WILMINGTON, N.Y. – The Saint Joseph's College men's alpine ski team concluded the 2024 season by competing in the United States Collegiate Ski & Snowboard Association (USCSA) Dual Slalom National Championships at Whiteface Mountain on Saturday. The Monks posted team wins over Penn State University and University of Wisconsin-Madison before falling to UMaine-Farmington in a 3-2 nailbiter in the eight-team quarterfinal round.
In an event unique to the USCSA National Championships, teams face off against each other in a bracket format with five individuals from each squad racing head-to-head on parallel panel slalom courses. The first team in the matchup to win three individual races advances to the subsequent round by virtue of place point scores.
The Monks opened the event with a first-round win over Penn State, as junior Jacob Morris (Woodstock, N.H.), sophomores Logan Davis (Naples, Maine) and Colin Rathbone (Groton, Mass.), and senior Caleb Gorton (Goffstown, N.H.) all won their heats to help the Royal Blue advance past the Nittany Lions.
Round two required all five matchups to determine a victor, as Morris and Davis claimed wins to set up a showdown for Gorton, who raced to a narrow victory to give his team the 3-2 triumph over the Badgers.
The quarterfinal round featured a pair of very familiar foes – and the only two Maine institutions at the National Championships – in Saint Joseph's and UMaine-Farmington. The Monks held a 2-1 lead after Morris and Davis cruised to easy victories, but Rathbone and Gorton suffered narrow defeats as the Beavers moved on and eventually found the podium with a third-place finish.
