Ski Notes

3/7/2005 12:00 AM | Skiing

March 7, 2005

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

THIS WEEK:

The University of Utah ski team qualified a complete 12-skier roster and will be in the hunt for their 12th National Team Title at the 2005 NCAA Skiing Championships. Utah was only one of four teams (Utah, Dartmouth, Denver, Vermont) to qualify a 12 team roster. Both the alpine and cross country teams are geared up and ready to battle for another first-place podium finish.

The University of Vermont will host the NCAAs at Stowe Mountain Resort and Trapp Family Lodge starting Wednesday and running through Saturday, March 9-12.

Highlights of the skiing championships will be shown on CBS at 11:00 p.m. (MST), on Saturday, April 23. The televised recap will feature highlights of 15 different NCAA championships that took place during the winter.

For more information pertaining to the NCAA Skiing Championships log on to: http://www.uvm.edu/~sportspr/ncaa_ski/.

NCAA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE:
March 9 -- Men's and Women's Giant Slalom
March 10 -- Men's and Women's 10/5-km Classical
March 11 -- Men's and Women's Slalom
March 12 -- Men's and Women's 20/15-km Freestyle

NCAA ALPINE & NORDIC TEAMS:

Alpine:
Men	Women
Mark Heinrich-Wallace	Rowena Hyldahl
Ben Thornhill	April Mancuso
Will McDonald	Lina Johansson

Nordic:
Men	Women
Daniel Sonntag	Sandra Gredig
Magnus Carlsson	Barbro Hatlevik
Casey Simons	Nicole Naef

*Alternates: Jess Kiesel, Ashley McQueen, Anna Sprague, Linda Pettersson

LAST WEEK:

Utah skied to fifth-place at the 2005 NCAA West Regional Championships in Bozeman, Mont. last week. The cross country team was without the help of skiers Daniel Sonntag, Casey Simons and Sandra Gredig as they were unable to compete due to illness.

Although the cross country squad was hampered by sickness, All-American Barbro Hatlevik showed her senior leadership by finishing 10th in the women's 5-km classical. Sophomore Nicole Naef also led the Utes with her ninth-place performance in the 15-km freestyle. Junior Magnus Carlsson headlined the men's team, skating to seventh in the 10-km CL and 11th in the 20-km FS.

The Ute alpine squad has skied strong all season and the West Regional Championships were no exception. The senior leadership of the teams helped propel Utah to a fourth-place finish in the alpine events.

Seniors Mark Heinrich-Wallace (8th GS), April Mancuso (5th GS, 9th SL), Rowena Hyldahl (6th GS and 7th SL) and Lina Johansson (14th SL) led the way for the alpine teams.

Junior All-American and two-time NCAA GS champion Ben Thornhill also posted a ninth-place performance in the SL.

NCAA West Regional Team Scores:
1. Denver 560;
2. New Mexico 530;
3. Colorado 486.5;
4. Alaska Anchorage 449.5;
5. Utah 406.5;
6. Montana State 354;
7. Nevada 334;
8. Whitman 237;
9. Western State 221.5;
10. Boise State 72.

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS SELECTION CRITERIA:

Utah was only one of four teams to qualify a 12-skier roster, while a total of eight teams qualified a 10-skier lineup.

Participants are selected on a regional basis from two designated regions for alpine skiing (East and West Regions), and three designated regions for nordic skiing (Central, East and West Regions). Bids are awarded to regions using a formula determined by the skiing committee. A maximum of 12 student-athletes (three per gender per discipline) may participate from an institution.

INVITED TEAMS:

Below is the list of schools with ski teams that count in the final scoring of NCAA Championships:

West Region
University of Alaska, Anchorage	University of Nevada
Montana State University	University of Utah
University of Colorado	Western State College
University of Denver	Whitman College
University of New Mexico	Boise State University
East Region
Dartmouth University	Williams University
Middlebury University	University New Hampshire
Bates College	Colby College
St. Lawrence University
Central Region
Northern Michigan University	Michigan Tech University
University Wisconsin-Green Bay	Alaska Fairbanks University

QUOTING COACH SWEENEY:

Quoting On NCAAs:

"I anticipate this to be one of the most exciting NCAA Championships I have coached. Only Utah and Denver have qualified full teams from the West and I believe UVM and Dartmouth from the East. New Mexico will be tough too. It will be tight, which I think is good for us. Our strength lies in the fact that we are solid in all disciplines. We have yet to put it together 100-percent during the season, yet each group (alpine and cross country) have won on separate occasions. We are on track."

Quoting On Team's Health and Experience:

"We are getting healthy and should be good to go by March 9th. Bob (Toth) and Kate (Eidens) [athletic trainers] have been working super hard getting everyone back. I had difficult decisions to make on who to bring to the championships as we once again had many more qualify than I can take. However, I think I have one of the finest teams going to represent the Utes. 98-percent of the team has NCAA Championship experience and we have good start positions. The athletes know what it is all about and how important it is to ski for the team."

Quoting On Team's Performance:

"The alpine team is arguably the best squad on the collegiate circuit. The XC team is balanced and will contend for top honors. We're prepared to take this one down to the wire if need be. I have tremendous respect for this group. They have done a great job preparing for this next week getting academics in line and fine-tuning fitness and technique on the race course. We're excited to throw down some good results!"

NCAA RANKED UTES:

Men's Alpine Team	GS	SL
Ben Thornhill	3	10
Mark Heinrich-Wallace	10	7
Will McDonald	13	11

Women's Alpine Team	GS	SL
Lina Johansson	8	8
April Mancuso	5	11
Rowena Hyldahl	4	12

Men's Nordic Team	FS	CL
Daniel Sonntag	2	19
Magnus Carlsson	14	10
Casey Simons	20	20
Jess Kiesel	24	17

Women's Nordic Team	FS	CL
Sandra Gredig	4	7
Barbro Hatlevik	15	11
Nicole Naef	12	19
Ashley McQueen	11	31
Anna Sprague	21	29
Linda Pettersson	25	22

INJURY REPORT:

Junior Andi Weiser will miss the rest of the 2005 season due to a knee injury sustained during a training run prior to the Utah Invite. The Nova Gorica, Slovenia, native will rejoin the team next season.

SKIERS OF THE WEEK (West Regional):

	Alpine	Nordic
Men	Gregory Besse, WSC	Henrik Hoye, CU
Women	Erica Hogan, CU	Laura Valaas, WC

RETURNING NCAA CHAMPIONS:

Senior and two-time GS champion Ben Thornhill will be returning for his fourth-season with the Utes. Fellow senior Lina Johansson rejoins the team after skiing to a first-place podium spot in the SL at the 2003 NCAA Championships.

RETURNING ALL-AMERICANS:

Barbro Hatlevik (third in the FS), Rowena Hyldahl (ninth in the GS) and April Mancuso (sixth in the GS/eighth in the SL) all received All-American honors at the 2004 NCAA Skiing Championships.

UTE NEWCOMERS:
-Nordic Recruits: Magnus Carlsson and Nicole Naef
-Alpine Recruits: Mark Heinrich-Wallace, Matic Ramus and Kim Stephens

2005 SKI RACING MAGAZINE PRESEASON RANKINGS: