University of Massachusets Athletics
UMass Women's Skiing Qualifies For USCSA Nationals
February 27, 2001 | Women's Ski
Feb. 27, 2001
WATERVILLE VALLEY, N.H.--With a fourth-place finish in Sunday's USCSA Regionals slalom competition, the UMass women's skiing team was one of five teams to qualify for the USCSA Nationals. The men's team finished in seventh place, just over two seconds behind the last qualifier.
The women's team finished with a total time of 328.21, ten seconds behind first-place Boston College. Junior Lauren Brodey (Fayetteville, NY) led the Minutewomen with a sixth-place finish in a time of 1:46.99 (52.20, 54.79). Sophomore Carolyn Lewenberg (Newton, Mass.) finished in 12th place in 1:50.52 (54.23, 56.29), followed by sophomore Tina King (Easthampton, Mass.) in 13th place with a time of 1:50.70 (54.85, 55.85). Also placing for the Maroon and White were senior Margaret LaBombard (Queensbury, N.Y.) in 20th place (1:54.32, 55.63, 58.69) and junior Ericka Olson (Pittsfield, Mass.) in 33rd place (2:01.75, 55.62, 1:06.13).
The men were led in the slalom by junior Kenneth Thoman (Lebanon, Ohio), who took 10th place with a time of 1:31.37 (44.59, 46.78). Following Thoman were sophomore Richard Granger (Princeton, Mass.) in 18th place (1:34.62, 46.54, 48.08) and freshman David Pomeroy (Winthrop, Mass.) in 28th place (1:36.96, 47.86, 49.10).
Both teams also competed in the NCAA Regionals on Feb. 23 and 24 in Middlebury, Vt. Granger was the men's top skier, finishing 27th in the giant slalom (2:09.82, 1:02.39, 1:07.43) and 41st in the slalom (1:33.80, 47.01, 46.79). Thoman finished 38th in the slalom (1:33.10, 47.26, 45.84) but did not finish in the giant slalom, marking the first time he has failed to score in his 42-race, three-year UMass career. According to head coach Bill MacConnell, no other skier has achieved or exceeded this record in his 40 years of coaching.
On the women's side, Lewenberg led the Minutewomen in the giant slalom with a 37th-place finish (2:24.49), and was joined in the top 50 by Brodey in 43rd place (2:26.63, 1:10.17, 1:14.32) and Olson in 47th place (2:29.09, 1:11.39, 1:17.70).
LaBombard was the top Minutewoman in the slalom with a 49th-place finish (1:58.62, 58.09, 1:00.53), followed by Olson in 51st place (2:00.40, 58.37, 1:02.03) and Brodey in 57th place (2:12.54, 1:15.52, 57.02).
The women's team will head to Bogus Basin, Idaho on March 6-10, for the USCSA Nationals, while the men's season is complete. --UM--
