USCSA’s Strong
Numbers
Though the NCAA circuit may
boast greater overall depth of elite-level ski racers, USCSA schools such
as Sierra Nevada College have always
featured some of the fastest skiers in
the country (and on the planet, in some
cases). Who’s fastest aside, though,
a glance at USCSA demographics
highlights its greatest asset: volume.
If USCSA president Mark Sullivan has
his way and USCSA athletes remain
involved in the sports — as coaches,
officials, masters competitors, etc. --
then the future of competition is bright.
Also worth noting, especially for high
school students considering college
racing, is the incredible number of
schools one has to choose from in
the USCSA: Who wouldn’t, after all,
want to broaden a list of options to
include more regions of the country
and schools including UCLA, Stanford,
Washington, Wake Forest, Princeton,
Duke, Michigan, and St. Olaf?
USCSA Demographics:
4,574 registered athletes in 2009
(40% female, 60% male)
13.77% membership increase since
2006
178 member schools (
colleges/univer-sities), 448 teams across four sports
(alpine skiing, cross country skiing,
freestyle skiing, snowboarding)
450 athletes participated in USCSA
National Championships at Winter Park
in 2009 (six-day event)
11 conferences throughout the country:
Allegheny, Midwest, Mideast, Eastern,
New Jersey, Southeast, Southern California, Northern California, Northwest,
Rocky, Grand Teton
For more on the USCSA, its member
schools, and competition results and
schedules, visit uscsa.com. Also note
that Ski Racing will provide occasional
USCSA event coverage this winter.
raced the NCAA championships last year. The expecta-
tions are that we now have older athletes with more ex-
perience who will ski better.”
Nordic: “My top four skiers on the men’s side have re-
turned this year — Jesper Ostensen, Vegard Kjoelhamar,
Matt Gelso, and Reid Pletcher — who were also the top
four RMISA skiers last season,” says coach Cranmer.
“The biggest hole we have to fill is for Maria Grevsgaard,
who graduated and has played such a big role for us. We
have added Czech skier Bohdana Augustinova, a former
Junior World Championships competitor, and we are in
the process of finalizing the arrival of another talented
Czech skier.”
University of New Mexico 3rd in 2009
Nickname: Lobos
NCAA championships: 1 (2004)
Coaches: Fredrik Landstedt, Martin Kroisleitner, Casey
Dyck, Martin Stocker
Alpine: “After being the best alpine team in the nation
last year,” says coach Kroisleitner, “we’re confident we’ll
stay at the top for the upcoming season. Most everyone is
returning. Our 2007 and 2009 NCAA slalom champion,
Malin Hemmingsson, is eager to become the first athlete
in UNM history to be a three-time NCAA champion.
Senior Estelle Pecherand-Charmet, who won silver in
both giant slalom and slalom at last year’s NCAAs, wants
to stand on top of the podium this year. [Most notably
on the men’s side], we welcome back sophomore Pet-
ter Brenna, who won five RMISA races last season and
placed second in the slalom at NCAAs. We also have two
[Norwegian recruits], Anne Cecilie Brusletto and Chriss
Johan Salbu, who have been skiing successfully in Eu-
rope.”
Nordic: “We have a very strong team this year again,”
says program director and nordic coach Landstedt. “We
should be right in the mix at next year’s NCAA champi-
onships. Polina Ermoshina and our three men from last
year’s NCAAs — Martin Kaas, Tor-Hakon Hellebostad,
and Simon Reissmann — are all stronger this year. Over-
all, nine out of our 10 athletes at last year’s NCAAs are
back — only Nikolai Finne is not returning. We are also
recruiting hard to add some nordic women to the team
for this January.”
University of Alaska Anchorage 4th in 2009
Nickname: Seawolves
NCAA Championships: None
Coaches: Trond Flagstad, Sparky Anderson, Mandy
Kaempf, Dan McKay
Alpine: “UAA alpine was led by two great freshmen last
year, RMISA MVP Alexandra Parker and Halfdan Fal-
kum-Hansen,” says coach Anderson. “On the women’s
side for 2010, Parker returns with sophomore Sandra
MacDonald, senior Lacy Saugstad, and two time All-
American senior Kristina Repcinova. Adding depth
to the squad are new recruits Kayla Fry from the U.S.,
Slovakian Petra Gantnerova, and Norwegian Ida Bjerka.
For the men, returning with Falkum-Hansen, we have
junior Ryan Wolosyn from Snowbird, All-American ju-
nior Egil Ismar, and junior Andy Fischer from Buck Hill,
Minnesota. We’re very excited about three first-year re-
cruits, too: Norwegians Andreas Adde and Christopher
Kollenborg, and Cam Brewington of Alberta, fresh off
the Canadian National Team.”
Nordic: “One of our top skiers from last year, Sadie
Bjornsen, is taking a year off to try out for the Olympics,”
says coach Flagsted. “But we have NCAA Champion-
ships skiers Jaime Bronga and Laura Rombach back
— along with Steffi Hiemer, they’ll most likely be our top
girls this year. On the men’s side, the Treinen brothers
are back; both were first-team All-Americans in 2009.
With senior Karl Schauer and added strength from Ger-
man recruit Michael Schallinger and Canadian recruit
Sam Lindsey, the team is ready to defend its unofficial
title as NCAA Nordic Champions.”
University of Vermont 5th in 2009
Nickname: Catamounts
NCAA Championships: 5 (1980, 1989-90, 1992,
1994)
Coaches: Bill Reichelt, Paul Stone, Patrick Weaver,
Johnny Davidson, Fred Fayette
Alpine: “We are really excited about our three freshmen
guys, Robert Kelly, Sean Higgins, and Kevin Drury,” says
Reichelt. “Though we only have six women on the alpine
side, all of them are returning athletes, another thing to
be really excited about. It’s a really high-quality group.”
Nordic: “We graduated five seniors last year, four men
and one woman — the most notable of those losses is
Juergen Uhl, who one the men’s 10K classic at NCAA
championships last year,” says the coach. “We have three
All-Americans returning: Franz Bernstein, who was fifth
in the men’s 10K classic last year; Caitlin Patterson, who
was an All-American in both the skate and classic events
last year; and Jennie Bender, who was also an All-Ameri-
can last year. Our most prominent addition would have
to be Amy Glen, who placed fourth at [the 2009] U.S.
Senior National Championships in the classic sprint.”
University of Utah 6th in 2009
Nickname: Utes
NCAA Championships: 10 (1981, 1983-84, 1986-88,
1993, 1996-97, 2003)
Coaches: Eli Brown, Jaka Korencan, Abi Holt, Sean
McKenna
Alpine: “The Utah alpine team is a nice mix of experi-
enced returning athletes and strong recruits,” says coach
Korencan. “Top returning athletes include three-time
NCAA championships medalist Eva Huckova, All-Amer-
ican Nick Cohee, and experienced seniors Kyle Kung and
Thomas Zumbrunn. We’re also looking forward to the
return of Torjus Krogdahl, Sophia Smith, and Tague
Thorson, who rejoins the team after a season on the U.S.
Ski Team. We also had the best recruiting class we’ve had
in years, a class which includes Americans Ryan Wilson
and Max Lamb, as well as former Europa cup competitor
from Sweden, Anna Kocken.”
UAA/MICHAEL DENNEEN; DU
