By Kyle Zamiara
Promotions Editor
Last weekend, the United States Collegiate Ski Association came to Holiday Valley for the first time in 25 years for an invitational hosted by St. Bonaventure. It was the first time St. Bonaventure’s club ski team has ever hosted a meet.
Senior team co-captain Nick Turgeon said he was beyond pleased with how the meet went, even though the team didn’t perform very well. The men placed eighth in both the giant slalom and slalom while the women placed seventh in slalom.
“(The tournament) really worked out well this weekend,” Turgeon said. “We got a lot of compliments on how smoothly everything went, and Holiday Valley helped us out a lot. It was not in any way a one-man effort. It was really exciting to have it go so well, and I’d take that over winning first place any day. I’m not the best skier out there, but I’m really proud that I put on a damn good meet.”
St. Bonaventure won the weekend spot by one vote against Cornell during the league meeting back in September.
Although Turgeon is graduating, he said he was optimistic the team will be able to host again next season.
“A lot of the coaches at Holiday Valley want to do it again next year,” Turgeon said. “They said we were a great group of kids, and if this team was the future of St. Bonaventure skiing, then they have nothing to worry about.”
St. Bonaventure will race in their fifth and final meet of the season tomorrow at Greek Peak for Cornell University’s invitational. Only freshmen Max Borgus and Gabby Slavny and senior co-captain Alex Ross are scheduled to compete at the race.
After a year of being the only male on the team, Turgeon and the ski team have seen a major turnaround from years past.
“It flip-flopped this year,” Turgeon said. “Now we only have three girls and five guys. Usually in previous years, I’ve been the only guy on a whole team of girls.”
The men’s team is made up of Turgeon, Borgus, seniors Joe Crumlish and Trevor Sullivan and freshman Nick Podhorecki.
Individually, Borgus had an outstanding season, finishing first out of 37 competitors in the giant slalom at Labrador Mountain in the team’s first race of the season. He followed that up with a fifth place finish in the slalom at Bristol Mountain and two third-place finishes at Swain in the giant slalom and slalom.
On the women’s side, sophomore Micaela Young joins Slavny and Ross. Slavny has paced the team throughout the season scoring a fourth, third and second place finish through four competitions.
Turgeon acknowledged both of the team’s young stars when talking about what this program looked like when he was a freshman.
“Considering we didn’t exist a couple years ago, combined with our two new great freshmen and hosting a meet this season, we’re a force to be reckoned with,” Turgeon said. “The Bona’s ski team has made some great strides.”
With three men and one girl graduating in Spring, the team will need an influx of new skiers come next season. Turgeon said he knows they’re around on campus already, but they just need to come out and give it a try.
“People will see our coats and say, ‘Oh, I didn’t even know we had a ski team,’” Turgeon said. “Well start knowing.”
