For the past nine seasons, the skiing team has made it to the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association national championships. Last season, the Bears came in third place in the Alpine division — their best finish since 2004-2005. But this winter, the team was unable to repeat its past success and fell to a 17th place finish in a field of 20 schools.
Captain Krista Consiglio '11 said the Bears struggled because the courses at Sun Valley Resort in Idaho were tougher than the other slopes they had taken on this season.
"They were very demanding courses," she said. "You had to be really on top of your game. … We might have psyched ourselves out a bit, so we crashed and burned."
The giant slalom course had the maximum vertical drop permissible for the event, Consiglio said. Problems in giant slalom have plagued the team throughout the season, and the difficulty of the course only exacerbated these issues for the Bears.
Consiglio said the team was even more frustrated with its performance in slalom. In the last four carnivals of the regular season, Brown had finished in first place in slalom at each race. But the Bears could not dominate the event at nationals and finished 13th.
"Slalom was definitely a shock," Consiglio said. "Giant slalom was the event we struggled in all year in getting girls down the hill. It was not as much of a shock, but just as disappointing. When push came to shove, we still couldn't get it together."
Though the team ended the season on a low note, Consiglio herself posted strong performances. In a field of over 100 skiers, she came in fifth in slalom and seventh in giant slalom, with times of 1:37.05 and 2:26.98, respectively. After all the skiers' individual race points were added, she was the third-best skier overall, earning first team All-American honors.
"It was nice to end my skiing career on that note," she said. "But it was disappointing that the team wasn't as successful as I was at nationals," she added.
Kia Mosenthal '12 also did well in giant slalom, coming in 12th with a time of 2:28.99. But she was unable to complete her second run in slalom.
The team's results at nationals do not reflect its potential, Consiglio said.
"It was disappointing to see that result, but at the end of the day, it's just a number on a page," she said. "We know that we're still one of the top teams in the nation."
