The NCAA News - News and Features

December 15, 1997

TAKING IT TO A HIGHER PLAIN?

Skiing community debates fairness of restricting NCAA championships to low-altitude sites

BY MARTY BENSON
STAFF WRITER

Most sports fans have heard about Denver's Mile High Stadium and the supposed home-field advantage in the air up there.

In an anaerobic sport such as football, the difference of being acclimatized is negligible; however, in endurance sports such as Nordic (cross country) skiing, altitude is a factor that must be dealt with.

In scientific terms, ability to perform muscular work is usually evaluated relative to a person's maximal oxygen uptake (VO2). At heights above 1,500 meters (4,922 feet), there is a linear decrease in VO2 of 10 percent per 1,000 feet.

In other words, once you pass 5,000 feet, the higher you go, the more of a factor the elevation becomes. The more you practice and compete under such conditions, the better you are able to handle the extra demand on your body.

Skiing coaches from schools in the East and Central regions (where no courses are high enough to cause this effect) say that high altitude is sufficient reason for such sites to be excluded from hosting the National Collegiate Men's and Women's Skiing Championships.

As a result, no site higher than 6,200 feet has hosted since 1977, when the event was hosted by the University of Colorado, Boulder, at Winter Park, Colorado -- base elevation 9,000 feet.

"To have an endurance event at high altitude simply means you have an unfair playing field," said Williams College coach Bud Fisher.

Alpine (downhill) skiing, featured in half of the championships' eight events, is relatively unaffected because those races are sprints.

The NCAA Men's and Women's Skiing Committee's unwritten policy prevents such household-name locales as Aspen (7,900 feet) and Vail (8,100 feet) from being off-campus championships sites. Perhaps more importantly, it also excludes the home courses of Colorado, the University of Denver (also Winter Park), Western State College of Colorado (9,000 feet), University of Nevada (two courses, 6,400 and 7,100), and University of New Mexico (9,500).

The former NCAA Executive Committee consistently refused to accept bids from the University of Alaska Anchorage to host (after it hosted in 1987) because of high travel costs. And none of the 10 Central region schools can host, because none has been able to present a bid with a suitable Alpine/cross country combination.

That leaves few options outside of the East.

Part of the nonaltitude schools' wariness harkens back to 1977. That year, organizers set up a grueling course that maximized the altitude advantage. (Back then, there was only one Nordic race, and NCAA championships were all-male.)

Fisher said unfairness was not the only problem.

"Things happened such as people blacking out...not collapsing, but blacking out," he said. "That strikes me that now you're talking about not only fairness but safety."

Colorado won the Nordic race that year. The closest nonaltitude team was 24 points behind. Individually, altitude schools swept the top three in cross country.

So the issue is settled, right? Altitude sites should not host.

But as ESPN's Lee Corso would say, not so fast my friend.

Altitude schools' perspective

An altitude-site proponent might point out that in 1978, when Dartmouth College hosted, the Nordic results were similar to those from the supposedly skewed event of the previous year. Colorado won the Nordic race again, and the closest nonaltitude team was 19 points behind. Individually, altitude skiers swept the top five places.

Despite the similar results, skiing committee chair Kelly J. Higgins, director of athletics at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, agrees that 1977 was unfair. But Higgins says the skiing community needs to move on.

"From what I've been told, that was an extremely difficult race at very high altitude and everyone from the East was upset about it," he said. "But we need to overcome that fear. In the long term, I believe we are best served as an NCAA sport to find a way to go to altitude once in a while. Otherwise, we continue to exclude the home sites of many Western institutions that have been part of the rich history and backbone of collegiate skiing, and that's not fair."

University of Denver coach Kurt Smitz said that the West is a natural choice for a championships site. He said courses at altitude can be adjusted to account for the demanding elevation effects by limiting the amount and slope of the hills.

"(What happened in 1977) would not happen again because the committee would demand that the topography be to its liking," Smitz said. "That would not be up to the race organizers. (Considering the dwindling sponsorship numbers), we just have more invested in this now.

"The sport is made for the mountains. If other sports, such as bicycling, can hold events at altitude, we can."

Flat course may not be suitable

Cory Schwartz, coach at the University of New Hampshire, said he supports the altitude schools and empathizes with their desire to host, but does not think that altering the course is a viable option.

"I've raced at altitude on a flatter course and I don't feel that solved the problem," he said. "I've never agreed with that. If you do that, it's not a championship course."

Schwartz said that with a recent reduction in the field of qualifiers, the nonaltitude schools cannot afford a year of results skewed by altitude because those statistics are the basis for future qualifier allocations.

George Brooks, in his 28th year as coach at the University of New Mexico, said that despite the current outcry, altitude was not always the determining factor in selecting a site. Until jumping was dropped from the championships after 1980, having access to that type of facility was a necessity. After that, procuring a quality Alpine course became the main concern. Now altitude carries the day.

Altitude skiers at low elevation

Smitz does not dispute the effects of high altitude on the nonacclimatized, but he said the reverse also is true -- low altitude hinders high-altitude skiers.

"The sword cuts both ways," he said. "Granted, it doesn't cut as intensely when you go down, but there are other factors to consider, such as pacing, getting acclimated and getting used to the higher retention of body fluids.

"I've seen the East come out and perform well at altitude, and I have seen the West perform well at sea level."

Brooks agreed and added that altitude Alpine skiers are not immune to the effects of lower elevation.

"Our skiers' tempo at altitude is slower (than that of lower altitude skiers)," he said. "When you go down, you have to pick up the tempo or you get left behind. A common theme for one of these (altitude) skiers after a race (at low elevation) is that they could have gone much faster.

"There also is a disadvantage in Alpine as you go to a lower elevation. The snow is harder and icier. The snow in the West is softer and that makes a difference."

Brooks, a proponent of being more liberal in awarding sites, said unfairness is just a normal part of the game, making it more challenging and interesting.

"Skiing is inherently unfair," he said. "An athlete never sees the same course as his opponent (since conditions change with each run). That's one of the things that makes it unique and exciting."

The New Mexico coach said he thinks altitude sites should be considered for two reasons.

First, he thinks that the skiing committee should support areas that support collegiate skiing. Some areas do not.

Second is the "whole educational aspect of the event." Brooks said he believes student-athletes would benefit greatly from going to some of the Western sites, just as the Western skiers have learned from the variety of Eastern sites.

Future of the sport

Higgins said reaching a compromise is vital to the sport's future.

"The basic issue, as we currently define it, is that in the U.S. there is a limited number of sites that can host," he said. "There are few locations that are high enough to have quality Alpine events, low enough for cross country events and have suitable weather conditions for both -- especially if we continue to ignore one of the best combination sites in Anchorage. It's also important to note that a school can host at a venue that is not its home site."

Smitz said that all sites deserve consideration on the basis of the total package that is offered.

"There needs to be some give and take on this," he said. "Suppose we have a community that has great Alpine facilities and has all the other amenities. Do we just automatically say they can't host because of altitude or do we ask what's the value of the excellent Alpine venue relative to the Nordic races?"