In this year's final regular-season races, the men's and women's ski clubs overcame adversity to solidify their bids to regional competition, garnering several individual honors in the process.

The men's team finished third in Saturday's giant slalom race and rallied to win Sunday's slalom after No. 1 racer Craig Joyce crashed and was disqualified in the first run. The women placed three skiers in the top 15 Saturday, earning second place honors in the giant slalom, and skied through several falls to pull in a third place slalom finish.

The club's success this weekend propels the squads into regional interconference competition, with the men seeded third in the Allegheny Conference and the women fourth. Personal accolades were also bestowed upon three Penn State racers this weekend: Joyce, Steve Swierczewski and Amy Welch were all named to 1991's Allegheny Conference teams.

The men's team, paced by Swierczewski's season-best second place finish on Sunday, skied to their fourth slalom victory of the year. Mike Costello finished fifth and Andy Goldberg held on to 12th place to outdistance the other 11 schools.

Welch once again led the Penn State women across the finish line Saturday, ending the day in fourth place. Kristen Silvey (seventh) and Renee Biltgen (13th) joined her in earning team points. Biltgen's ninth-place slalom finish was tops Sunday, as Welch, Silvey and Liz Bergman recovered from second-round falls to break the top 20.

"They were fantastic," Coach Lee Gonder said. "They got a few bad breaks but they hung right in there. The women recovered after their slides to finish strong. The guys are definitely starting to make things happen. We could really do some damage at regionals."

Regional competition will be hosted this year by the Allegheny Conference at Seven Springs on Feb. 22-23. A total of 12 schools from the New Jersey, Southeastern and Allegheny conferences will compete for the three men's and three women's national slots.

"The teams aren't skiing like they finished," Gonder said. "Everybody's been skiing much faster. The women are probably second right now (in conference racing) and the guys have a tremendous argument for first."

The toughest competition should come from within the Allegheny conference. Penn and Bucknell, along with the University of Virginia from the SEC, look like the most difficult competitors. The women stand to be challenged by West Virginia and Penn. But, Gonder said, the Lions' biggest competition should come from themselves.

"If we can ski well in Saturday's G.S. and keep on our skis we'll be making the trip to Mount Bachelor (the site of the national races). It all comes down to the G.S. I have no doubts that they can win the slalom. If we ski consistently and get a few breaks, we'll be in Oregon."