Upcoming Event: Skiing at 10K Classic (I) on January 4, 2026
Skiing
at 10K Classic (I)
The University of Utah Athletics
Brown's Alaska Diary - Final Thoughts
1/11/2009 12:00 AM | Skiing
Jan. 11, 2009
Director of Skiing Eli Brown gave his thoughts on Utah's week in Alaska.
Right now we're all just trying to decompress. We spent nine days in a row getting ready to race, even though we didn't race all of those days because of the weather. We are really psyched. It has been a great trip and we are nowhere near our best. In Nordic it takes time to get into our best fighting shape and the alpine team is way behind in their skiing time compared to our competitors. I didn't expect to be doing this well this soon, because we're only going to get better. The rest of the competition will as well, but now we know that we can compete with the competition. Our goal is to compete well and qualify for NCAA's - not to win the invites. It's good to be fighting for the win though.
We are most excited about the things that you don't always see in the results. Everyone has shown promise and it's pretty exciting all around. We are behind on training and that's where the lack of consistency shows up. I think we're going to start seeing that consistency in the next few weeks from everyone. It's a really competitive field and that's also why some of the results are all over the place. Some of our younger skiers are used to either winning or not finishing, and college racing is different. Sometimes you have to get the results for the team goals and it's hard to get motivated and keep fighting for that goal. The strength of our team is that we have a lot of seniors teaching the younger guys what being on the team is all about. I think that bodes well for our success.
The best thing about our team is our depth. If someone misses a gate, falls or has an off day, we have different people who can step up and ski hard. The key is getting everyone to ski well at the same time in March - that's what we're preparing for.
We have a quick turnaround, going to Colorado this week. After that we have a few weeks at home where we can get some good training in. Everyone is healthy and resting. We get back and the athletes go right back to school. We are not going to push anyone if we don't have to - our depth allows us that.
Utah Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2025 | Ski's Bernt Lund
Monday, October 13
Seven New Inductees to Join Utah Athletics Hall of Fame in October 2025
Monday, July 28
University of Utah Athletics - A Storied History
Friday, August 02
Last weekend, Sydney Palmer-Leger won the 7.5K freestyle earning her THIRD national title! 🏆 🏆 🏆
Wednesday, March 13