The skiing team raced to its best finish in Brown history last week, tying for second at the United States Collegiate Ski Association National Championships on Brundage Mountain in McCall, Idaho.
Against the top 15 North American ski teams, the Bears fell short of toppling defending champion Sierra Nevada College, who once again placed first in the country with two points, while Colby-Sawyer College tied Bruno with five points.
The Bears walked away with numerous individual awards. Kelly O'Hear '07 was named a First Team All-American in the slalom, while co-captain Hilary Swaffield '06 and Janet Marley-Mauzy '07 were named to the second team overall and in the giant slalom. O'Hear, Swaffiled, Sophie Elgort '08 and Mallory Taub '08 all received Academic All-American honors.
Swaffield finished eighth overall in the field, while Marley-Mauzy finished 14th.
In the slalom, the Bears finished second with a team time of 4:41.58 and third in the giant slalom with a team time of 6:04. The combined times of the two events put the Bears 28.28 seconds behind Sierra Nevada, which had three ex-World Cup international skiers on its team.
"We all knew that we could do it, but we even surprised ourselves when we where there," O'Hear said. "Our team stepped it up, those girls skied fast and we were able to hang on to third place (in the giant slalom), which is pretty exciting when two of your five skiers fall."
O'Hear was seeded as one of the top athletes in the competition, and was looking to finish as the top American skier, which would have granted her a spot on the U.S. National ski team. Unfortunately, a fall in the giant slalom put her out of contention for the coveted spot.
"I still have two more years to accomplish that goal," she said. "I pulled myself together and realized that it was a team sport and we could still do great at the event."
Before the fall, O'Hear was one of only three skiers in the event to finish with a sub-58.4 second time on the giant slalom, which, if duplicated, would have left her second in the event, solidifying her place as a top American collegiate skier.
"If she finished the (giant slalom) with a clean run she would be headed to the U.S. Nationals," said Head Coach Michael Leblanc.
O'Hear's fall put greater pressure on her teammates to finish with clean runs. Swaffield rose to the challenge, placing sixth in the giant slalom with a two-run time of 1:58.93. Marley-Mauzy was the second Brown skier to place in the event, taking 15th after a superb second run.
"Janet was unhappy with her first run in the (giant slalom), but on the second run she came down and smoked everybody," O'Hear said.
"I wasn't really expecting anything when I went in there, so it was kind of a nice surprise to do really well," Marly-Mauzy said. "The snow was different than what we we're used to: It was a little bit softer because it was so warm there, so we had to start the race super early in the morning."
Elgort was Brown's third finisher, despite being unable to train until two days before.
Marly-Mazy and Elgort were thrust into a bigger role on the team after the season-ending injuries to co-captain Stephanie Breakstone '06 and Nina DiBona '07 in early January. They usually race in the three and four spots behind O'Hear and Swaffield. Leblanc attributed their consistency to experience and the ability to shift gears on the go.
"Those two girls were the most consistent the whole year," Swaffield said. "They both have the uncanny ability to adjust their level of skiing by making microscopic adjustments."
Two days after the giant slalom, the Bears took to the slopes again, this time competing in the slalom. O'Hear skied to the best ever individual performance for a Brown athlete at Nationals, finishing third in the slalom with a total time of 1:31.08. Elgort was the second Bruno finisher, taking 17th, while Swaffield was two slots behind with a two-run time of 1:36.93.
"Hilary is a great leader, she's a really solid skier, she always gets the job done and she skies for the team. If somebody in front of her falls, she knows she needs to finish and she'll hold back a little bit and finish for the team," Marly-Mauzy said.
Leblanc attributed much of the team's success to their hard working attitude and the leadership qualities of Swaffield, who only crashed once all season.
"Her consistency definitely rubbed off on the other girls, something I am grateful for as a coach," Lebanc said.
Leblanc said the Bears' strong performance will help in the recruiting process for next year.
"Once you have fast girls, and once you perform well, it makes recruiting a lot easier," he said. "Fast skiers want to go to Ivy League schools."
Swaffied agreed that a deeper lineup would be beneficial for the Bears, as skiers would be able to ski more aggressively, because they know if they fall, their teammates have the chance to do just as well if not better.
"I think that we have a great chance of doing just as well if not better next year," she said.
"Sierra Nevada lost their best girl, and the fact that we are not losing anybody is very important," she added.
