Utah Ski Team Announces Postseason Awards

4/24/2023 2:40 PM | Skiing

Utes celebrated award recipients and the 2023 season during Thursday’s team banquet

SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Ski Team hosted its annual postseason awards dinner last Thursday night inside the Cleone Peterson Eccles Alumni House.

Director of Skiing Fredrik Landstedt, head Nordic coach Miles Havlick, head alpine coach JJ Johnson and assistant alpine coach Mary Joyce welcomed the student-athletes, their families and program supporters to celebrate the 2023 season and the numerous team and individual accolades from the campaign.

Utah won the 2023 NCAA Championship out in Lake Placid, New York, capturing the team's fourth straight crown and 16^th national championship in program history.

After the program thanked alumni, supporters and athletics staff for their part in the team's success, the coaching staff introduced the student-athletes with special recognitions for the seniors. Utah's seniors on the 2023 team include alpine's Tomas Birkner, Bjørn Brudevoll, Katie Parker, Josefine Selvaag and Katie Vesterstein. For Nordic, the Utes' seniors are Samuel Hendry, Luke Jager, Noel Keeffe, Sophia Laukli, Novie McCabe and Ezra Smith.

Information on additional team awards follows below.

Team MVPs
Presented to the RMISA points leaders both for alpine and Nordic.

Alpine: Michelle Kervén
Nordic: Novie McCabe

Kervén started every race for Utah in 2023, capped off with her NCAA Championships debut out in Lake Placid in March. Named All-RMISA First Team, she skied to four podiums—all in slalom and capped off with a silver medal at the RMISA Championships. Six of her results were in the top-five and her top-20 in giant slalom at NCAAs was instrumental in setting the stage for Utah's national championship title.

McCabe cemented the Utah dominance on the women's side with an NCAA individual sweep in the 5K freestyle and 20K classic races. It brought McCabe to 19 career collegiate victories, including wins in her final five starts of the 2023 season. The RMISA/NCAA West Regional double champion also was named RMISA Women's Freestyle MVP and All-RMISA First Team. McCabe owns three NCAA individual championships in her career, which includes the 5K classic title in 2022.

Toril Forland Award – Outstanding Female Skier
Recognizes outstanding results throughout the season.

Alpine: Madison Hoffman
Nordic: Sydney Palmer-Leger

Hoffman had arguably the best comeback story of the 2023 collegiate racing season, having missed almost all of 2022 due to injury. Not only did Hoffman return to Utah in '23; she had four college wins capped off by both the giant slalom and slalom individual NCAA championships. It made Hoffman the first Ute since Anke Friedrich in 1990 to win both women's GS and slalom at the NCAA Championships, and first overall women's alpine double NCAA champion since 2019. Hoffman also was named All-RMISA First Team.

Palmer-Leger was named All-RMISA First Team on the way to competing in her third NCAA Championships. She missed much of February and early March while in Slovenia at the FIS Cross Country World Ski Championships, where Palmer-Leger posted a top-20 finish in skiathlon as a first-year senior. From Worlds, she traveled directly to Lake Placid and the NCAA Championships in time to secure All-America First Team honors and help Utah bring home the team national crown.

David Novelle Memorial Award – Outstanding Male Skier
Presented to the male athlete who has been one of the most influential factors to the success of the team with outstanding results through the entire competitive season.

Alpine: Wilhelm Normannseth
Nordic: Luke Jager

The 2023 men's slalom RMISA MVP, Normannseth had six wins this past season—wrapping up the year with First Team All-America status and a runner-up result in slalom at the NCAA Championships. He was the RMISA/NCAA West Regional Champion in men's slalom. Tallying eight podiums, he won gold in both slaloms at the Westminster Invitational, again at the Denver Invitational, the UAA Invitational and RMISA Championships.

Jager also earned RMISA MVP honors in men's classic after a pair of wins on the year and four podiums. His victories came in both races of the Alaska Anchorage Invitational, picking up Skier of the Meet laurels. Jager raced to sixth in the 10K freestyle in the NCAA Championships to collect Second Team All-America.

C.D. Reddish Memorial Award – Tomas Birkner
Presented to the graduating senior or upper classman (alpine or Nordic) who has contributed the most to the team, not only in results, per se, but with respect to community relations and promoting the sport as a diplomatic ambassador.

Birkner has served as an outstanding spokesperson and ambassador for not only the ski team, but the entire University of Utah since he arrived on campus. Many activities within the team have taken place thanks to his efforts. Collegiately, Birkner made nine starts this past year—briefly pausing his college season to appear at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in France.

Ron Steele, the inaugural recipient of the Reddish Award in 1978, was in attendance to see Birkner presented the 2023 C.D. Reddish Memorial Award.

Alf Engen Sportsmanship Award – Samuel Hendry
The oldest of all Utah Ski Team special awards, the Engen Sportsmanship Award takes into consideration outstanding competitive achievement as well as noteworthy leadership/sportsmanship qualities.

Hendry was tabbed All-America First Team and All-RMISA First Team after making his fourth career NCAA Championships appearance. He hit four podiums during the regular season, then placed fourth in the 20K classic race at the championship meet to reel in his fifth career All-America honor. The senior won the 10K freestyle at the Colorado Invitational and claimed silver in the 20K classic. He also completed the seven-stage Tour de Ski in January 2023.

Academic Award – Highest GPAs
Awarded to a Junior or Senior, who has been at Utah more than 2 semesters, with the highest cumulative GPA.

Alpine: Claire Timmermann
Nordic: Samuel Hendry

Timmermann owns a 4.0 cumulative GPA in kinesiology and has been named to both the USCSCA All-Academic Team and Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll. Timmermann had three top-five finishes this past season and hit her first podium with a bronze medal in giant slalom at the RMISA Championships.

A biology major with a genetics and genomics concentration, Hendry has a 3.972 GPA in his time as a Ute and is a past pick for both the USCSCA All-Academic Team and Pac-12 Academic Roll. In 2022, he was named CoSIDA Academic All-America Second Team—a particularly strong feat as skiing falls into the "at-large" sport category for that award.

No. 1 Ski Team Supporter – Barbara Yamada
Yamada has been involved with the Utah Ski Team for several years in countless facets, including race day operations, alumni engagement and special events. She was recognized for her continued support of the program.

Follow the Utah Ski Team on social media @utahskiteam.