3.10 - [RELEASE] USCSA 42nd Annual Collegiate National Championships Day 1 Recap

Apr 18
5 min read

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Alec Tandara-Kuhns

UNITED STATES COLLEGIATE SKI AND SNOWBOARD ASSOCIATION HOSTS 42nd ANNUAL U.S. COLLEGIATE SKIING AND SNOWBOARDING NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS^TM

LAKE PLACID, New York. – MARCH 10th, 2020. The U.S. Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association (USCSA) kicked off its 5-day long annual Collegiate National Championships^TM today with a women’s Snowboard and Freeski Rail Jam, men’s Skier and Snowboard Cross, women’s Alpine Giant Slalom, and a 7.5k Classic Nordic race under cloudy and rainy skies.

Nearly 500 Collegiate athletes representing 71 colleges and universities are competing at the 2020 USCSA Collegiate National Championships^TM. This includes alpine, snowboard, freeski, and nordic teams which qualified through their regional championships. Events include Alpine Giant Slalom, Alpine Slalom, Dual Slalom, Nordic Sprints, Nordic Relays, Nordic Distance, Slopestyle, Skier Cross, Snowboard Cross, Rail Jam, Snowboard Slalom, and Snowboard Giant Slalom. As the events unfold over next week at Lake Placid, please join the USCSA athletes, families and friends in celebrating this pinnacle of collegiate competition by following athlete performance either in person or online at www.uscsa.com, where team and Individual results will be posted daily. Check in daily for live Video and Audio Feeds online at uscsa.com/broadcast.html.

The rainy weather was no match for Sierra Nevada University, which took home their first team Championship of the event by winning the Women’s Alpine Giant Slalom. Sierra Nevada University freshman Sixtine Piccard won the individual championship, having both the fastest first and second runs. Castleton University and Rocky Mountain College’s teams rounded out the podium, taking second and third place respectively. After the race Sierra Nevada Head Coach Mihaela Kosi said, “the ladies did an amazing job and even rain couldn't stop us from the goal. Overall, the day went very well, from the morning on the whole team has been positive and excited.” Sixtine Piccard added that, "the workers prepared the course very well in the difficult conditions we had today. I had a lot of fun skiing my first USCSA Nationals at Whiteface and I'm very happy to bring a national title in GS back to Eagles at SNU."

Nordic racing kicked off at the Olympic Jumping Complex with a men’s and women’s 7.5k Freestyle. In exciting racing, St. Olaf College’s team won for the men, followed by Castleton University in 2nd and Western Colorado University in 3rd. For the women, Castleton University took home the championship with the University of Wyoming coming in 2nd and Western Colorado University taking the bronze in 3rd. “Our athletes all have pretty good days but there's still a little bit of jet lag,” said Kevin Brochman, head coach of St. Olaf. “I think they will get better as the week goes along.” Regarding his team, Duncan Callahan, head coach of Western Colorado University said that, “The Western Nordic Team skied well today. We were pleased with the strength and speed of the skiers, freshmen and upperclassmen alike. Freshmen Oliver Hinebauch led the men with a 7th place result, followed closely (.4 seconds!) by junior Ty Haroldson. On the women's side, sophomore Caroline Benney raced fast, with a strong 7th, followed by senior Lexie Abric in 13th. Both teams finished on the podium and are looking for more results the rest of the week!”

At the Snowboard and Freeski venues, Westminster College won team Collegiate National Championships^TM in both the women’s Snowboard Rail Jam and men’s Snowboard Cross, while the University of Vermont won a team championship in women’s freeski Rail Jam and Rocky Mountain College won a team championship in men’s Skier Cross. Taking the individual championship in the Skier Cross was Michael Hirschbuhl from Castleton University. “Despite the poor weather this was an awesome day to race ski cross! It was a great experience to compete with athletes from all over the country. I was also privileged to be racing with my brother/teammate Wade, and teammates Neil and Nate, who all skied fast today. As an East Coast skier, I’m used to challenging conditions. Many days of training in the rain definitely helped me to feel confident in the slush today. It means a lot to me to take the win in my final season of collegiate ski racing. Thanks Dad, Mom, Wade, Sarah, Castleton University, and Forerunner Ski Shop! Shoutout to the Castleton Men and Women’s Nordic teams, and the Women’s Alpine team for excellent results today as well!”

“Today I got to see some of the best competition in some of the most challenging conditions,” said USCSA President Adam Stark. “I was really proud to see the support that was given to competitors by their teammates. They were demonstrating what makes the USCSA such a great place to compete.”

Beginning March 10th, the USCSA Broadcast Network will bring audiences over 60 hours of LIVE, multi-camera HD video coverage from all three competition venues at its web portal: http://www.uscsa.com/broadcast. Scott "Boss" Hogg returns to lead the USCSA Broadcast Team at alpine, joined by legendary snowboard announcer Mark Oliver aka “The Beav” at snowboard/freestyle, as well as Bob “Coach” Underwood and Jared Newell at nordic. Visit http://www.uscsa.com/broadcast for more information, including live-timing, daily schedules, and on-demand archived broadcasts.

Teams began their quest to qualify for the U.S. Collegiate Skiing and Snowboarding National Championships^TM in their local conference competitions, held across 11 conferences spanning the nation, this December. Top teams from each conference attend one of 6 regional championships, which decide who ultimately qualifies to participate in events at the Collegiate National Championship.

The USCSA is the sports federation for collegiate team ski racing and snowboarding in America. The USCSA believes that student-athletes of all levels and abilities should have access to quality and exciting venues of competition. USCSA athletes agree that our team orientation fosters a collaborative approach across their collegiate athletic and academic careers, and often this mentality proves indispensable in their adult lives and careers. The organization includes 162 colleges from coast to coast, fielding 4,954 male and female, alpine, freestyle, cross-country, snowboarding and nordic ski jumping athletes in over 300 events annually.

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For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact atandkuhns@uscsa.com

Attached Pictures:

Sixtine Piccard, Sierra Nevada University. Photo Credit: Bob Story.

Kathryn Wason University of Virginia. Photo Credit: Ian Pouliot

Nilsen Connor University of Maine. Photo Credit: Ian Pouliot

Katherine Gruner University of Wyoming. Photo Credit: Ian Pouliot

Additional Quotes:

Jerry Wolf, Rocky Mountain College Alpine/Freeski Head Coach: “It’s great to have the skier cross title back at home with RMC. It’s such a fun event and my boys always look forward to it. They didn’t even care or complain about the rain or the challenging conditions today. It’s a difficult event to master and become consistent at, it has a lot of variables to it. Head to head, incidental contact, bump and run, trash talking, not your typical alpine event. All my athletes want to compete in it. I had guys fight for my fifth seed to ski in the event, had to do Rock Paper Scissors to eliminate a couple of guys. Rocky Mountain College 2020 USCSA Skier-x National Champions, it has a nice ring to it, great to be back on top. Win #1 for the Bears!”

Mikael Proper, Skier Cross athlete, University of Nevada Reno: ““Considering the conditions (rain, lack of snow, and warm temperatures) and limited amount of snow, it was a fun course!”