The men's ski team turned a 4½ second lead and its sixth slalom victory of the season into a ticket to Mt. Bachelor, Oregon, this weekend by skiing to a three-way first place tie at this weekend's regional ski races.

The women's team, however, was not as fortunate. They were stymied in its attempt to improve upon its sixth place giant slalom finish on Saturday, finishing eighth in Sunday's slalom, and finished seventh overall.

"The guys skied like madmen! They overcame the pressure and really put it together," Coach Lee Gonder said. "The women had a chance going into the second day, but there were some really fast skiers from the south."

The men were led both days by Steve Swierczewski. He equaled his season best Sunday, picking up his second consecutive second-place slalom finish, and led all Penn State racers across the line Saturday, finishing 12th. Mike Costello (fifth) and Andy Goldberg (12th) paced the Lions' scoring Sunday. On Saturday, Costello and Craig Joyce also placed in the top 25, ending the day in 22nd and 24th places, respectively.

Amy Welch led the women's charge Saturday, skiing to an 11th place finish. Kristen Silvey finished 25th and Alyssa Ilove (30th) to push the team to a sixth-place finish. Silvey's 12th place in the slalom was the only top 30 finish on Sunday.

The victory by the men allows them to compete in the National Collegiate Ski Association (NCSA) national races March 13-16 at Mt. Bachelor. They will be one of 16 schools from across the country competing in nationals. While Penn State fields skiing as a club sport, some of the competition, such as Brigham Young and Colorado, are fully-funded varsity teams.

"It'll be tough," said Gonder. "Some of these schools have skiers who have raced on the U.S. Ski Team. We're just going to go there and ski our hearts out. If we finish, we'll do alright, if we don't, we'll just have some fun."

The weekend's festivities included appearances by Phil and Steve Mahre, medalists in the 1984 Olympics. The brothers made a test-run exhibition for the skiers Sunday and presented medals and plaques to the racers later in the evening.