In a press conference on Wednesday, the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) announced that it will once again support a Division I ski team, starting this season. For the time being however, the program will only have alpine skiing. Both the president of the university and the university’s athletic director were present for the announcement, marking the moment. “It has been truly amazing to see how much the program’s return has energized our community,” said...
ANCHORAGE — For the second time in four years, nordic skiing has been saved at the University of Alaska Anchorage, following a serious proposal to eliminate the ski team entirely. This time around, the victory is somewhat more of a pyrrhic one, as the University of Alaska Board of Regents voted Thursday to eliminate the alpine portion of the men’s and women’s ski team, unless supporters can raise over a half million dollars in advance...
Multiple schools in the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association are experiencing flux with their nordic coaching staff going into the 2020/2021 ski season, according to representatives from each school. The schools in question are the University of Alaska Anchorage, University of Utah, and Montana State University, all of which have well-established nordic programs that placed highly at last year’s NCAA Championships. Neither Anchorage nor Montana State currently has anyone filling this position. Utah has two...
On April 1st, the University of Alaska Anchorage athletics department announced that interim head coach Marine Dusser-Bjornsen had been named Nordic Coach of the Year by the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association (RMISA) after her first year in the role. Despite stepping into the position last minute, Dusser-Bjornsen proved her readiness for the role and led the Seawolves to an outstanding season. The men’s team finished the season in second place in the RMISA standings...
The 2018/2019 season will be the last for NCAA skiing at the University of New Mexico (UNM), following a unanimous vote by the Board of Regents to cut skiing, along with two other teams, on Friday evening. The Board’s decision is effective immediately. If nothing changes, then the men’s soccer team, women’s beach volleyball team, and men’s and women’s ski teams will play out this season, then be eliminated on July 1, 2019, at the...
(Note: This article was updated Thursday afternoon with information about a pending lawsuit and quotes from a New Mexico state legislator and a representative of Southwest Nordic Ski Club.) * * * The men’s and women’s cross-country ski teams at the University of New Mexico (UNM), previously saved following a groundswell of support in spring 2017, may be on the chopping block again. A meeting has been scheduled for this Friday, Aug. 17, to consider...
This week, FasterSkier caught up with Bozeman, Montana, native Logan Diekmann, who’s entering his junior year at the University of Utah. Diekmann, 21, is spending this summer training in Salt Lake City, taking summer classes toward a degree in mechanical engineering. Diekmann grew up in Bozeman, skiing with the Bridger Ski Foundation (BSF) through elementary, middle and high school. After graduating as Bozeman High School’s valedictorian in 2015, he took a gap year with BSF....
Job posting) The Department of Athletics at the University of Alaska Fairbanks is seeking applicants to fill the position for the Assistant Coach for the Men’s and Women’s Nordic Ski Teams. The Alaska Nanook Ski Team competes in the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association and frequently has all-American level performances at the NCAA Championships. UAF is the ideal place to be a nordic skiing enthusiast with groomed trails right outside the door on the UAF campus and...
This article has been updated with additional comments from UNM student-athlete Brenna Egan. * * * Skiing at the University of New Mexico (UNM) is officially alive again, at least for one more year, while the university and the ski team pursue viable long-term funding sources, school officials announced earlier on Thursday. Speaking at a regularly scheduled meeting of the UNM Board of Regents Thursday afternoon, Acting President Chaouki T. Abdallah told the board that “several...
When #everyonesalobo is more than just a hashtag: Mikaela Shiffrin and Jessie Diggins lend their support to the UNM Ski Team. Meanwhile, current athletes encourage others to take advantage of opportunities, "Because you never know if that opportunity is going to be taken away from you."
With spring in full swing and many skiers returning to training, this week’s Wednesday Workout is presented by University of Utah Ski Team member, Kevin Bolger. While most of his athletic accomplishments from this past season are nordic-based — he’s a NCAA All-American, the 2017 Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association (RMISA) U.S. nationals classic sprint champion — most of Bolger’s spring workouts mean giving skiing a spring ‘break.’ *** It’s no secret that natives of Sweden, Norway and other overseas nations often...
Football at the University of New Mexico (UNM) cost nearly as much in allocated expenses last fiscal year as 19 other sports combined, according to a new analysis of data provided to the federal government by the UNM athletic department. The financial context comes amid continuing suggestions by ski-team advocates that as elsewhere, football is king. The school reported total expenses for football, in the 2015 fiscal year (July 2015 – June 2016), of, in...
UNM suggests that athletes who can compete for the podium will readily find another home. Where does that leave solid skiers who are realistically not yet podium contenders? “We have been informed about this so late that it is too late to apply to many scholarships,” UNM skier Brenna Egan says. “Of course I am going to do everything I can, but every indication is pointing to the end of my ski career.”
The men’s and women’s nordic and alpine ski teams at the University of New Mexico (UNM) will be defunded and cease to exist by the end of June, university administrators announced Thursday afternoon. While the death of the ski team is being presented as a fait accompli by the UNM athletic department, ski team advocates are nonetheless rallying support and preparing to make their case for continued funding to the Board of Regents. The threatened...
NCAA Skiing Championships (Jackson, N.H.): 5/10 k classic The universities of Utah, Colorado and Denver occupied five of six of the podium spots between the men’s and women’s races on the first day of nordic racing at the 2017 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Skiing Championships on Thursday in Jackson, N.H. University of Utah freshman Martin Bergström won the men’s 10-kilometer classic individual start and Dag Frode Trollebø, a University of Denver (DU) junior from Norway, in second....
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — So how cold was it at Kincaid Park Sunday morning for the last of four Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association (RMISA) races held in the Anchorage area this week? “It’s f—ing cold,” said women’s winner Merete Myrseth of the University of Utah. “It was cold,” said men’s winner Moritz Madlener of the University of Denver. “Now we fly back to Denver and get warm.” [Unavailable for comment] were the two skiers who...
APU’s Scott Patterson and Jessica Yeaton, UAA’s Hailey Swirbul, and the UAF team all skied well in Fairbanks over the weekend in the continent’s first FIS races. Patterson jokes that he plans to purchase a time turner, so that he can “continue to win every single race in the U.S.”
With the conclusion of the 2016 collegiate season, FasterSkier examines the traditional format of NCAA Skiing Championships with two distance races. Part I of a two-part series discusses proposed changes to NCAA Championships, including the addition of a sprint.
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.