National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

March 3, 1997

National Collegiate

Four expected to battle for top spot

Event: 1997 National Collegiate Men's and Women's Skiing Championships.

Overview: This should be a four-team race among defending champion Utah, Denver, Colorado and Vermont. Because of NCAA qualifier reductions that permit only three skiers from each team to compete per event, three other schools that are not deep enough to be regular-season powers -- New Mexico, Western State and Alaska Anchorage -- could work their way into the mix ... Utah coach Pat Miller termed last year's victory among the most rewarding of eight his team has won, because the Utes overcame injuries to three key skiers. This year's team faces obstacles of a different sort after losing 10 skiers from that squad, but a ninth title is not out of the question. The Utes' Alpine teams lead the way. Two-time giant slalom champion (1994 and 1995) Christl Hager dropped off the pace a bit last year, but hopes to return to form. In men's Alpine, Alain Britt-Cote will look to improve upon last year's second-place in giant slalom and third in slalom. In Nordic, Kristen Tjelle (ranked third in the West) leads the women, while twins Rune and Frode Kollerud (ranked second and fourth, respectively) lead the men ... Denver, winner of four of the eight individual events last year, returns several previous champions, including two -- Roberta Pergher and Geir Skari -- who were freshmen last year. Pergher unseated Utah's Hager in the 1996 women's slalom; Skari won the men's classical Nordic. Other former titlists are Narcisa Sehovic (1995 women's slalom) and Erik Roland (1994 men's giant slalom) ... Colorado won the championship in 1995 but had a disappointing 1996, at least by its high standards. The Buffaloes finished fourth and did not win an event. Six all-Americans from that team return. Caroline Gedde-Dahl, who placed second in the women's giant slalom and fifth in women's slalom, was the team's top 1996 finisher. Colorado gave early indications it would be a force this year, then placed third at the Denver Invitational while the team's five Alpine skiers were competing at the University World Games in Korea ... If top East region contender Vermont wins, one of the main reasons is likely to be Thorodd Bakken, who won the 1996 men's freestyle cross country race and was third in the classical event. He has been almost untouchable in Nordic races this season..

Dates and site: March 5-8 at Vermont.

Information/results: The fax-on-demand telephone number is 770/399-3060 (passcode 1905); request numbers are 5139 for day-one results; 5140, day two; 5141, day three; and 5142, day four. Championships results also will be available on the World Wide Web at www.ncaa.org. Results will be published in the March 17 issue of The NCAA News.

Championships note: This is the first time since 1990 that Vermont has played host to the event.