with six new recruits, all of whom left their respective
national teams in order to ski for the Pioneers: Devin
Delaney, Mariaelena Rizzieri, Max Marno, Espen Lys-
dahl, Trevor Philp, and Luke Laidlaw. National cham-
pion Sterling Grant, First Team All American A.J. Avrin,
and Kitt Flowers are back to lend their leadership. Le-
Roy says he is confident that his team has “a truckload
of talent,” but Lindsay Cone’s season-ending injury this
fall means they will have to compete with only three al-
pine women.
Nordic: The entire roster from 2011 returns with the
addition of Norwegian Joergen Bye Brevik. Kate Dolan,
Mari Elden, Andrew Dougherty, Kristian Soerlund and
Trygve Markset have their hearts set on a team cham-
pionship. Stewart sees that his team genuinely “en-
joys skiing, training, and everything about being at DU.
When you like what you do, it’s much easier to find
success.”
University of Vermont
6th in 2011
Nickname: Catamounts
NCAA championships: Five (1980, 1989-90, 1992,
1994)
Coaches: Bill Reichelt, Patrick Weaver, Johnny Da-
vidson, Andrew Johnson
Alpine: Top-ranked UVM fell prey to an assortment
of misfortunes at last year’s big show. “When we see
an NCAA championship slipping away, we have a ten-
dency to give away second and third place as well by
taking unnecessary risks in the alpine events,” says
director of skiing and head alpine coach Bill Reichelt.
The Catamounts return this year with double All Ameri-
can Kate Ryley and Amanda McDonald on the female
roster freshened by the additions of Canadian Elli Ter-
wiel and Norwegians Kristina Riis-Johannessen and
Elise Tefre. Taylor Wunsch joins the men’s team that
remains mostly intact from last season with returning
standouts Tim Kelley and Jonathan Nordbotten.
Nordic: Only one skier was lost to graduation, and
Vermont enters 2012 with eight seniors and a plethora of experience. Amy Glenn, Caitlin Patterson, Lucy
Garrec, Anja Gruber, Franz Bernstein, Scott Patterson
and Alex Howe all have deep NCAA experience on the
championship level. Head nordic coach Patrick Weaver says, “Our team’s greatest strengths this year are
maturity, experience and motivation.”
Middlebury College
9th in 2011
Nickname: Panthers
NCAA championships: None
Coaches: Stever Bartlett, Andrew Gardner, Abigail Co-
peland, Patty Ross
Alpine: Midd kids Rob Cone, Bobby Poehling, Jake
Lund, Nicole Dvorak, and Tasha Woodworth — all reg-
ular championship contributors — have moved on this
year, but five first-year female racers add fresh blood to
the team. Says Bartlett, “Katelyn Barclay and Makenzie
Brown are working hard to join the list of fast girls on the
EISA circuit.” Juniors Hig Roberts, Andrew McNealus
and Bryan Shpall should continue to set the tone with
impressive results in both Carnivals and at NCAAs.
Nordic: Gardner has built a young, but threatening,
roster with the return of All American Patrick Johnson
who comes back to the collegiate circuit after a year of
full-time training and competition. Heather Mooney will
miss the school’s J-term in order to represent the U.S.
in Austria at the Youth Olympic Games before her EISA
debut. Sophomore Ben Lutgarten returns, and Annie
Pokorny joins the women’s roster with stellar results
from last March’s Super Tour finals. Gardner says his
team’s strengths are, “Unity. Focus. [And] a great train-
ing ethic.”
