One week into the Clarkson University Alpine Ski team's regular season, the Golden Knights find themselves in a familiar position: among the leaders of the MacConnell Division. With five skiers in the top 15 for both the men's and women's rankings, Clarkson looks to continue its march towards the USCSA Nationals with strong showings at the Babson Invitational and Brown Invitational this weekend.

On Friday, the Knights will travel to compete at the Babson Invitational held in Mount Sunapee in Newbury, NH, and Saturday Clarkson will head to the Blackwater Ski Area in Andover, NH to compete in the Brown Invitational.

Sophomore Sean Donohue (Bolton Landing, NY) won both the slalom and giant slalom at the UConn Invitational last weekend, and ranks at the top of the leaderboard for the men by a large margin. Senior Christian Perryman (West Lebanon, NH) is third and sophomore Austin Florian (Southington, CT) is fourth so far as head coach Skip Fox was able to maneuver many of his top skiers on different scoring teams over the weekend. Hayes Lowth (Meredith, NH) and Chris Gero (St. Albans, VT) are also just outside the top 10 through the first two races and they, as well as several other men skiers, have plenty of opportunity to jump into the conference leaders with a strong weekend.

Clarkson's women had to produce some strong performances down the stretch last year to qualify for the regionals, but if they repeat last weekend's performance, it will be a foregone conclusion fairly early in the 2014 season. Sophomore Taylor Manderson (Ballston Spa, NY) is sixth among the MacConnell Division skiers and is joined in the top 14 by four of her teammates. Senior Sarah Shafer (Petoskey, MI) is ranked ninth overall and sophomore Ashley Yoviene (Boston, NY) is 11th so far. Freshmen Kara Van Herwarde (Killington, VT) and Casey Abraham (Westbrook, CT) were two of three skiers tied for 12th place in the MacConnell Division standings after two races.