Members of the Massachusetts ski teams travel to Middlebury, Vt., this afternoon to compete in the Eastern Intercollegiate Skiing Association Conference Regional championships.
"Middlebury is an honor for the guys from our league into the Middlebury Carnival race," said UMass coach Skip Fox.
Both teams sit in third place in the McConnell Division.
"It's kind of a reward. It means that they all made the top 15 individually in the McConnell Division. We are going up against the best collegiate skiers in the nation," Fox added.
Senior Eliza Hawkins, freshman Jamie Taloumis and sophomore Emily Shilletto will represent the Minutewomen while senior Jason Small and sophomores Andrew Hawes, Matt Small and Ian Hohmeister will represent the Minutemen.
If any individual in this group places in the top 12 of today's Slalom, they will gain an invitation to the NCAA Finals held in Bozeman, Mt., from March 5-8, hosted by Montana State.
"Anybody that scores in the top 12 today gets invited to the NCAAs," Fox said. "The past couple years we haven't had anyone do that. It hurts and helps our team. It helps in that UMass gets recognized at the national level, but they will not be able to ski in the USCSA championships, because the dates conflict."
The team will then travel to Waterville Valley, N.H., to compete in the Eastern Collegiate Skiing Conference Regional Championships on Feb. 23 and 24.
After wrapping up its regular season Feb. 12 at the Boston College Carnival, the team hopes to make a playoff push this weekend.
"I hope the whole team has some good runs this weekend," Fox said. "It's a changed format, in which we go from scoring five skiers to scoring three skiers, so consistency is very important. Obviously, you have to have a 60 percent finish rate out of your five skiers, so it is important for everybody to do well."
Hawkins and Taloumis have been the face of the Minutewomen, consistently finishing in the top five in the Slalom and Giant Slalom events. Hawkins is going into her final postseason races, while Taloumis is finishing up her first season. Hawkins has impressed throughout her career, and Fox believes that Taloumis can fill that role when Hawkins graduates in May.
"I think that's a definite possibility. I think Jamie can take a leadership role," Fox said. "The real test is this weekend. I'm looking for good things to happen this weekend."
The Minutemen have relied on Hawes and Small, who both finished in the top 10 at the Boston Carnival.
David Brinch can be reached at dbrinch@student.umass.edu.
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