NCAA National Championships Preview
By Corey Coogan
March 9, 2005
The thirteen-member CCSA team is already in
Vermont getting ready for the NCAA Championships. While the
championships begin today with the start of alpine competition,
Nordic events do not get underway until tomorrow, March 10th.
The University of Vermont is this year's host with alpine
events at the well-known Stowe Mountain Resort and Nordic
at the lesser-known Trapp Family Lodge. While NCCAs in the
East often pose a challenge to Nordic skiers, due to the usually
tricky, klister waxing conditions the region is known for,
Thursday's forecast calls for temperatures in the twenties,
read "extra blue" conditions, so the playing field
will be unusually level this year.
First, a note about the format...Unfortunately,
a CCSA school will never become NCCA Team National Champion
because that title is conferred to the best combined alpine
and Nordic team, and no CCSA schools have alpine. NMU began
an alpine team several years ago, but the team never became
successful nationally, and has since been disbanded. St. Olaf
has a varsity alpine team, but they compete in the less competitive
United States Collegiate Snowsports Association, not NCAA.
Schools may qualify 12 skiers to NCAAs, three
alpine women, three alpine men, three Nordic women, and three
Nordic men. Just four schools, DartmouthCollege, University
of Denver (DU), University of Utah, and University of Vermont
(UVM), find themselves in this ideal position, while most
schools qualify fewer, decreasing their chances of becoming
National Champion. NMU was the only CCSA team to qualify a
full Nordic contingent of six for NCAAs.
Given their qualification of all-12, Dartmouth,
DU, UU, and UVM are the obvious favorites for the overall.
Denver University is in a class of its own,
and is the overwhelming favorite to win. The team has amassed
a stunning 17 National Titles in its history, and went undefeated
in the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Skiing Association (RMISA)
in its five events this winter. The strength of the men's
Nordic squad is a large factor in the team's success. The
men's team is comprised of one German, Rene Reisshauer, and
two Norwegians John Stene, and Haavard Selseng Sogndal. All
three have won at least one RMISA event this season with Reisshauer
leading the team with three wins. The DU women's Nordic team
is the Denver Pioneers' weak link. Their top skier is Tara
Hamilton, a senior from Alaska, who is making her fourth appearance
at NCAAs. While she should finish in the top-15, the three
NMU women, Johanna Turunen, and Kristina Owen, are all capable
of beating her. The other two Pioneers Bodil Ryste and Julia
Swieder are unlikely to crack top-fifteen. Nevertheless, the
strength of the other three components: men's and women's
alpine, and men's Nordic, should be more than enough to carry
the team to victory.
Dartmouth could stage an upset, but the men's
Nordic squad is its limiting factor. The alpine team is tough
and used to New England courses, and the women's Nordic team
is one of its strongest in history with Liz Harrington (formerly
of Duluth East) the top-seeded Eastern Intercollegiate Skiing
Association (EISA) skate skier, and junior Alison Crocker
the top-seed for classic.
Like Dartmouth, UVM is a very American team
with all six of its Nordic skiers hailing from the states
(three from Vermont). The UVM Catamounts have the strongest
men's Nordic team in the East, as senior Ethan Foster is EISA
top-seed for freestyle and classmate Lowell Bailey is tops
for classic. Senior Kate Crawford, who is ranked third overall
in EISA, leads the women's Nordic squad.
The Utah Utes have won 11 national titles. The
Nordic squads lack many superstars, but has depth. While Head
Coach Kevin Sweeney says, "The XC team is balanced and
will contend for top-honors" the squad has been challenged
by illness. The Utes were forced to withdraw three of their
skiers from the RMISA finals the last weekend in February.
The team's real standout is German, sophomore Daniel Sonntag
who is ranked RMISA number two in skating. Top-woman, sophomore
Sandra Gredig (Davos, Switzerland) is RMISA ranked fourth
and seventh in skating and classic, respectively. The remaining
women will likely be aiming for top-15 results, and the men
for top-20.
While CCSA skiers do not have the overall title
to battle for, there is still a lot at stake.
The NMU women are the favorite for the team
win in the Nordic events. This year, a "College Cup"
was contested at U.S. Nationals, giving the three regions
their one and only opportunity to face each other during the
regular season. The Northern women won that event, a great
indication of their chances at NCAAs. It must be emphasized
however, that competition at NCAAs is very close, so all three
Northern women need to have good days on both days of competition
in order to capture the title. If they do this, it can be
considered a great success!
Expect all the CCSA skiers to act as one team
at NCAAs, as the region is under some pressure. At this point,
the region qualifies six men and seven women to NCAAs, but
it has the opportunity to earn bonus qualification slots by
placing more skiers in the top-20. In 2003 and 2004, the region
qualified eight women for the championships, but after two
off-years, their allotment was cut to seven. The CSSA coaches
have stated that their goal is to work together as a region
in order to earn more slots.
The individual victory in the Nordic races may
not go to a skier from one of the four-favorite teams.
The overwhelming favorite in the women's competition
is University of Alaska's Mandy Kaempf, a junior from Steinbach-Hallenberg,
Germany, who captured a mere six titles in RMISA competition,
as well as both races at the U.S. Nationals College Cup! The
skier with the best chance of wresting victory from Kaempf
is University of New Mexico's Martina Stursova from Policka,
Czech Republic. This senior missed part of the season, including
the College Cup, in order to train with the Czech National
Team. At the RMISA Finals, Stursova defeated Kaempf by 30
seconds in the five-kilometer classic. Also in the hunt, particularly
in classic, are Lindsay Williams NMU and Alison Crocker Dartmouth.
The men's competition has no one obvious favorite. Look for
the win to go to John Stene DU, Rene Reisshauer DU, Ethan
Foster UVM, Lowell Bailey UVM, or CCSA's dominant skier Thomas
Oyberg UAF.
You may have noticed that many top NCAA skiers
are foreign; infact, it has always been the running joke that
one better hone up on his/her foreign languages before heading
off to NCAAs. Nevertheless, it looks to be a strong year for
U.S. Skiers. The following American skiers have a good chance
of top-15 results: Lindsay Williams NMU, Alison Crocker, Dartmouth,
Tami Kochen NMU, Lindsey Weier NMU, Kristina Owen MTU, Laura
Valaas Whitman, Liz Harrington Dartmouth, Tara Hamilton UU,
Kate Crawford, UVM, Nicole DeYoung UAA, Lowell Bailey UVM,
Ethan Foster UVM, Garrott Kuzzy Middlebury (formerly of Hopkins),
Bryan Cook NMU,and Zach Violett UAA.
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