Alpine Ski at the USCSA Eastern Regional Championships
Saturday-Sunday, February 19-20 | 9:30 a.m.
Sugarloaf Mountain | Carrabasset Valley, Maine
WHAT TO KNOW
• Babson and four other MacConnell Division programs will travel to Sugarloaf Mountain for the third time since 2018 to compete in the USCSA Eastern Regional Championships on Saturday and Sunday.
• The Beavers and their league rivals will compete against the top teams from the Thompson and Reynolds Divisions with the top five schools earning a spot at the national championships at Whiteface Mountain next month.
2020 EASTERN REGIONALS RECAP
• The Babson women won the giant slalom and placed fourth in the slalom on the way to finishing second in the combined standings, while the men tied for second overall after coming in second in the slalom and third in the GS on February 22-23 at Sugarloaf.
• Junior Lauren Abdow won the women's GS and was second in the combined standings following her ninth-place result in the slalom.
• Junior Jack Beney was second in the slalom, fifth in the GS and second in the combined standings, while senior Victor Wiacek came in third in the slalom and 10th in the giant slalom to finish fourth in the combined standings for the Babson men.
SCOUTING THE BABSON WOMEN
• The Beavers wrapped up MacConnell Division regular season action with a pair of second-place finishes in the giant slalom last weekend at West Mountain.
• Abdow landed atop the podium in both races and senior Julia Martin came in seventh on Saturday and 11th on Sunday to help Babson secure a second-place finish in the team standings.
• Abdow finished the regular season in third place, while sophomore Caroline Haaijer ended the regular season seventh in the standings after posting eight top-10 results.
• Martin (11th), first-year Amelie Alkier (12th) and sophomore Caroline Johnson (15th) gave the Beavers five skiers among the top 15 in the final league standings.
SCOUTING THE BABSON MEN
• The Beavers recorded their third victory of the season last Saturday and added a third-place finish on Sunday in the giant slalom to conclude the MacConnell Division regular season.
• Sophomores Lucas Wiacek and Ryan Beardsley placed second and third on Saturday, junior Zach Roman finished fourth in both races and sophomore Kyle Wolff added fifth and sixth-place results for the Green and White.
• Beardsley finished the regular season in fourth place in the league standings, while Wiacek (5th), Wolff (7th) and Roman (9th) joined him in the top 10.
• Beney came in 11th and first-year Zach Carpenter, who did not compete in the final four races of the year, placed 16th overall.
REGIONAL SUCCESS
• The Babson women enter their seventh consecutive regional appearance looking to continue a run that has seen them record five straight top-three finishes. This includes coming in as the runner-up four times (2016, 2018-20).
• The Babson men are back in the regionals for the 14th season in a row and are looking for their fourth win since 2013 after taking first in 2013, 2014 and 2017. They have posted four straight top-three results dating back to 2017.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
• The 2020 USCSA Eastern Regional Championships were dominated by the MacConnell Division. Babson's league rivals grabbed five of the top six spots on the women's team leaderboard and five of the top seven on the men's side.
• Castleton (6), Babson (3) and Clarkson (1) all recorded at least one victory during the men's regular season and enter the weekend as three of the top contenders to return to the national championships.
• The Beaver women finished second behind Castleton in all 10 MacConnell Division races this winter and both head to Sugarloaf as heavy favorites to return to Whiteface.
