HENNIKER, N.H.—The Babson College men's and women's alpine ski teams returned to the slopes for the first time in three weeks on Friday with a trio of strong team finishes and a number of solid individual performances. The men's squad picked up their first victory of the winter and added a third-place finish in the second of two slalom races, while the women's team moved closer to cementing second straight regional championship berth by coming in third in the slalom at Pat's Peak.
Senior Carter Dowd (Salt Lake City, Utah) came in first, while sophomore Jackson Vanzon-Borwick (South Egremont, Mass.) finished sixth as the Beavers edged second-place Connecticut by 1.57 seconds to win the opening men's race of the day. Sophomore John Boland (Waitsfield, Vt.) camein 11th, senior Sam Barber (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) was 12th and sophomore T.J. Pope (Bountiful, Utah) recorded a 28th-place finish for the Green and White.
Babson continued its run of strong performances in the second race, posting its seventh top-three finish in eight competitions. Vanzon-Borwick led the way with a fifth-place showing, Barber came in eighth and Pope recorded an 11th-place result for the Beavers. Sophomore John Boland (Waitsfield, Vt.) finished 14th, while junior Evan Cooke (Brookline, N.H.) improved seven spots from the first race to finish 23rd.
Senior Graham Quisenberry (Farmington, Conn.) and Dowd finished 25th and 27th, respectively, while junior Ben Greenspan (Chappaqua, N.Y.) came in 33rd for the Green and White, which finished behind first-place Clarkson and runner-up Castleton.
The Babson women, who have finished outside the top three just once over their first seven races, came in third for the fifth time this winter. Sophomore Michelle Martin (Belmont, Mass.) recorded the top finish of her career by coming in second, while junior Kristen Sweeney (Westport, Conn.) was 12th for the Beavers, who were just 3.03 seconds behind first-place Castleton, which snapped Brown's 48 race MacConnell Division winning streak. Clarkson, which entered the day in fifth place in the league standings, came in second.
First-year Olivia Burwell (Manchester Center, Vt.) finished 19th overall, sophomore Kathleen Sheppard (Woodstock, Vt.) came in 29th and junior Megan Jones (Essex, Mass.) was 43rd. Classmate Molly Danzig (Allendale, N.J.) recorded a 46th-place showing for the Beavers.
The men and the women will return to the slopes for their final slalom race of the season on Saturday morning.
