The St. Olaf men’s and women’s alpine and nordic skiing teams competed at the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association Championships in Lake Placid, N.Y. on March 11-15.
The men’s alpine ski team finished 10th of 19 teams at the event. They combined with the Oles’ nordic ski team to win the President’s Cup. The cup is a trophy presented to the combined winner of alpine and nordic.
St. Olaf claimed sixth in the slalom, with Matthew Hoffman ’14 and Jack Post ’17 leading the way for the Oles, finishing in 23rd and 25th positions respectively.
Haakon Schoenheyder ’15 performed strongly, finishing third in the giant slalom. Grady Gores ’16 also contributed in the slalom, finishing in 25th place, which helped the team to finish the event in 15th place.
The women’s alpine team also enjoyed great success at the Championships, finishing in ninth position. Like their male Ole counterparts, the women’s team was also awarded the President’s Cup.
The Ole women finished third in the slalom and 15th in the giant slalom. In the slalom, Katie Ulvestad ’14 recorded an impressive time of 1:42.99 to finish seventh. Just behind her was McKenna McNabb ’15, who finished in ninth place with a time of 1:44.40. Megan Daelski ’17 posted a time of 1:45.94, which allowed her to place 16th.
McNabb also performed strongly in the giant slalom, earning 12th place 2:10.70. Madison McLaughlin ’14 was 24th with a time of 2:15.32.
The end of the USCSA Championships marks the completion of the team’s 2014 competitive season. It was hugely successful for the men’s and women’s teams, with both claiming USCSA divisional and regional titles.
Those titles mark a satisfying first season at the helm for coach Jacob Olsen. Olsen, a 2006 graduate of St. Olaf, was named head coach of the alpine ski programs in September 2013, replacing former director of skiing Kevin Cook.
nolans@stolaf.edu
Photo courtesy of Tom Jorgenson
