Tuesday, March 5, 2019 • by Brooke Frederickson, RMISA
STOWE, Vt.—The Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association schools prepare for the NCAA Championships, hosted by Vermont in Stowe, Vt., March 6-9.
Colorado, Denver, New Mexico and Utah all qualified 12 skiers. Alaska Anchorage will send 10 skiers to the championships while Montana State will send nine. Nordic school Alaska Fairbanks will send four and alpine school Westminster College makes its first appearance at the NCAA Championships after moving from NAIA to the NCAA. The Griffins will send five skiers.
Utah has been the RMISA's strongest team this season, winning four of the five meets held and finishing second by five points to Colorado at the Montana State Invite. Denver and Colorado both have second-place finishes behind the Utes this season.
RMISA schools have won 57 of the 66 NCAA skiing championships held. Denver won the 2018 title and an RMISA school has won the last six titles and 22 of the last 25.
Returning individual NCAA champions include Denver's Amelia Smart, who won both the slalom and giant slalom titles in 2018, while Utah's Mark Engel won the 2014 giant slalom national championship.
The championships begin with the men's 10-km and women's 5-km freestyle races at Trapp Family Lodge on Wednesday, March 6. The alpine teams get underway on Thursday, March 7, with the giant slalom races at Stowe Mountain Resort. The Nordic classic mass start races (women's 15-km and men's 20-km) are on Friday, March 8, and the alpine teams close the meet with the slalom races on Saturday, March 9.
All events will be webcast live at NCAA.com.
Women's Alpine
Returning NCAA Champions: Denver's Amelia Smart (2018 slalom, 2018 giant slalom)
Returning All-Americans: Colorado's Nora Christensen, New Mexico's Rebecca Fiegl, Denver's Andrea Komsic, Montana State's Jocelyn McCarthy, Denver's Tuva Norbye, Utah's Roni Remme, Denver's Amelia Smart.
- Denver's Tuva Norbye has been the most consistent skier on the circuit during the season and leads the league with eight podium finishes, 10 top five finishes and 12 top 10 finishes. She has two wins on the year, both in giant slalom, and was the RMISA women's alpine MVP.
- Montana State's Jocelyn McCarthy is tied for the league lead with three wins on the year, all in the slalom. She has six top 10 finishes.
- Utah freshman Eirin Engeset has six podium finishes this year, which is second in the league. She has 10 top 10 finishes.
- Skiers who have split their time between the NCAA and international competition this season include Utah's Roni Remme, Colorado's Mikaela Tommy, Denver's Amelia Smart and Denver's Andrea Komsic.
- Utah's Roni Remme has one win and two podium finishes over five races this season. She finished second in alpine combined recently at Crans-Montana, her first World Cup podium, and was fifth in alpine combined at the FIS World Ski Championships. Remme is third in the FIS points in alpine combined and ranks 18th in slalom.
- Colorado freshman Mikaela Tommy, who is 31st in the world in the FIS points in the giant slalom, is tied for the league lead with three giant slalom wins this year. She has four top five and six top 10 finishes on the year. Tommy finished 26th in the GS at the 2019 FIS World Ski Championships.
- Denver's Amelia Smart, who has one win and three podiums this year, finished seventh in slalom at the 2019 FIS Junior World Ski Championships and 22nd at the FIS World Ski Championships.
- Denver's Andrea Komsic has one win, three podiums and eight top five finishes this year. She competed at the FIS World Ski Championships.
- New Mexico freshman Sona Moravcikova also has a win in slalom this season. She has finished in the top five four times.
- Other skiers who have consistently finished in the top 10 include New Mexico's Rebecca Fiegl and Colorado's Stephanie Fleckenstein.
Men's Alpine
Returning NCAA Champions: Utah's Mark Engel (2014 giant slalom)
Returning All-Americans: New Mexico's Vegard Busengdal, Utah's Addison Dvoracek (while skiing for Montana State), Utah's Mark Engel, Denver's Tobias Kogler, Colorado's Max Luukko, Denver's Jett Seymour.
- Denver's Simon Fournier leads the league with five wins (four in the slalom). He has five podium and six top five finishes. Fournier finished 24th in slalom at the FIS World Ski Championships and 30th in the giant slalom. He is 39th in the slalom in the latest FIS points and 76th in the giant slalom.
- Utah's Addison Dvoracek is second in the league with four wins, all in the giant slalom. He has finished in the top 10 eight times. Dvoracek is in his first season at Utah after spending the previous
- Skiers with one win each include Denver's Tobias Kogler, Colorado's Joey Young and Montana State's Louis Muhlen-Schulte.
- Utah's Mark Engel, the 2014 giant slalom champion in his only previous season at Utah, went on to spend four seasons with the U.S. Ski Team before retiring from World Cup competition before this year. He has four podium finishes this season.
- Utah freshman Joachim Lein is tied for second in the league with four podium finishes and has finished in the top 10 nine times.
- New Mexico's Vegard Busengdal leads the league with 10 top 10 finishes. He has three podium finishes on the year. Busengdal was the RMISA men's alpine MVP.
- Montana State's Aage Solheim has also been one of the most consistent skiers in the league with nine top 10 finishes, including two podiums.
- Colorado's Filip Forejtek was hurt most of the year but had strong finishes in Alaska with one podium and two top five finishes.
- Other skiers with podium finishes this year include Denver's Jett Seymour (2), Colorado's Max Luukko (1), Alaska Anchorage's Sky Kelsey (1), Alaska Anchorage's Liam Wallace (2), Westminster College's Martin Arene (1).
Women's Nordic
Returning NCAA Champions: None
Returning All-Americans: Denver's Jasmi Joensuu, Utah's Guro Jordheim, Colorado's Anne Siri Lervik, Denver's Taeler McCrerey, Alaska Fairbanks' Kati Roivas (while skiing for New Mexico), Colorado's Christina Rolandsen, Montana State's Emma Tarbath
- Utah's Guro Jordheim leads the league with five victories. She has won every skate race she has competed and finished no lower than fourth this year. Jordheim is a four-time All-American.
- Colorado's Hedda Baangman was the RMISA women's Nordic MVP. She had one win and tied for the league lead with six podium finishes.
- Utah freshman Julia Richter had a strong end to the season, winning the final two classic races and finishing second in the last two freestyle races. She is second in the league with two wins and her four podiums ranks third in the RMISA.
- Alaska Fairbanks' Kati Roivas has finished in the top five six times with one podium finish. She earned All-America honors at New Mexico in 2016 before struggling with injuries for the next several seasons.
- Other skiers with wins this year are Colorado's Anne Siri Lervik and Denver's Jasmi Joensuu. Both have two finishes on the podium.
- Other skiers with multiple podium finishes this year are Denver's Taeler McCrerey (3), Utah's Karianne Moe (2) and Colorado's Christina Rolandsen (2).
Men's Nordic
Returning NCAA Champions: None
Returning All-Americans: Colorado's Alvar Alev, Colorado's Sondre Bollum, Denver's Eivind Kvaale
- New Mexico freshman Kornelius Groev, the RMISA men's Nordic MVP, has five wins, seven podiums and eight top five finishes.
- New Mexico's Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier has one win and six podium finishes with nine top 10 finishes. He also competed at NCAA's last year after joining the team late in the season.
- Alaska Anchorage's Sigurd Roenning has two wins, four podiums and five top five finishes.
- Colorado's Erik Dengerud and Alvar Alev each have one win. Dengerud has two podiums and eight top 10 finishes while Alev has finished in the top 10 six times.
- Utah's Logan Diekmann and Ola Jordheim each have two podium finishes. Diekmann has finished in the top five six times with eight top 10's while Jordheim has finished in the top five five times and in the top 10 nine times.
- Other skiers with podium finishes are Utah's Maximilian Bie, Denver's Eivind Kvaale, Montana State's Eli Jensen, Alaska Anchorage's JC Schoonmaker and Montana State's Ti Donaldson.