Nordic: “Our team enters this winter with more depth than ever,” says the Utes’
new nordic coach, Abi Holt. “On the men’s side, we return captain Ian Hav-lick, Tom Smith, Rolf Figi, Ben Fick and Didrik Smith — who raced to a pair
of top- 20 finishes at NCAAs last year despite sickness and injury. The women’s
team is lead by two-time NCAA championships competitor Zoe Roy. We also
have depth in returning students Parker Tyler, Rose Kemp, Devon Spika, Maddie Talkington, and Sarah MacCarthy, a Steamboat native who hopes to head
home for this year’s Champs. New recruits include a pair of fast Scandinavians,
Sweden’s Marta Larsen and Norwegian Karina Smith.”
NCAA Skiing Power Rankings
Pre-season picks for 2010’s fastest teams
Here’s our new NCAA Skiing Power Rankings, which we’ll update each week
at skiracing.com when college racing begins. It’s not an exact science, but
after having canvassed coaches across the country and examined their
recruiting classes, here are preseason picks for 2010:
1
Dartmouth College 7th in 2009
Nickname: Big Green
NCAA Championships: 3 (1958, 1976, 2007)
Coaches: Cami Thompson, Peter Dodge, Ruff Patterson, Christine Booker
Alpine: “The team had a good summer with lots of individual skiing and training,” says men’s coach Peter Dodge. “We’ve added Chris Dancy, Evan Diamond,
and Ian Macomber to the team. Everyone else is back and healthy.” Women’s
coach Christine Booker says: “We’re excited about the arrival of first years Annie
Rendall, Madeline Packard, and Heather Beatty. It’s going to be another fantastic year with the Dartmouth women.”
Nordic: “On the women’s cross country side,” says coach Thompson, “we have
returning All-Americans Rosie Brennan and Sophie Caldwell. Also joining them
is Ida Sargent. The only caveat is that they’re all off this fall trying to make various teams. If any of them were to make the Olympic team, for example, we obviously won’t have them this winter. On the men’s side we did take a bit of a hit
by graduating Glenn Randall, but we have returning All-American Pat O’Brien,
and we’ve got solid recruits Scott Lacy, Sam Tarling and Evan Dreissigacker.”
Colorado
Some bad luck during NCAA Championships
prevented the Buffaloes from winning a national
crown, but CU was the country’s fastest team for
90 percent of the 2009 season. They’re hosting
the Championships in 2010, and karma dictates
they’ll get a member’s bounce or two.
2
Denver
Could be No. 1, there’s no question, but until the
Pioneers start to dominate the RMISA carnival circuit, money’s still on CU to take it all.
3
Alaska
Seeing the Seawolves on the NCAA podium may
be hard for traditionalists to imagine, but Alaska
proved it’s a contender last year. A little luck at the
right time, and a national title lands in Anchorage.
4
Vermont
The Catamounts believe they’ve rounded out their
roster in fine form. EISA powerhouses Dartmouth
and Middlebury will have something to say about
that come carnival time. In the meantime, look
for Vermont to improve upon last year’s performance.
Middlebury College 8th in 2009
Nickname: Panthers
NCAA Championships: None
Coaches: Stever Bartlett, Andrew Gardner, Abigail Copeland
Alpine: “Our big losses are All-Americans Andrew Wagner, Mattie Ford, and
Tucker Burton, who graduated this past spring,” says coach Bartlett. “But we
have some talented freshmen men arriving, including Andrew McNealus and
5
New Mexico
The Lobos have the best women’s alpine squad
in the land — if the rest of the team pulls level,
they’re absolute world-beaters.
No respect for your team or alma mater? Want to elaborate on the list in
any way? Send your thoughts to NCAARankings@skiracing.com and we
may post your comments with the next round of rankings.
Sandra McDonald, UAA.
