At the beginning of the winter, if you had told the members of the Radcliffe ski team they would be skiing in a Division I carnival in March, they would have thought your mind had succumbed to the pressure of exams (remember exams?).

Well, the skiwomen will be doing just that at the AIAW (the NCAA's female counterpart) regional championships this weekend at Pat's Peak, thanks to their strong second-place finish in last weekend's Division II carnival at Franklin Pierce College.

Radcliffe achieved the runner-up spot with an especially impressive showing by the cross-country squad, which finished first in its event.

Judy Rabinowitz and Elinor Apthorp placed fourth and sixth respectively while alpiner Karen Linsley pulled off what she termed "the shock of the weekend" with a 10th-place finish in the five-kilometer race.

Vera Fajtova as usual led the alpiners with a fourth in the giant slalom and a second in the slalom, where she missed winning by only one-tenth of a second.

Radcliffe finished fourth as a team in the giant slalom and second in the slalom, trailing St. Lawrence at the close of the weekend by a slim six points.

Next year both the men and the women skiers will be competing in the tough Division I.