College skiers sometimes get overlooked in the national skiing scene. But Dartmouth College skier Alison Crocker is doing a good job of getting noticed these days. She's had 4 top five finishes in the SuperTour so far this year, including 4th in the sprint and 3rd in classic this past weekend in West Yellowstone.
Last year Alison finished 4th in the US Nationals classic race, 4th at the NCAA Championships, and won four Eastern college carnival races.
On top of all that, she was recently awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University next year.
We caught up with Ali in Sun Valley as she prepares for next week's World Cup races in Canada.
 who helped you progress as a skier?</b></p>
<p>There have always been skiers that I've looked up to like Nina Kemppel and Beckie Scott, but I think that the people who helped me progress the most as a skier were each of my coaches, from Bill Koch League up through college.</p>
<p><b>The news came out last week that you have been selected as a Rhodes Scholar for 2006. Congratulations! Was it difficult to balance the application process with ski racing?</b></p>
<p>Thanks! The application process (writing an essay, getting recommendations) mostly occured during the spring, summer and early fall and didn't really interfere with skiing that much. However, the interviews both for the Rhodes and the Marshall scholarship (which I didn't get) required me to make two seperate trips back to the East Coast in the middle of the past month's early racing season. That much travelling did make it hard to get in the training hours that I wanted to.</p>
<p><b>You recently qualified for the Canadian World Cup races. Are you in Canada yet? What are your thoughts about skiing your first World Cups?</b></p>
<p>Right now I'm in Sun Valley training a bit before going up to Canada on December 3rd. I'm really psyched to ski in the World Cups, but also more than a little nervous!</p>
<p><b>Are you happy with how this season has started for you?</b></p>
<p>Definitely, I've had some good races so far this season. I was happily suprised by my sprinting so far this year. I wasn't even planning on doing the sprint races, but they ended up being some of my top results.</p>
<p><b>What are your goals for this season?</b></p>
<p>My goal is the same this season as every season- to ski as fast as possible. I of course hope to make the Olympics, but I really like focusing more on just getting faster and faster than having a particular result.</p>
<p><b>You are a senior at Dartmouth College. Are you taking classes this fall?</b></p>
<p>Nope. Dartmouth is on a quarters system and is fairly flexible, so I took classes this past summer instead of this fall. Taking the fall off is really perfect for me, because I can relax and train and travel to all the early races without stressing out about school.</p>
<p><b>What is your major?</b></p>
<p>I'm a double major in physics and math.</p>
<p><b>Many top high school skiers wonder about whether they should go to college or pursue skiing full-time. What are your thoughts on college skiing? How are you able to balance an Ivy League education with ski racing?</b></p>
<p>I think college skiing is great. I have had an absolutely amazing time skiing for Dartmouth. It's definitely hard to balance skiing with academics, but you can do so as long as you can stay focused. For me, skiing at college was the right option. I don't think I would be as happy if I had pursued skiing full-time after high school.</p>
<p><b>So you are an Olympic-hopeful skier, a Rhodes scholar, and I've also heard that you were on the junior national rowing team. As if that's not enough, what are some of your other talents and<br />
interests?</b></p>
<p>I'm pretty active in the Dartmouth Outing Club, hiking and doing trailwork and a little rock climbing. I also compete on Dartmouth's Forestry team- we go to two meets each spring and fall and compete against other colleges in wood chopping and sawing and axe throwing and such, which is a blast. Other than that, I do some math and physics tutoring and am a mentor for the Women in Science Project.</p>
<p><b>I'm guessing that you won't be doing much skiing next year. What are your goals for after that? Both in terms of skiing and non-skiing.</b></p>
<p>Next year is something I'm still working on figuring out. I go through cycles of being really psyched that I get to study astrophysics at Oxford, then really sad that I'm not going to be able to ski much. I plan on taking up rowing again at Oxford to keep active and I hope I can escape to mainland Europe or Scandinavia for some ski weekends. If all goes well, at the end of three years I'll get my PhD from Oxford and return to skiing for awhile. But, honestly, three years is a long time from now and I don't even know who I will be then!</p>
<p><b>Thanks for your time Ali and good luck this season!</b><BR><center><img decoding=)
