SUN VALLEY, Idaho -- Senior Richard Beneduci came up with a clutch performance on the final slalom run of his collegiate career to help the Babson College men's alpine ski team secure its best finish ever at the 2013 United States Collegiate Skiing and Snowboard Association (USCSA) National Championships at Sun Valley on Friday. Thanks to Beneduci's successful run, the Beavers placed fourth in the slalom portion of the competition to finish third in the overall standings - the program's best finish in its 10 appearances at the National Championships.
Friday's slalom competition started off well for the Beavers, as first-year star Carter Dowd followed up Wednesday's All-America performance in the GS with the 11th fastest opening run. Senior captain Zach Breakstone ranked 20th after his first run of the day, followed by first-year Graham Quisenberry in 21st, first-year Sam Barber in 27th, and Benduci in 42nd.
Barber and Quisenberry continued to ski well with two more fabulous efforts on their second trips down the hill. Barber's combined time of 1:40.22 vaulted him into 16th place overall, while Quisenberry's total time of 1:40.42 moved him up to 17th.
Things took a turn soon after, as Dowd and Breakstone - the Beavers' top two skiers throughout the season - each failed to complete their final run. That left Babson's fate up to Beneduci, as failure to post a third individual finish would result in the Beavers getting saddled with a ghost time of 3:36 - a result that would have dropped the team's final ranking to 15th in the slalom. The Babson senior responded with a carefully executed run of 54.31 seconds to place him 30th overall in the competition with a total time of 1:46.19, and in doing so he clinched the Beavers' fourth-place effort in the event and third-place showing overall.
NOTES: Babson's best finish at Nationals prior to Friday was sixth, which was accomplished in both 2006 and 2009... Remarkably, this was the first time in 15 races this season that Dowd did not complete a run - an incredible span of 29 trips down the mountain.
