This past weekend marked the last carnival series of the season for the alpine team. Hosted by Bates College, the races— consisting of slalom on Saturday and giant slalom (GS) on Sunday—took place at the nearby Sunday River course.

“The season went by really quickly,” Justin Sperry ’13 reminisced. “As a young team with only one uninjured senior and three juniors [in our ranks], I think we had a great year. Everyone had some good performances.” This weekend was no exception; six of Colby’s skiers finished in the top 30 over the course of the two-day competition.

Compared to other races this year, the weather conditions were kind to the racers. Sperry said that “the surface was great. They pushed the new snow off the hill so it [was just a layer] of ice and [it] held up really well.”

On Saturday, Megan Ryley and Tim Kelley, both skiing for the University of Vermont (UVM), won the slalom with times of 1:39.59 and 1:32.98.

Cassady Roberts ’13 came in 18th place with a time of 1:44.24, Michelle Seares ’13 took 27th place (1:47.51) and Katie Houser ’13 finished 34th (1:49.32). Brian Morgan ’12 had the best finish of the weekend for the men’s team when he scored tenth place overall with a time of 1:36.13. Matt McKenna ’14 finished in 29th place (1:39.78), and Will Randall ’14 was right behind him in 32nd place (1:41.99). Both teams placed sixth overall in the slalom races.

In the GS races on Sunday, several Colby racers fell or hiked; as a result, both the men’s and women’s teams finished in ninth place for the day. Marc Massie ’13 and Natalie Biedermann ’12 led the Mules with 18th and 23rd place finishes, respectively. Both  skiers finished three-and-a-half seconds behind the winners of the GS (Geordie Lonza from Williams College and Kevin Drury, who snagged the third win for UVM. Seares and McKenna captured the next-highest finishes in the competition: 31st and 34th, respectively.

By the end of the carnival, the Mules had achieved an overall seventh-place ranking while UVM, Dartmouth College and the University of New Hampshire remained in the top three positions.

Although the season is just ending, the teams are already thinking ahead to next year’s races. Sperry was optimistic about the future for Colby skiers. “We are only graduating one person and have some recruits on the way, so next year looks promising [for us].”

Morgan, Massie and Jim Ryan ’14 will compete at the NCAA meet in Stowe, Vt. from March 9-12.