Captain Caroline McHugh, junior Catherine Sheils, and freshman Liz Strong all hit ruts in the middle of the course that threw them out of synch. But Sheils was able to rally to finish 16th. Meanwhile, for sophomore Rebecca Nadler, who finished 21st, the course may have been too easy.

“She’s a much better skier on hard, difficult hills,” Mitchell said.

But while the results were not what the women’s alpine team wanted, Mitchell was happy with the way they approached the course.

“The girls really attacked,” he said. “They skied really aggressively. You have to take some risks....I’d rather have them skiing fast and making mistakes....It was a calculated risk, and unfortunately it didn’t work out.”

Meanwhile, the men’s alpine skiers were not able to qualify for the second round and thus did not post a result. Mitchell noted that junior captain Andrew Spielvogel was close to qualifying for the second run, and senior Kevin McNamara had a first half of a run that was derailed close to the end.

“He’s getting really, really close,” Mitchell said of McNamara.

—Staff writer Christina C. McClintock can be reached at ccmcclin@fas.harvard.edu.