Nine RMISA Skiers Earn Academic All-District Honors

Friday, May 21, 2010 – by Curtis Snyder, RMISASkiing.com & League SIDs

Nine RMISA skiers from six schools earned 2009-10 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District At-Large honors Thursday. The award is voted on by each district’s College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) members and seven of the skiers advance to the national ballot for Academic All-America honors in June.

The member schools of the RMISA are in District’s VI, VII, and VIII.

Alaska Anchorage led the way with three honorees on the college division level with Jaime Brogna and Alex Parker earning first-team on the women’s side and Lex Treinen took home first-team on the men’s side. The Seawolves are part of District VIII along with Utah, who had Torjus Krogdahl earn second team for the men’s university division while Eva Huckova earned first-team accolades on the women’s side.

Colorado, Denver and Montana State each had one skier honored out of district VII with the Grizzlies’ Tyler Reinking and the Buffs’ Matt Gelso earning first team on the men’s side and the Pioneers’ Antje Maempel earning first team honors on the women’s side. New Mexico had Malin Hemmingsson honored as part of the District VI second team.

Bronga, who received UAA’s Most Improved Skier honor at the end-of-the-year banquet, posted five top-10 finishes throughout the regular season. The Anchorage local finished her second year with UAA with an eighth-place finish at the NCAA Championships in the 10K freestyle.

Gelso won the individual NCAA Championship in the 10K classical race and took home third place in the freestyle race after sweeping both those races at the Nevada Invitational and RMISA Championships to win five consecutive races. The senior graduated earlier in May with a 3.79 GPA in Business Finance and was honored as having the top GPA among senior male student-athletes at the end of year academic luncheon. He finished his career with seven wins and 22 podium appearances, tied for fourth most in CU history.

Hemmingsson is the 2010 NCAA women’s slalom national champion and a giant slalom All-American. The Ostersund, Sweden native won a career-high five races during the 2010 season, tying for second place on the UNM all-time season wins list and moved up to second on the UNM all-time career wins list with 10 over her four-year career. The NCAA win made Hemmingsson only the second woman in NCAA history to win three NCAA slalom titles and just the third to win three Alpine events in a career. A five-time NCAA All-American, Hemmingsson graduates this summer from UNM with a 3.50 GPA in Organizational Management.

Huckova, a junior finance major with a 3.98 GPA, was the 2010 NCAA giant slalom champion and helped the Utah ski team to a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Championships. She won two races during the regular season, along with three runner-place finishes. Huckova is a five-time All-American and competed in the 2006 Olympics. She has won Utah’s Toril Forland Women’s Outstanding Skier Award three years running.

Krogdahl, who has a 3.97 GPA in business, earned All-America honors in both the slalom and giant slalom at the 2010 NCAA Championships. The sophomore finished second in the slalom and ninth in the GS at the championships. He was selected as Utah’s David Novelle Men’s Outstanding Skier. Maempel has a 3.74 GPA in Finance. The 2010 RMISA Skier of the Year became just the second woman in NCAA history to sweep the individual NCAA titles in both classical and freestyle in consecutive years, while leading the Pioneers to their third-straight and 21st overall NCAA Championship this season. This marks the second time that Maempel has earned Academic All-District honors.

Parker, a three-time All-American, led the UAA women’s alpine team for the second consecutive season with 10 top-10 finishes. An All-RMISA Team member, the Calgary, Alberta, native registered a season-best third place at the conference championships in the giant slalom.

Reinking, sophomore from Silverthorne, Colo., with a 3.97 GPA in University Studies, earned second team All-America accolades by placing sixth overall at the 2010 NCAA Skiing Championships in the Nordic freestyle event. A member of the Bobcat ski team that placed 8th at the 2010 NCAA Championship, he helped guide the MSU Nordic squad to a third place finish at the NCAAs, including a team win the men's freestyle event. He had four top 10 finishes on the season, including a sixth place showing in the freestyle at the Utah Invite. He ranked eighth in the final RMISA MVP listings as a sophomore.

Treinen, a native of Anchorage, Alaska, started the season strong before missing two meets with an iron deficiency. The two-time All-American recovered just in time to qualify for the NCAAs, where he finished 21st in the 10K classical and ninth in the 20K freestyle race.