Beavers Tie for First in Combined Standings, Qualify for 14th Straight National Championships Appearance
CARRABASSETT VALLEY, Maine—Sophomore Ryan Beardsley (Warren, Vt.) came in first on the individual leaderboard to help the Babson College men's alpine ski team finish second in the giant slalom at the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association (USCSA) Eastern Regional Championships on Sunday at Sugarloaf Mountain.
The Beavers narrowly missed out on taking first place in the GS on Sunday, finishing just 0.15 seconds behind Clarkson. Babson, which also placed second in the slalom on Saturday, finished in a three-way tie alongside Clarkson and Castleton atop the combined standings. All three teams booked their trip to the USCSA National Championships next month.
Beardsley was first by 0.39 second after his first run and was the fastest skier by nearly a full second on his second trip down the mountain to earn his first collegiate victory by 1.47 seconds with a time of 1:39.15. Sophomore Kyle Wolff (Stratham, N.H.) came in 10th with a time of 1:43.59 and junior Jack Beney (Greenwich, Conn.) placed 17th with a time of 1:45.22.
Wolff was the Beavers' top finisher in the combined standings coming in eighth, while Beney added a 10th-place finish. Beardsley, who didn't complete two runs in the slalom on Saturday, was 28th, while sophomore Lucas Wiacek (Douglaston, N.Y.) and senior Victor Wiacek (Douglaston, N.Y.) were 33rd and 38th, respectively.
Babson will travel to Whiteface Mountain in Lake Placid, N.Y., the week of March 7 for the USCSA National Championships.
REGIONAL NOTES
• Babson, which also finished first at the regionals in 2013, 2014 and 2017, is headed back to nationals for the 14th year in a row, a streak that extends back to 2008.
• Beardsley's victory was the first by a Babson skier at regionals since 2018 when MacIntyre Henderson '20 finished atop the podium in the GS.
