The Wildcat women skied straight into the NCAA history books on Friday.
For the second consecutive race at the 2007 NCAA Championships in Jackson, N.H., Northern Michigan University swept the podium. According to the NCAA, no women's team had ever before swept back-to-back races at the same NCAA's (Denver's men pulled it off in 2000).
In perfect conditions Friday – sunny skies, no wind, temperatures around 20 degrees, and deep, firm tracks – Lindsey Weier (Mahtomedi, Minn.) won the 15-kilometer mass start in 47 minutes, 21 seconds, edging Lindsay Williams by a second. Morgan Smyth (48:11) secured the sweep by outsprinting Maria Grevsgaard in the final 300 meters.
In Wednesday's 5K freestyle, the 1-2-3 finish by Williams, Smyth and Weier was the first women's NCAA sweep since UVM did it in 1989.
The Wildcat trio are all seniors, all members of the U.S. Ski Team and all American-born in a championships normally dominated by foreign skiers.
“This is unbelievable, these women have trained so hard and so well. They are just so professional about it. They balance their academics and athletics so well,” 20th-year NMU coach Sten Fjeldheim said on the Web site for the University of New Hampshire, the event's host. “As a coach this is just something that you dream about, and it is something that may never happen in a coach's lifetime. I have them to thank for it.”
