Completed Event: Skiing versus 20K Freestyle (M) on March 8, 2025 , , 1st
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Skiing
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Photo by: Jackson Bilawa/Utah Athletics
Utah Finalizes Selections for 2024 NCAA Ski Championships
2/27/2024 5:25 PM | Skiing
Utes will look for their fifth straight national title and 17th all-time next week in Steamboat Springs, Colorado
SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Ski Team and director of skiing Fredrik Landstedt announced the team's selections for the 2024 NCAA Ski Championships on Tuesday. The championship meet is scheduled for Wednesday through Saturday, March 6-9, in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
The University of Colorado is the host and will welcome the field to Steamboat Resort for giant slalom (March 6) and Howelsen Hill Ski Area for the remainder of the week; it includes 7.5K freestyle (March 7), slalom (March 8) and 20K classic (March 9).
Utah was one of five NCAA programs to earn the maximum of 12 qualifiers; it breaks down to three athletes per gender in alpine and Nordic. Colorado, Dartmouth, Denver and Vermont are the other programs sending a full quota.
The Utah alpine lineup will include Madison Hoffman, Michelle Kervén and Kaja Norbye on the women's side, while the men include Raphael Lessard, Sindre Myklebust and Mikkel Solbakken. For Nordic, the Utes will race Karianne Dengerud, Sydney Palmer-Leger and Nina Schamberger, as well as Brian Bushey, Joe Davies and Tom Mancini on the men's side.
Utah has won the last four completed NCAA Championships (2019, '21, '22, '23) and 16 national crowns in program history. Last year's title made the Utes the first program to win four straight team NCAA Championships since genders were combined in skiing in 1983. Of Utah's 16 national championships, 15 are NCAA titles which rank third of all schools. The other is an AIAW Championship that the Utes won in 1978 prior to women's championships coming under the NCAA's umbrella.
At NCAAs last year in Lake Placid, New York, the Utes' nine All-America First Team honors were the most of any team while the 13 total All-America citations were tied for the most by one squad. It was highlighted by a women's alpine sweep for Hoffman and a women's Nordic sweep by Novie McCabe.
Hoffman became the first athlete since 2019 to win both the women's slalom and GS in the same NCAA Championships, while Anke Friedrich had been the last Ute to accomplish the feat in 1990. McCabe's results last year extended Utah's streak to three straight years of sweeping the women's Nordic events.
Follow the Utah Ski Team on social media @utahskiteam.
Quick Hits on Utah's 2024 NCAA Championships Selections
Brian Bushey – Men's Nordic – Jr. – Montpelier, Vt.
Joe Davies – Men's Nordic – Jr. - Pemberton, B.C.
Karianne Dengerud – Women's Nordic – Jr. – Oslo, Norway
Madison Hoffman – Women's Alpine – Sr. – Sydney, Australia
Michelle Kervén – Women's Alpine – Sr. - Stockholm, Sweden
Raphael Lessard – Men's Alpine – So. – Granby, Québec
Tom Mancini – Men's Nordic – So. - Aix-les-Bains, France
Sindre Myklebust – Men's Alpine – Fr. - Sogndal, Norway
Kaja Norbye – Women's Alpine – Jr. – Oslo, Norway
Sydney Palmer-Leger – Women's Nordic – Sr. – Park City, Utah
Nina Schamberger – Women's Nordic – Fr. - Leadville, Colo.
The University of Colorado is the host and will welcome the field to Steamboat Resort for giant slalom (March 6) and Howelsen Hill Ski Area for the remainder of the week; it includes 7.5K freestyle (March 7), slalom (March 8) and 20K classic (March 9).
Utah was one of five NCAA programs to earn the maximum of 12 qualifiers; it breaks down to three athletes per gender in alpine and Nordic. Colorado, Dartmouth, Denver and Vermont are the other programs sending a full quota.
The Utah alpine lineup will include Madison Hoffman, Michelle Kervén and Kaja Norbye on the women's side, while the men include Raphael Lessard, Sindre Myklebust and Mikkel Solbakken. For Nordic, the Utes will race Karianne Dengerud, Sydney Palmer-Leger and Nina Schamberger, as well as Brian Bushey, Joe Davies and Tom Mancini on the men's side.
Utah has won the last four completed NCAA Championships (2019, '21, '22, '23) and 16 national crowns in program history. Last year's title made the Utes the first program to win four straight team NCAA Championships since genders were combined in skiing in 1983. Of Utah's 16 national championships, 15 are NCAA titles which rank third of all schools. The other is an AIAW Championship that the Utes won in 1978 prior to women's championships coming under the NCAA's umbrella.
At NCAAs last year in Lake Placid, New York, the Utes' nine All-America First Team honors were the most of any team while the 13 total All-America citations were tied for the most by one squad. It was highlighted by a women's alpine sweep for Hoffman and a women's Nordic sweep by Novie McCabe.
Hoffman became the first athlete since 2019 to win both the women's slalom and GS in the same NCAA Championships, while Anke Friedrich had been the last Ute to accomplish the feat in 1990. McCabe's results last year extended Utah's streak to three straight years of sweeping the women's Nordic events.
Follow the Utah Ski Team on social media @utahskiteam.
Quick Hits on Utah's 2024 NCAA Championships Selections
Brian Bushey – Men's Nordic – Jr. – Montpelier, Vt.
- First NCAA Championships selection
- RMISA Skier of the Meet for the 2024 Utah Invitational
- 2023 All-RMISA Second Team
- Won the 7.5K freestyle at the Utah Invitational, among two podiums and six top-10 finishes this year
- Has made 27 collegiate starts since joining the Utes in 2022
- Made his first World Cup start on Feb. 18, racing the 10K freestyle in Minneapolis
- Also competed at this year's U-23 World Championships in Slovenia, including as part of a 10th-place relay team
Joe Davies – Men's Nordic – Jr. - Pemberton, B.C.
- Third NCAA Championships selection (2022, '23) after beginning his collegiate career at Alaska Fairbanks
- 2023 NCAA Individual Champion (10K FS) and a three-time All-American
- RMISA Skier of the Meet for the 2024 RMISA Championships/NCAA Western Regional
- 2022 and '23 All-RMISA Second Team
- Two wins and four podiums out of six collegiate starts this year, including a 7.5K freestyle win at the RMISA Championships
- Also was runner-up in the 20K classic at the RMISA Championships
- Three World Cup starts this year, most recently a 16th-place effort in the 10K freestyle in Minneapolis
- Had two top-20 finishes during the U-23 World Championships this year in Slovenia
Karianne Dengerud – Women's Nordic – Jr. – Oslo, Norway
- First NCAA Championships selection
- 2022 and '23 All-RMISA Honorable Mention
- Seven of eight starts this year have netted a top-10 finish, including sprint victories during the Westminster Invitational/U.S. Nationals (freestyle) and RMISA qualifier (classic)
- Also was on the podium in her season debut, a third-place result 10K classic during the Westminster Invitational/U.S. Nationals
- Represented Norway and had two podiums during the 2023 World University Games
- Twenty-three starts as a Ute since the 2022 season
Madison Hoffman – Women's Alpine – Sr. – Sydney, Australia
- Second NCAA Championships selection (2023)
- Two-time NCAA Individual Champion (2023 GS, 2023 SL) and First Team All-American
- Two-time All-RMISA (First Team 2023; Second Team 2022)
- Became the first NCAA skier since 2019 and first Ute since 1990 to sweep the women's national individual titles, doing so at Lake Placid in 2023
- Five collegiate starts this season with top-10 finishes in four races, winning her season debut in GS
- Nine starts on the World Cup circuit this year, with a top-25 slalom finish in Levi, Finland
Michelle Kervén – Women's Alpine – Sr. - Stockholm, Sweden
- Second NCAA Championships selection (2023)
- 2023 All-RMISA First Team
- Also received the Utah Ski Team's alpine MVP award in 2023
- Started all 12 collegiate races this season with four top-10 finishes, and 44 career starts as a Ute
- Four podiums in her career, all in slalom during the 2023 season
- Had a fifth-place slalom finish this season at the Colorado Invitational
Raphael Lessard – Men's Alpine – So. – Granby, Québec
- First NCAA Championships selection
- Twenty-three collegiate starts; first collegiate win came in slalom at the 2024 Denver Invitational
- Five top-10 finishes this year and four top-10s as a freshman in 2022
- Top Nor-Am results this season include fifth in slalom at Burke Mountain and 11th-place in GS at Mont Ste-Marie, Quebec
- Represented Canada at the 2022 FIS Junior World Championships, turning in top-10 finishes both in giant slalom and downhill
Tom Mancini – Men's Nordic – So. - Aix-les-Bains, France
- First NCAA Championships selection
- 2023 All-RMISA Second Team
- RMISA Skier of the Meet for the 2024 Denver Invitational
- Ten collegiate starts on the year, with his first win coming in the classic sprints during an RMISA qualifier
- Three other podiums during 2024 with runner-up results at both races during the Denver Invitational
- Represented France during the 2023 World University Games and was part of the winning 7.5K relay team in addition to third in the freestyle sprints
Sindre Myklebust – Men's Alpine – Fr. - Sogndal, Norway
- Started all 12 races in his first season as a Ute, with six finishes in the top-10
- First podium as a Ute came with a third-place GS finish at the RMISA Championships/NCAA West Regionals
- Eight starts this year on the Nor-Am circuit, most recently placing 24th in slalom at Burke Mountain, in addition to a top-20 GS
- Finished 15th in slalom and 20th in GS at the 2023 FIS Junior World Ski Championships.
Kaja Norbye – Women's Alpine – Jr. – Oslo, Norway
- Second NCAA Championships selection (2022)
- Two-time NCAA All-American ('22 First Team GS; Second Team SL)
- 2024 RMISA Women's Slalom MVP
- RMISA Skier of the Meet for the 2024 Utah Invitational
- 2022 All-RMISA Second Team
- Top-10 finishes in all 12 of her collegiate starts this year, with three wins and six podiums
- Skied to the podium in her season debut in slalom at the Westminster Invitational, adding a win two days later in the Utah Invitational at the Spencer F. Eccles Olympic Mountain Center
- Won slalom and had a seventh-place result in GS at the RMISA Championships/NCAA West Regionals
Sydney Palmer-Leger – Women's Nordic – Sr. – Park City, Utah
- Fourth NCAA Championships selection (2021, '22, '23)
- Won both individual NCAA Championships (5K CL, 15K FS) as a freshman in 2021
- Five-time NCAA All-American
- Three-time All-RMISA First Team (2021, '22, '23)
- Five podiums in her eight college starts this year
- Six World Cup starts this season, including a top-25 in the 15K freestyle in Canmore, Alberta
- 2021 USCSCA National Women's Nordic Skier of the Year
Nina Schamberger – Women's Nordic – Fr. - Leadville, Colo.
- Four top-10 finishes in her first season with the Utes
- Placed fifth in 7.5K freestyle at the Utah Invitational, with her highest classic finish coming with sixth at the Westminster Invitational/U.S. Nationals
- That sixth-place classic result (collegiate) also landed Schamberger atop the junior podium and third on the U.S. podium
- Competed at the 2024 FIS World Junior Championships in Slovenia, with a 27th-place finish in the 20K freestyle
- Skied with Summit Nordic Ski Club in her home state of Colorado before joining the Utes
- RMISA Skier of the Meet for the Denver Invitational
- Joined the Utes after spending 2020-23 at nearby Westminster College
- Fourth NCAA Championships selection (2021, '22, '23)
- Three-time NCAA All-American
- 2021 NCAA Individual Champion (GS)
- Three wins this season with the Utes and has skied to the podium in four of his last five starts
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