The Colby alpine ski team had a consistent weekend of racing at Jiminy Peak in Hancock, Mass. for the Williams College Carnival. Faced with challenging snow conditions and unpredictable weather, the Mules remained in seventh place out of 16 schools at the end of the weekend.

During the first day of racing—a slalom race on Friday—both the men and women’s teams had three racers finish in the top 30. “The snow was very soft on Friday,” Katie Houser ’13 said. “But it did harden up well overnight for the [giant slalom]. Overall it was pretty tough conditions but we fought through and had some good performances.” Houser placed 27th with an overall time of 1:44.23, finishing right behind teammates Sierra Leavitt ’15 and Cassady Roberts ’13. Roberts’ time of 1:39.90 put her in 18th place, and Leavitt was 22nd (1:42.69). Williams’ Laurel Carter won the day (1:35.31).

Brian Morgan ’12 had the best result of the day for the men. He finished in 11th place (1:31.43), about two seconds behind University of Vermont (UVM) winner Sean Higgins. Jim Ryan ’14 came in 20th (1:32.74), and Marc Massie ’13 followed in 25th (1:34.28). The men finished in fifth place in the overall slalom scores; the women finished in sixth place.

The giant slalom on the following day was not as successful for the Mules—the men placed sixth, while the women’s team dropped back to 10th place. Andrew McNealus from Middlebury College won the men’s race with a time of 1:45.34, and Harvard University’s Rebecca Nadler was the women’s winner, clocking in with a time of 1:47.73. Colby’s best results were Brittney Ziebell ’14 in 1:55.93 (34th), Morgan in 1:47.36 (15th) and Ryan in 1:48.09 (20th). Will Randall ’14, Craig Marshall ’15 and Massie all finished within two-tenths of a second of each other in 28th, 29th and 30th place, respectively.

With only one college Carnival left in the season, the Mules are currently tied for seventh place with Bates College. Dartmouth College, UVM and Middlebury College are in the top three spots. Next week’s race will be hosted by Middlebury at the Middlebury Snow Bowl in Vermont.