SALT LAKE CITY, Utah— The Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association teams open the 2018 season with the Nordic teams competing at the U.S. Cross Country Championships in Anchorage, Alaska and the alpine teams competing at the Montana State Invitational.
In Alaska, the Nordic teams will compete in the 10 and 15-km freestyle races on Jan. 3 and the freestyle sprint on Jan. 5 at Kincaid Park. Live video is available on the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/usskiandsnowboard/). The races are being held independent of a team meet and races will not be scored, but results will be used for NCAA qualification.
The alpine team begins its season at Big Sky Resort with men’s and women’s RMISA giant slalom qualifier races on Jan. 6, which do not count towards any team scoring and are used as an extra opportunity for skiers to earn qualification points for the NCAA Championships at the end of the season. The MSU Invite begins on Jan. 7 with the men’s and women’s giant slalom and continues on Jan. 8 with the men’s and women’s slalom. Alpine live timing is available at http://ussalivetiming.com/.
RMISA schools swept the top three spots at the 2017 NCAA Championships, with Utah winning its 11th NCAA title followed by Colorado in second and Denver in third. The three schools have all finished in the top three the past three seasons, with Denver winning in 2016 and Colorado taking the top spot in 2015.
For information on what fans can expect from each team, continue below.
Alaska Anchorage Seawolfs
http://www.goseawolves.com/
2017 NCAA Finish: 11th
Staff: Head coach Sparky Anderson (12th year), associate coach Nordic Andrew Kastning (7th year), assistant coach Nordic Marine Dusser (1st year), graduate assistant alpine Anna Berecz (3rd year).
Returning All-Americans: None
Key Returners:
Toomas Kollo: Finished 20th in classic and 32nd in freestyle at 2017 NCAA’s. Two-year NCAA competitor.
Natalie Hynes: Finished 36th in classic and freestyle at 2017 NCAA’s.
Hailey Swirbul: Finished 17th in freestyle and 25th in classic at 2017 NCAA’s.
Casey Wright: Finished 14th in classic at 2017 NCAA’s. Two-year NCAA competitor.
Tony Naciuk: Finished 20th in slalom and giant slalom at 2017 NCAA’s.
Dominic Unterberger: Finished 17th in slalom and giant slalom at 2017 NCAA’s.
Charley Field: 31st in slalom at 2017 NCAAs. Three-year NCAA competitor.
Maria Gudmundsdottir: Competed at NCAA’s in 2016 and redshirted 2017.
Alix Wells: Finished 26th in slalom at 2017 NCAA’s.
Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks (Nordic Only)
http://www.alaskananooks.com/
2017 NCAA Finish: 13th
Staff: Head Coach: Nick Crawford (Third Season), Assistant Coach Josh Eide (First Season)
Returning All-Americans:
Sarissa Lammers: Two-time second-team All-American (2016-17) in the 15k freestyle race, has made two NCAA Championship appearances.
Other Key Returners:
Jan Cech: Placed 27th in 20-km freestyle and 33rd in the 10-km classic at NCAAs.
Max Donaldson: Placed 22nd in the 10-km classic and 23rd in the 20-km freestyle at the 2017 NCAA Championships. Two top-15 finishes at the RMISA Championships.
Ann-Cathrin Uhl: Placed 30th in the 5-km classic and 34th in the 15-km freestyle at the 2017 NCAA Championships. One top-20 finish at the RMISA Championships.
Colorado Buffaloes
http://www.cubuffs.com/
2017 NCAA Finish: 2nd
Total NCAA Championships: 20
Staff: Head Coach Richard Rokos, Head Nordic Coach Bruce Cranmer, Nordic Assistant Coach Jana Weinberger, Alpine Assistant Coach Stefan Hughes.
Returning All-Americans:
Nora Christensen: Two-time first-team slalom All-American; seven top five slalom finishes in 14 slalom races over her first two seasons.
Petra Hyncicova: 2017 freestyle and classical NCAA Champion; 2017 Women’s Nordic National Skier of the Year (FasterSkier.com & USCSCA), five-time All-American.
Ola Johansen: 2016 giant slalom All-American … three career race victories (two giant slalom, one slalom) and nine podium finishes.
Ane Johnson: First-team All-American in classical in 2016, three-time second team All-American (twice in freestyle, once in classical).
David Ketterer: 2017 slalom and giant slalom national champion, 2017 Men’s Alpine National Skier of the Year (USCSCA). Seven career race wins.
Max Luukko: Three-time All-American, including earning first-team honors in the slalom in 2016; eight career podium finishes.
Petter Reistad: Earned four All-America honors in his first two seasons, won one race (classical in 2017 at Montana State) and has eight career podium finishes.
Christina Rolandsen: 2017 first-team All-American in both the classical and freestyle races, including a podium finish in the freestyle (3rd).
Tonje Trulsrud: 2017 giant slalom All-American. Seven podium finishes in 14 giant slalom races.
Other Key Returners:
Isabella Fidjeland (women’s alpine) – 17th in the GS and 21st in the SL at NCAAs last year.
Anne Siri Lervik (women’s Nordic) – Third at the RMISA Championships in the classical and fourth in the freestyle.
Key Newcomers:
Hedda Baangman (women’s Nordic)
Alvar Alev (men’s Nordic)
Sondre Bollum (men’s Nordic)
Denver Pioneers
http://www.denverpioneers.com/
2017 NCAA Finish: 3rd
Total NCAA Championships: 23
Staff: Andy LeRoy (12 years), Dave Stewart (11 years), Tyler Shepard (5 years)
Returning All-Americans:
Dag Frode Trolleboe: Three-time All-American. Third in the classic at the 2017 NCAA Championship and seventh in the freestyle. Two career race wins, both in 2017, and first-team All-RMISA.
Tuva Norbye: 2016 giant slalom NCAA champion. Three-time All-American. Two-time women’s alpine regular-season RMISA MVP. Three wins in 2017.
Andrea Komsic: Two-time All-American, finishing second in the slalom at the 2017 NCAA Championships and fourth in the giant slalom. Two wins in 2017.
Lars Hannah: Two-time All-American, finishing 10th in the classic at the NCAA Championships in 2017.
Linn Eriksen: 2016 NCAA Champion in the 15-km classical. Two-time All-American. 2016 FasterSkier Women’s Collegiate Skier of the Year.
Taeler McCrerey: 2016 All-American in freestyle. Competed at the 2017 World Junior Championships. One win in 2017.
Key Returners:
Tanner Farrow: Placed 13th in the slalom and 19th in the giant slalom at the 2017 NCAA Championships. Four top 10 finishes in 2017.
Alex Leever: Finished 12th in the slalom at the 2017 NCAA Championships. Four top-5 finishes in slalom races in 2017.
Key Newcomers:
Tobias Kogler: Third in slalom at 2017 World University Games … 14 top-10 results in 2017.
Jett Seymour: 2017 U.S. Ski Team ... 2016 Colorado Ski Country All-Star Athlete of the Year.
Amelia Smart: 2017 NorAm giant slalom winner … 2016 Youth Olympic Winter Games … Canadian Alpine Development Team.
Nick Sweeney: Two-time Nordic Classic Colorado State Champion.
Montana State Bobcats
http://msubobcats.com
2017 NCAA Finish: 6th
Staff: Kevin Francis, Head Alpine Coach; Karl Johnson, Assistant Alpine Coach; Matthew Johnson, Head Nordic Coach; Emily Hannah, Assistant Nordic Coach
Returning All-Americans:
Benni Lyche – Four-time All-American, 2017 NCAA giant slalom champion.
Stephanie Gartner – Three-time All-American, second in giant slalom at 2017 NCAA Championships.
Jocelyn McCarthy – 2016 All-American after finishing 10th in slalom at NCAA Championships.
Johanna Taliharm – 2017 All-American after finishing seventh in 15-km freestyle at NCAA Championships.
Garret Driller – Two-Time All-American (2017 giant slalom, 2016 slalom).
Morten Bakke – Two-Time All-American in 2016; tied for fourth in men’s giant slalom at 2016 NCAA Championships.
Addison Dvoracek – 2017 All-American, seventh in the giant slalom at the NCAA Championships.
Other Key Returners:
Noah Andersen – 2017 NCAA Qualifier (Nordic)
Karsten Hokanson - 2017 NCAA Qualifier (Nordic)
Kathleen O’Connell - 2017 NCAA Qualifier (Nordic)
Key Newcomers:
Eli Jensen (Nordic)
New Mexico Lobos
http://www.golobos.com
2017 NCAA Finish: 7th
Total NCAA Championships: 1 (2004)
Staff: Head coach Fredrik Landstedt, Alpine head coach Joe Downing, Assistant alpine coach Carl-Johan Öster, Assistant Nordic coach Aljaž Praznik.
Returning All-Americans:
Katharine Irwin: Earned All-America honors in the giant slalom, finishing tied for 10th. Finished in the top 20 in all seven giant slaloms on the year.
Rob Grieg: 2016 giant slalom All-American. Had six top 20 finishes in 2017.
Other Key Returners:
Vegard Busengdal: Qualified for NCAA’s in 2017 but was injured in a training run crash, forcing him to miss the championships. Won 2017 RMISA Championship in giant slalom. Seven podium finishes in the final seven races, and had five second place finishes.
Brenna Egan: Raced at the NCAA Championships.
Tyler Theis: Career-best 13th place finish in the slalom at the UAA Invitational in 2017.
Key Newcomers:
Carolyn Lucca: Nordic. Previously competed at Michigan Tech.
Rebecca Fiegl: Alpine. From Tyrol, Austria
Haley Cutler: Alpine. From Hailey, Idaho
Utah Utes
http://www.utahutes.com
2017 NCAA Finish: 1st
Total NCAA Championships: 11
Staff: Director of Skiing Kevin Sweeny (14th year), head Nordic coach Abi Holt (9th year), head alpine coach Jaka Korencan (13th season), assistant alpine coach Jeremy Elliot (3rd year).
Returning All-Americans:
Martin Bergstroem: 2017 10-km classic and 20-km freestyle NCAA champion. Six podium finishes last year.
Guro Jordheim: Two-time All-American (2017 classic and freestyle). Four podium finishes last year.
Sam Dupratt: 2017 NCAA men’s giant slalom runner-up. Five podium finishes in 2017.
Julie Mohagen: 2016 NCAA slalom champion. Two-time All-American. Four career wins, 10 career podiums.
Key Newcomers:
Ann-Kathrin Breuning: Skied three alpine seasons at Westminster College, three collegiate race wins (all in 2017) with seven collegiate podiums.
Haakon Hjelstuen: Nordic, skied at Michigan Tech in 2015, won 2017 Tour de Ski China.
Fredrik Maurstad: Transfer competed in alpine at Colby-Sawyer College in 2017.
Karianne Moe: Member of the Nordic Junior National Norwegian team.
Huston Philp: Skied for alpine Canadian Development Team in 2016-17.
Bjoern Riksaasen: Norwegian has had strong finishes at the Nordic Norwegian National Junior Championships.
Westminster College
http://westminstergriffins.com
Staff: Head coach Chris Hendrickson (11th season), Assistant coach Nicolo Nogara.
Returning Skiers:
Madison Ostergren
Sofija Novoselic: Two top 10 finishes in 2017.
Anika Anna Angriman
Marie Aufrere
Oskar Voello: One top five finish in 2017.
Mikkel Wahl: One top 10 finish in 2017.
Colorado Mountain College
http://coloradomtn.edu/
Returning Skiers:
Graham Black
Madison Muxworthy
Tai Juneau
Kristinn Audunsson
Magnus Finnsson
Harrison Goss
Wyoming
Website: http://www.uwyo.edu/rec/club-sports/nordic-ski/; https://uwnordic.weebly.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UWNordic