Hughes '08 blitzes field to claim double gold Sophomore speedster dominates the slalom and GS while Midd takes 2nd

Author: Geoff Homer

After an extremely difficult week coping with the devastating accident of teammate Kelly Brush '08 in last weekend's carnival at Williams, the alpine ski team had one goal in mind at the beginning of the EISA ski championships at the Snow Bowl: ski their best as a team. As captain Megan Hughes '08 said, "This past week has been really tough on all of us, with Kelly's injury, so we have been really supportive and encouraging of everyone as a team, and I think it really showed in the races."

On Friday, running the GS one day earlier because of the expected snowstorm, first-year Andrew Wagner led the Panthers with a incredible second place effort while Zeke Davisson '08, who had spent the whole week at the hospital in Massachusetts supporting Brush, turned in an inspirational performance with a fourth place finish. Fellow sophomore Clayton Reed rounded out the top three with a ninth place finish. On the ladies side, Hughes continued her stellar year, winning the GS by more than a second. Krissy Poehling '08 was right behind in seventh while Dorothy Muirhead '08 and Tara Martin '07 tied for 14th.

During a blistering snowstorm and cold weather, Hughes continued her dominance of the weekend's carnival, winning Saturday's slalom by almost half a second. Hughes has now won three of the six slaloms of the season, and as the defending NCAA champion, will be the skier to beat at next week's NCAA championships in Steamboat, Colo. Right behind her was first-year Mattie Ford, continuing her stellar rookie campaign with a fourth place effort.

Not to be outshone by the success of Hughes, Wagner equaled his previous day's finish with another second place in the men's slalom. Right behind him was Captain Andrew Everett '07 in third, turning in a dominating first run. Davisson rounded out the top three with an 18th place effort, with senior captain and former All-American Dave Coriell right behind.

Representing the Panthers at next week's NCAA championships at Steamboat will be Hughes, Ford and Poehling for the women and Everett, Wagner and Clayton Reed for the men's side. The other members of the team will rest up and possibly compete in late season races in order to lower their FIS race points for better start positions next season.