Issues related to the skiing championships took center stage at the Men's and Women's Skiing Committee's annual meeting April 13-16 in Indianapolis.

The committee recommended to the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet that the University of Colorado, Boulder, host the 2006 championships. The event, which is set for March 8-11, would take place in Steamboat Springs at Mt. Werner (Alpine) and Howelsen Hill (Nordic). The cabinet is expected to vote on the matter in June.

Next year's championships are set for March 9-12, with the University of Vermont as the host institution.

The committee also confirmed regional allocations for the 2005 championships. They are: men's and women's Alpine -- East 17, West 18; men's Nordic -- Central 6, East 14, West 19; women's Nordic -- Central 7, East 10, West 22. Allocations are based on regional blocks and earned berths.

In other action, committee members confirmed the events for the 2005 and 2006 championships. The Alpine events will be the giant slalom and slalom, while the Nordic events will feature the men's 10k classical, the women's 5k classical, the men's 20k freestyle and the women's 15k freestyle. Nordic events are rotated on two-year cycles. For the past two years, the Nordic events have been the men's 10k freestyle, the women's 5k freestyle, the men's 20k classical and the women's 15k classical.

The committee also discussed and confirmed the importance of the gatekeeper position in the slalom. Future hosts will be asked to identify the chief gatekeeper and adhere to the chief gatekeeper requirements as outlined in the rules book.

The committee also emphasized that host institutions must be held to the course specifications outlined in Rule 9, Section 4. That rule defines required course adjustments related to the height difference, maximum climb and total climb. The group also reaffirmed that an injured or ill student-athlete must be verified either by the host institution's athletics trainer or a physician.

A proposal to name team national champions in Nordic and Alpine, in addition to an overall team champion, was defeated by the committee. Committee members said they wanted to keep the emphasis on the overall team champion based on a two-discipline, four-event competition.