3.9 - [RELEASE] USCSA 43rd Annual Collegiate National Championships Day 2 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 9th, 2022.  The U.S. Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association (USCSA) completed day 2 of its 5-day long annual Collegiate National Championships^TM today with a men’s Snowboard and Freeski Rail Jam, women’s Skier and Snowboard Cross, Men’s Alpine Giant Slalom, and a Classic Nordic Sprint race under 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.

Nordic skiers switched to their classic equipment and raced in a Classic Sprint race at Mt. Van Hoevenberg. Taking home another team National Championship was Paul Smith’s College. After the race, Paul Smith’s College Coach Mathew Dougherty said that “today was a battle of attrition, and it was rewarding to see our team battle through and have some athletes pull through and really carry us today. The conditions proved quite challenging but we were so happy to get 6 men into the round of 30 and in the end be able to narrowly pull off the win. We were so impressed with all the competitors and teams. Today the quality of racing was incredibly high.” St. Olaf College’s men’s team placed second followed by Clarkson University in third. On the women’s side, St Olaf College won their second team National Championship, followed by Cornell University in second and Clarkson University in third. Following the race, St Olaf College’s head coach Kevin Brochman said that today’s event “was the best and most entertaining sprinting event I have been to.” 

“We are super stoked to have such an incredible, world class venue,” said USCSA Vice President of Nordic Christi Boggs. “Not only are the new trails absolutely top notch, the infrastructure and the organization by ORDA is fantastic. We are also seeing a surge of new teams and quality racing that is truly inspiring, the competition is stronger and tougher than ever. We’re looking forward to more incredible racing as the week goes on.”

Sierra Nevada University continued their strong showing in Alpine skiing by taking home another team championship, this time in the men’s Giant Slalom. Similar to the women’s events yesterday, Rocky Mountain College and Babson College’s teams again rounded out the podium in second and third. Celebrating their second podium in two days, Babson Head Coach Joe Harty said the team was “very pleased with the results so far and it's nice to be here representing the strong MacConnell Division.  We have a good mix of veteran skiers and first timers and together they were able to put together two solid runs. Looking forward to the slalom and hoping to continue solid skiing.”

At the Snowboard and Freeski venues, Sierra Nevada University won the team Collegiate National Championships^TM in the Snowboard Rail Jam. At the Cross venue, Rocky Mountain College won their second Ski Cross team title of the week with a women’s Championship while Sierra Nevada University won the women’s team Snowboard Cross Championship. After their second place finish in the Ski Cross, head coach Aaron Flynn said that “the athletes have always enjoyed competing in skier cross. It’s a fun departure from the standard race structure. The College of Idaho has seen success in cross in the past so it’s great to see the ladies back on the podium in second place. They were all pretty fired up by the end of the day. The week as a whole has been challenging. The weather has been a factor, as well as the rock solid race surface, and the results have reflected the challenges. We plan to keep fighting through and hopefully put ourselves in position for some good results.”

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:

Erica Meyers, St Olaf College, Women’s Classic Sprint 2nd Place. “Thanks to good wax, decent weather, smart officials, and fantastic fellow athletes, this was one of my favorite race days ever! I got to meet some cool people, race hard, and feel the support of everyone around me, which guided me to that 2nd place finish, in a really EPIC final! (as the announcers would say)”

John Henry Paluszek, University of Wyoming, Men’s Classic Sprint Champion ““It was a hard race but our wax techs did a nice job with both kick and glide. The course had one big hill so I knew I had to make my move there. I made the top of that hill my finish line and then let my glide take over. I had to hope for the best because there was a slip stream that could benefit anyone close enough to catch it. Fortunately, I had broken the slip stream and was able to cruise home.”

Attached Pictures: 

Annika Saunus, Castleton University and Erica Meyers, St Olaf College. Photo Credit: John DiGiacomo.

John Henry Paluszek, University of Wyoming. Photo Credit: John DiGiacomo.