The 2006 season has been an uphill battle for the ski team. After placing second at the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association National Championships last year, Brown had managed just one first-place finish this season before last weekend. After another disappointing finish in Saturday's giant slalom at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Car-nival, where they took fourth place, the Bears held a team meeting to discuss what had been plaguing them on the slopes.
Whatever was slowing it down, Brown managed to shake it on Sunday. The Bears took first place at the University of Connecticut Car-nival to move into third place in the Eastern Collegiate Skiing Conference standings, just six points behind first-place Boston College. The win was Brown's first in five races since the opening competition of the season.
"This year, our team has been shakier than last year," said Meaghan Casey '08. "Last year we were a powerhouse, but this year has been more of a struggle as a team. We seem to have some great individual performances every week, but we can't seem to string together three strong finishes. On Sunday, we finally did it."
Behind Casey's career-best run in her second attempt on the day - her third-place finish in that run vaulted her from 19th- to 10th-place overall - and another first-place effort from Kelly O'Hear '07, the Bears placed four skiers in the top 26. O'Hear also finished second in the slalom on Saturday to cap off another impressive weekend for Bruno's co-captain.
"I have to remember some-times that I'm one of the oldest members of the squad even though I'm just a junior," O'Hear said. "I'm expected to show that senior leadership now. Every weekend I know I have to finish for our team to do well and in six races I've only fallen once."
Also contributing to Sun-day's win was Janet Marley-Mauzy '07, who came in one place behind Casey with a time of 1:22.03, and Mallory Taub '08, who placed 26th.
The team's results were even more impressive considering that, once again, the Bears were forced to overcome the elements to win Sunday's event. The day started off with rainy conditions at Cranmore Moun-tain, threatening to derail the UConn Carnival for a second time after it was postponed from early January.
"We got to the lodge and we were disappointed because it looked like we were ... going to get canceled again," Casey said. "There was just enough (snow) coverage to ski."
The Bears remain in the hunt for the conference crown after the rousing win and still remain confident that there is a berth in the national competition awaiting them.
"In Saturday's giant slalom, we didn't ski horribly," O'Hear said. "But we were psyched to win on Sunday. We should be in the top three (of the team competition) every time, but (so far) someone has fallen or had a rough day at the wrong time. Now that we've reached our potential, we should continue our success going forward."
