Alpine Ski at the USCSA Eastern Regional Championships
Saturday-Sunday, February 18-19 | 9:30 a.m.
Sugarloaf Mountain | Carrabassett Valley, Maine
WHAT TO KNOW
• Babson and MacConnell Division rivals Castleton, Clarkson, UConn and UMass will travel to Sugarloaf Mountain for the second year in a row and fourth time since 2018 to compete in the USCSA Eastern Regional Championships on Saturday and Sunday.
• The Beavers and their MacConnell Division counterparts will compete against the top teams from the Thompson and Reynolds Divisions with the top five schools earning a spot at the USCSA National Championships at Mammoth Mountain in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., next month.
2022 EASTERN REGIONALS RECAP
• The Babson men tied for first place and the Beavers' women's squad finished second on February 19-20, 2022, at Sugarloaf.
• Junior Ryan Beardsley won the giant slalom, classmate Lucas Wiacek came in fifth in the slalom and the duo of junior Kyle Wolff (8th) and senior Jack Beney (10th) both posted top-10 results in the combined standings to help the Babson men register their best regional finish since 2017.
• Senior Lauren Abdow followed up a fourth-place showing in the slalom by winning the GS and finishing first in the GS to pace the Babson women.
• Junior Caroline Haaijer came in fifth overall after placing second in the slalom and seventh in the GS, while sophomores Caroline Johnson and Amelie Alkier finished eighth and ninth, respectively, in the combined standings for the Beavers.
SCOUTING THE BABSON WOMEN
• The Beavers dominated the MacConnell Division winning eight of 10 races on the way to securing the program's first conference title since 1992.
• Haaijer (3rd), junior Maeve Fiske-Mercer (8th) and Alkier (9th) all recorded top-10 finishes as Babson concluded the regular season with a third-place result in the slalom at Pat's Peak last Sunday.
• Abdow, who recorded four individual victories and nine podium finishes, claimed the first individual title in program history and earned the third All-MacConnell Division honor of her career, while Haaijer recorded nine top-five results on the way to finishing fourth and picking up her second consecutive all-league award.
• Junior Arianna Barile came in sixth overall in the MacConnell Division standings and Fiske-Mercer and Johnson placed 10th and 11th, respectively, to give the Beavers five all-conference honorees.
SCOUTING THE BABSON MEN
• The Beavers recorded seven runner-up finishes in 10 races to come in second in the MacConnell Division for the fourth consecutive season.
• Senior Zach Roman (9th), Wiacek (10th) and first-year Sebastian Sheppard posted the team's top three times as the Green and White finished second in the slalom at Pat's Peak to conclude the regular season last Sunday.
• Beardsley registered eight top-seven finishes and earned his second straight All-MacConnell Division honor by placing seventh in the individual standings, while first-year Max Bellino recorded eight top-10 results on the way to placing eighth overall.
• Beney collected his third all-league honor with a 15th-place finish and the trio of Wolff (17th), first-year Finn Horsley (19th) and Roman (20th) all finished among the top-20.
REGIONAL SUCCESS
• The Babson men are making their 15th consecutive trip to the USCSA Eastern Regional Championships and have finished first in four of their last nine appearances (2013, 2014, 2017, 2022) going back to 2013. They also own one runner-up finish (2020) and a pair of third-place results (2018, 2019) during this stretch.
• The Babson women return to the regional championships for the eighth year in a row and have finished no worse than third over their last seven appearances dating back to 2016. The Beavers have finished as the runner-up three times (2016, 2020, 2022) and tied for second place in both 2018 and 2019.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
• The Eastern Regional Championships have been dominated by the MacConnell Division as of last as the men took four of the top six spots on the team leaderboard last season, while the women claimed five of the top seven spots.
• The Babson men are looking to qualify for the USCSA National Championships for the 15th consecutive season and the women are looking to advance to nationals for the seventh year in a row.
UP NEXT
• Babson will compete at the NCAA Regional Championships at Whiteface Mountain in Lake Placid, N.Y., on February 24-25.
