3.11 - [RELEASE] USCSA 43rd Annual Collegiate National Championships Day 4 Recap

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jay Moyer

jmoyer@uscsa.org 

UNITED STATES COLLEGIATE SKI AND SNOWBOARD ASSOCIATION HOSTS 43rd ANNUAL U.S. COLLEGIATE SKIING AND SNOWBOARDING NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS^TM

LAKE PLACID, New York. – MARCH 11th, 2022.  The U.S. Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association (USCSA) completed the 4th day of its 5-day long annual Collegiate National Championships^TM with a men’s and women’s Snowboard Slopestyle, men’s Alpine Ski Slalom, and a men’s and women’s Nordic 15k Classic Mass Start race under partly cloudy  skies. 

552 Collegiate athletes representing 57 colleges and universities are competing at the 2022 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 your favorite athletes either in person or online at www.uscsa.org, where team and Individual results will be posted daily. Check in daily for live Video and Audio feeds online at uscsa.org/broadcast.html.

Sierra Nevada University wrapped up men’s racing on Drapers Drop with another team National Championship, giving the school a sweep of the traditional alpine events. Rocky Mountain College’s men took home second while Northern Michigan University rounded out the podium in third. After their third place finish, Northern Michigan University head coach Erik Lundteigen said, I am so proud of our team! We have had great training, and our results show this. Thanks for all you do for NMU.” 

At the Snowboard Slopestyle course, Liberty University took home the women’s team combined National Championship. “Our teams came into this week knowing our potential and hoping to see all our hard work training pay off at the USCSA National events,” said Liberty University head coach Isaac Gibson. “We have been practicing hard since September utilizing our artificial slope on campus (Snowflex) in preseason training. Then we hit the slopes hard this winter taking practice trips to Loon Mountain Resort and Seven Springs between competition weekends to better prepare for the terrain parks we see at the national level of competition.“

At Mount Van Hoevenberg, nordic skiers competed in their longest event of the week with a 15k Classic Mass Start event. Taking home their second men’s team National Championship of the week was Paul Smith’s College, followed by the University of Wyoming in second and St. Olaf College in third. On the women’s side, St. Olaf College took home their third team National Championship in three races, while  the University of Wyoming took second and Paul Smith’s College placed third.

All this week 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: uscsa.org/broadcast.htm. 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 uscsa.org/broadcast.htm 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 January. 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 184 colleges from coast to coast, fielding 5,146 male and female, alpine, freestyle, cross-country, snowboarding and nordic ski jumping athletes in over 300 events annually.

For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact jmoyer@uscsa.org

Additional Quotes:

Liberty University head coach Isaac Gibson: “We hit the ground running on the first day of competition making history bringing home not just one but two national titles in the Rail Jam event for our Women’s Snowboard and Freeski teams. Freshman Lauren Harder came off a month-long recovery from an injury to winning the Rail Jam event with just one day of training back on her skis. Junior Emory Orlando was hungry for a win after a disappointing finish in 2020 and the National Championship being canceled in 2021 fueling her fire that led her to her first National Championship. We also made history taking our first podium finish in Men’s Boardercross with Tyler Sherbine and Jayden Horrocks leading the way to a 3rd place team finish. Day two of competition brought another program first with Emmaus Rich leading her Women’s Snowboard team to a 3rd place finish in the Boardercross event. The Men’s Snowboard team brought home another 2nd place finish in Rail Jam with Freshman Jayden Horrocks having a breakout performance finishing 5th right behind Senior Tyler Sherbine. Day three we had sophomore Josephine Rich lead her Women’s Freeski team to a 1st place finish in Slopestyle taking 3rd place individually. The Men’s Freeski team also brought home another 3rd place team finish in Slopestyle. The final day of competition was just as exciting as the first with Emory Orlando putting together a Slopestyle run that earned her a second National title for Women’s Snowboard. 

I am incredibly proud of all my athletes and their performances this week. I have no doubt in my mind they have put in more time training on the hill than any other team out there. Snowflex might not be a perfect replica of the white frozen stuff God makes, but we are blessed to have it and it allows us to train when no one else is able to. I truly believe Snowflex has made the difference in allowing Liberty University to have the training necessary to bring home 4x National titles as a team, and 5x National titles individually. Our program is only eleven years old, and has grown tremendously in the past four years. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for the Liberty University Ski & Snowboard program!”

Attached Pictures: 

Men’s Mass Start 1. Photo Credit: Ian Pouliot 

Men’s Mass Start 2. Photo Credit: Ian Pouliot 

Women’s Mass Start 1. Photo Credit: Ian Pouliot 

Women’s Mass Start 2. Photo Credit: Ian Pouliot 

Snowboard Slopestyle. Photo Credit: John DiGiacomo.