Dowd Wins Slalom While Sweeney Becomes First Female To Qualify For Nationals Since 1998

CARRABASSETT VALLEY, Maine—After a second-place finish in the giant slalom on Saturday at Sugarloaf, the Babson College men's alpine ski team won its third race of the season on Sunday to finish first overall, repeating as United States Collegiate Ski Association (USCSA) East Regional champions. With the victory, the Beavers clinched their seventh consecutive bid to the USCSA National Championships.

First-year Kristen Sweeney (Westport, Conn.) of the Babson women's team also had a tremendous regional debut, becoming the first female to qualify for nationals since Michelle Steinrotter '98 earned the last of her three bids in 1998.

Sophomore Carter Dowd (Salt Lake City, Utah) once again led the Green and White as he collected his third win of the season with a combined time of 1:18.55. Dowd was in fifth position after his first run, but closed with the second-fastest run of the day (38.93) to win by nearly a second to earn his second consecutive Eastern Regional slalom title.

Classmate Graham Quisenberry (Farmington, Conn.) moved up from 14th place after his first run with a time of 39.62 to finish eighth overall with a time of 1:21.68. Junior Kevin Dachos (Northampton, Mass.) was two spots behind Quisenberry in 10th place after posting a total time of 1:22.19. Sophomore Sam Barber (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) came in 22nd and first-year Evan Cooke (Brookline, N.H.) was 28th for Babson.

Sweeney, who was coming off a seventh-place result in the giant slalom on Saturday, finished second in the slalom with a time of 1:29.81. She was sixth after her first run before posting the fastest time of any skier in her second run to finish less than a second out of first place.

The USCSA National Championships will take place from March 11-14 at Whiteface Mountain in Lake Placid, N.Y.