*SCHEDULE UPDATE*
Wednesday's giant slalom races were postponed until Thursday because of slope conditions. Same schedule as Wednesday, with first race beginning at 9 a.m. MT, and Thursday's Nordic races remain unchanged.
PARK CITY, Utah and MIDWAY, Utah – The Utah ski team will look to secure its 15
th national championship all-time and 14
th NCAA title beginning Thursday as the Utes host the 2022 NCAA Skiing Championships.
Alpine races will be held at Park City Mountain Resort, with giant slalom opening the championships slate, now rescheduled for Thursday, March 10 (9 a.m. MT), and slalom following on Friday, March 11 (9 a.m. MT). Nordic competition will take place in Midway, Utah at Soldier Hollow—it includes a 5/10K classic interval start on Thursday, March 10 (10 a.m. MT) and 15/20K freestyle mass start on Saturday, March 12 (9:30 a.m. MT).
Parking and admission are FREE on all four days of the championships.
Click here for a spectator's guide to the event.
Utah qualified the maximum 12 skiers for the title meet, announced last week by the NCAA. The Utes are one of five programs nationally to accomplish this feat, and 11 of the Utes slated to compete this week have raced on the NCAA Championships stage before—more than any other team in the country.
In the qualifying group for Utah are
Sona Moravcikova,
Kaja Norbye and
Katie Parker on the alpine women's side, with
Joachim Lien,
Wilhelm Normannseth and
Gustav Vøllo in alpine men's competition. Nordic races will include
Sophia Laukli,
Novie McCabe and
Sydney Palmer-Leger on the women's side.
Samuel Hendry,
Luke Jager and
Bjørn Riksaasen round out the Nordic men's lineup.
A full rundown of Utah's qualifiers is available here.
The Utes, winners of both the 2019 and '21 NCAA crowns, will be looking to claim a third straight competed national championship. Utah additionally was ahead in the 2020 championship meet standings, though racing was halted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
To date, it's been another year marked by great success for the Utes, the RMISA regular season champions (2,786 points).
Sydney Palmer-Leger was named RMISA Most Valuable Skier both in women's classic and freestyle, plus
Wilhelm Normannseth was tabbed Most Valuable Skier in men's slalom. The buildup to the NCAA Championships was capped by NCAA West Regional Individual titles for
Novie McCabe (women's CL/FS) and
Luke Jager (men's FS). Jager's result also stood as his first college victory.
The squad absolutely cleaned up in the RMISA's postseason awards announced last week as well. Palmer-Leger (women's classic/freestyle) and Normannseth (men's slalom) each were named RMISA Most Valuable Skier, and across the board 19 Utes were named All-RMISA.
Utah won all but one meet during the 2022 regular season. The triumphs were highlighted in part by a dominant victory at the Montana State Invitational, which saw the Utes amass 760 points in the team standings, a whopping 253.5 points ahead of the host Bobcats in second place. It was the largest margin of victory in an RMISA meet, smashing the previous record by 73.5 points. The Utes swept both women's Nordic podiums in that meet, the first such feat by a team in an RMISA meet since 2013.
Follow the Utah ski team on social media (@utahskiteam).