kacey Benjaminson from San Diego State University led the one-run giant slalom race, followed by Jordan Flood from the University of California San Diego in second and Kendall Spieler from the University of California Santa Barbara in third.

About USCSA

USCSA is the sports federation for collegiate team ski and snowboard competitions in America. The organization believes that student-athletes of all levels and abilities should have access to quality and exciting venues for competition. 

Our athletes agree that our team orientation fosters a collaborative approach across their collegiate athletic and academic careers, and often this mentality proves indispensable in their adult lives and careers. USCSA includes over 175 institutions from coast to coast, fielding over 5,000 female and male alpine, freestyle, nordic, and snowboarding athletes who participate in more than 300 events annually.