A former SMST2 elite skier, Annie Pokorny is back in navy blue and white, racing for Middlebury as a senior with junior eligibility and focused on NCAA Championships this Thursday and Saturday in Steamboat Springs, Colo. So how do NCAA amateurism rules work in this case? The 23-year-old Pokorny explains.
Matthew Perry Johnson was named the new head coach of the Montana State University nordic ski team following Kristina Trygstad-Saari's resignation from the position this spring after one year on the job. Johnson is the third head coach in two years for the Bobcats.
When Stella Holt examined the life of Fred Fayette, she got more than she bargained for. Not only did she discover the rich life of the UVM assistant coach, but also found peace with her departure from a lifetime of competing in the sport.
An East Coast native but no stranger to Alaska, Nick Crawford will head take over the University of Alaska Fairbanks nordic and cross-country running teams in July following the departure of Scott Jerome, who was put on administrative leave in January.
FasterSkier was on-site at the 2015 NCAA Championships in Lake Placid, N.Y., where the University of Colorado won its 20th national title. Check out our photos from the nordic events.
NMU's Fredrik Schwencke skied to victory in Friday's 20 k classic mass start, avoiding a crash in the final meters of the race which took out Colorado's Rune Malo Ødegård and New Mexico's Aku Nikander. In the women's 15 k New Mexico's Emilie Cedervaern double-poled past Utah's Veronika Mayerhofer to her first NCAA victory.
Excitement was high in upstate New York as the 2015 NCAA Skiing Championships kicked off in Lake Placid with the men's 10 kilometer and women's 5 k freestyle interval starts. Dartmouth's Patrick Caldwell claimed his first national title, while the University of Utah's Veronika Mayerhofer led a western sweep in the women's race.
After more than three decades, the NCAA Skiing Championships are back in Lake Placid, N.Y. While the a lot has changed since 1983, the week's competitions promise to be the most exciting collegiate races of the season as Colorado, Utah, Denver, and Vermont battle for the title of 2015 national champion.
The University of Colorado was crowned champions of the RMISA college racing scene this season after championships were held in low-snow Anchorage, Alaska, on the back of the UAA Invitational. Mads Stroem and Rune Oedegaard of CU and Emilie Cedervaern of the University of New Mexico dominated the proceedings.
EISA racing concluded this past weekend in Lake Placid, NY. These Regional Championships, hosted by St. Lawrence University, featured a festive atmosphere and challenging courses, and served as a precursor to next week's NCAA Championships, also hosted by SLU. Paddy Caldwell returned to dominant form in the men's races, while Heather Mooney and Annika Taylor continued to vie for top women's honors.
More cold conditions continued to sweep across New England as EISA racing convened in Ripton, VT for the Middlebury Carnival. Familiar faces topped the field in both classic and freestyle events. This event marked the last regular-season competition before Regional Championships in Lake Placid, NY.
Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt (Rocky Mountain Racers) didn't have a great start, but she held off a charging Russian to finish 12th in the 15 k skiathlon at U23 World Championships. She believes she accomplished something else, too: potentially earning a place on Canada's team to senior World Championships in Falun.
Scott Patterson followed up his 13th place in the 15 k skate with a 15th place in the 30 k skiathlon at Under-23 World Championships - a solid showing, according to coaches, but by his own assessment missing the results goals he had set for himself. U.S. teammate Paddy Caldwell placed 20th, and Joanne Reid led the American women in 25th.
A blizzard on day one and frigid temperatures on day two did not slow down EISA racing action at the Saint Michael's College Carnival in Huntington, VT. Races included individual-start classic events and a 4x3k mixed-gender classic relay
Exciting racing and close competition in the mountain village of Stowe, Vermont were on display at the UVM Carnival this past weekend. Annika Taylor of UNH and Paddy Caldwell of Dartmouth took top honors in both freestyle and classic events.
The EISA racing season began this past weekend in Rumford, Maine. Cold weather and fast skiing set the stage for some of the highest level of competition in the country.
Arnaud Du Pasquier, a member of Colorado University's 2014 squad to NCAA Championships, will be a senior next year. For now, though, he's taking a year to complete his mandatory military service in his native Switzerland - which he's doing by skiing full-time, including in the Nations Group at the Davos World Cups.
This past weekend's Alaska Nordic Cup in Fairbanks was about more than early season races: it signified the essence of in-state rivalry between the University of Alaska Fairbanks, going for its third-straight title, and the University of Alaska Anchorage nordic teams.
For reasons as wide-ranging as fairness of competition, stress on athletes, health of coaches, and saving money, several North American ski and biathlon organizations have policies limiting the use of high-fluoro waxes at some competitions. And they have nothing but positive feedback from their experiences.
You might see it as a missed development opportunity that the U.S. is the only country not to send its very fastest college athletes to the World University Games (we'll explain why). But the Univerisity of Wyoming, races their hearts out, and also uses the opportunity for more than skiing: expanding athletes' horizons, learning, and instilling a lifelong love of sport.