Weekend Preview: Alpine Skiing Heads to N.Y. for Races at West Mountain and Willard Mountain

WHAT TO KNOW
• Following a successful opening weekend in New Hampshire, the Babson men's and women's ski teams travel to upstate New York for MacConnell Division competition.
• The Beavers will compete in their first giant slalom race of the winter at West Mountain on Friday morning before visiting Willard Mountain for the first time for a pair of slalom runs on Saturday.

LAST TIME AT WEST MOUNTAIN
• The Beavers finished off the their 2022 MacConnell Division schedule with four straight races at West Mountain, which includes the men taking first and third place and the women finishing second twice in the giant slalom on February 12-13 of last year.
• Senior Lauren Abdow finished atop the podium in both of the women's races, while junior Lucas Wiacek, classmate Ryan Beardsley and senior Zach Roman placed second through fourth to lead the Babson men to a team win in the opening race of the weekend.

SCOUTING THE BABSON WOMEN
• The Beavers opened the 2023 season with a bang taking first place in both slalom races at Proctor Ski Area last weekend.
• Abdow followed up a runner-up finish on day one by taking first place in Sunday's race, and junior Caroline Haaijer placed third on Saturday and second on Sunday to lead the Green and White.
• Sophomore Caroline Johnson followed up an 11th-place showing on day one by coming in fourth in the second race of the weekend, while junior Arianna Barile (6th) and sophomores Alli Messier (9th) and Maeve Fiske-Mercer (10th) all recorded one top-10 finish on opening weekend.
• Going back to the start of last season, Babson has registered 12 consecutive top-two finishes in MacConnell Division competition.

SCOUTING THE BABSON MEN
• The Beavers opened the 2023 season by finishing second in back-to-back slalom races at Proctor Ski Area last weekend.
• Beardsley (6th), first-year Sebastian Sheppard (8th) and classmate Finn Horsley (10th) all posted top-10 results last Saturday and Beardsley (5th), first-year Max Bellino (6th) and Wiacek (10th) all finished among the top 10 on Sunday for the Green and White.
• Senior Jack Beney came in 11th in Saturday's race and junior Kyle Wolff added a pair of 12th-place finishes.
• Babson has recorded 12 straight podium finishes as a team in MacConell Division races, which includes three victories and six runner-up results, going back to the start of last year.

TRADITION OF SUCCESS
• The Babson men have made 14 consecutive USCSA National Championship appearances and boast four top-seven finishes in five trips going back to 2017.
• The Babson women have made six consecutive appearances at nationals and have finished no worse than a tie for fifth place during this run.

STRONG RESULTS AT WEST MOUNTAIN
• In addition to last year's victories in the GS at West Mountain, Abdow also placed fifth in the same event back in 2020.
• Roman finished fourth in both men's giant slalom races last year and also boasts a seventh-place showing in 2020.
• Wolff placed fifth and sixth in the two GS races at West last winter and Beney owns three top-15 finishes in the giant slalom in his career at West Mountain.

UP NEXT
• The Beavers travel to Lake Placid, N.Y., for two days of giant slalom races at Whiteface Mountain on January 27-28.

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