Twenty-seven years can be a long, long time.

That's how long is been since the Harvard men's ski team last finished first in a regular-season inter collegiate carnival.

The drought finally ended over the weekend as the Crimson travelled to Sunday River, Me., and captured the Bowdoin Carnival, the first of four regular-season carnivals i which it will participate.

"It's the first top finish we've had since they began keeping records in 1957," said men's Captain Bill Kealey "As far as I know, the streak could have gone on even longer"

Harvard finished with 254 points for the weekend, three ahead of second place Bowdoin and 13 ahead of third-place finisher Johnson State College of Johnson, Vt.

"It moves us back up to the big time," said Kealey. "We've been on a one-trick pony for a few years."

A ski team is divided into two groups, one competing in Alpine events, the other in Nordic. One event in each category is held on each of the two days of a carnival.

Harvard took both Alpine events behind the brilliant performances of Freshmen Per-Arne Weiner and Dave Wood. Weiner won both the giant slalomlom of Friday and the slalom on Saturday, while Wood placed fourth and third, respectively, in the two events.

Weiner, who hails from Uppsala, Sweden, has been the brightest star of the four freshmen on the six-man squad. He, like Kealey, is optimistic about the squad's future.

"It's great to be part of a progressing program," he said. "Our success came as a surprise to me, because we hadn't trained more than 10 days prior to the competition.

"The fact that four of his out of six are freshmen tells us a lot about the future."

"We've had some bright individuals to the past, but we've never been able to put it together," added Kealey.

"The big difference this year was getting those freshmen," he continued. "It's always tough for a freshman on a varsity team, but these guys have really come through for us."

Kealey, a senior, skis Nordic, where he is joined by the team's two other Yearlings, Dan Carey and John Seybold.

In the 15-kilometer individual event on Friday, Kealey placed third out of more than 50 skiers, while Seybold and Carey finished 13th and 15th respectively.

In the 3x8 km relay on Saturday, Harvard finished just out of first, 10 seconds behind Marlboro College.

"Our best skier is definitely Bill Kealey," said Nordic Coach George Weir, the program's overall coordinator. "But there's no question that Per-Arne and Dave have really given us an edge in the Alpine events. In the Nordic events, Dan and John have put in extremely good performances as well.

"It's the freshmen who've provided results," he added.

If the Crimson can hold onto its lead over perennial Division II sking power Bowdoin through the next three carnivals, it will be invited to the Division I Carnival, to be held in Middlebury, VI., on bruary 22 and 23

"That's our aspiration, to go to Middlebury," said Kealey. "We have our work cut out for us to hold onto this lead."

"It's really a horserace between us and Bowdoin," added Weir. "We haven't had this kind of consistency in the three years I've been here. If they get by us, it will be because they're better, not because we let up."

Promising

Things have also been looking up for the women's ski team, which showed great promise at the Bowdoin Carnival, finishing only three points out of second place. Bowdoin is also the dominant team in women's competition

The women are led by what Weir called a "powerhouse" group of Nordic skiers In the women's cross country event on Friday, Harvard's Judy Rabinowitz, Manya Deehr, and Lucy MacMillan finished first, second, and fourth respectively out of a field of almost 50 skiers.

"We're pretty solid for third place in the women's competition," said Weir. "Our Alpine girls are also staring to come on Right now , they're a little bit inexperienced.

Bowdom will be tough to catch," he added "We're really shooting for second place.

"Strill, the team are much stronger than we expected"

Kealey shares Weir's surprise.

"We had a hunch before the start of the season that if we got everyone together we would do well," he said of the men's team "But again it's the freshmen who have come through for us."

The fact that two veterans had to be cut from the men's squad is testimony to the ability of the four Yearlings.

We didn't know how good they really were, said Kealey.

Still, Harvard should consider itself fortunate to have acquired so many outstanding skiers in one year. The Crimson, a club team, have not exactly enjoyed the reputation of a collegiate skiing dynasty over the last quarter century.

I had heard that the in Harvard was terrible," said Weir. I almost went to Williams instead If it wasn't for the fact that Harvard is in a city that my brother already attends Williams, I would be there now."

In the meantime, it looks like the Harvard ski team" the men's team at least-- should be competitive if not dominant over the next four years.

Who Knows? Many be poetic justice will be served and they won't lose another carnival for the next 27 year