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L- NCAAGS Champion Andy Hare Utes Ski NCAA Championship The Utah ski team established itself once again as the premier collegiate program in the nation, capturing its ninth national title at the 1996 NCAA Championships in Bozeman, Montana. "It was one of the most rewarding championships I've ever been involved in" said longtime Utah ski director Pat Miller. Ironically, the NCAA win was only Utah's second all year. The Utes peaked at the right time, winning the NCAA regional meet before heading to nationals. In addition to the team crown, Utah claimed four individual descipline titles at regionals. Utah qualified a full team to the `96 NCAA Championships: senior Andy Hare, sophomore Mike Elvidge and freshman Alain Britt-Cote for the men's alpine team; junior Christ1 Hager, and freshman Tina Kavcic and Heather Munroe for women's alpine; senior Asle Slettemoen and juniors Tor Arne Haugen and Kurt Wulff for men's cross country; and senior Heidi Selnes, junior Ingvil Snofugl and freshman Stine Hellerud for women's cross country. Prior to postseason competition, Utah finished runner-up in all four regular season invitationals - three of those four time to fival and defendinf national champion Colorado. "We entered nationals as underdogs to Colorado and Vermont," said Miller. "A Utah win wasn't expected at the NCAA's, which makes it that much more satisfying." The Utes cruised to victory at nationals behind solid alpine and cross country showings. The Utes scored a 719 to lead the 23-team field, followed by runner-up Denver (635.5), Vermont (615) and Colorado (602.5). Utah's Andy Hare, a senior, captured the indi- vidual giant slalom title. Utah's alpine team scored a 361 to win that portion of competition, followed by Colorado (306). the Ute cross country squad tallied a 358, only a half point behind leader Denver (358.5). "No individual was respon- sible for our championship," said Miller. "It was tremendous team effort all the way around." Ten Ute skiers earned All-America status by virtue of Top-10 finishes at nationals: Britt-Cote, Hare, Hager, Kavcic, Munroe, conference honors for the Utes were: Haugen, Wulff, Selnes, Kavcic, Munroe, Hare, Britt-Cote and freshman Stine Hellerud and Sandra Kuehni . Ute skiers tallied eight individual event titles during the season: Selnes (freestyle XC, Colorado Invitational), Hare (giant slalom, Denver Invitational and NCAA Championships), Munroe (giant slalom, Denver Invitational), Haugen (classical and freestyle XC, regionals), Britt-Cote (slalom, regionals) and Hager (slalom, regionals). The `96 Skiin' Utes used the regular season as a primer for posteason success. "On the alpine side, we started picking up momentum at regionals and carried it through nationals," said Miller. In addition to its top finish at the championships, the Utah alpine team notched second-place finishes at the Denver invitationals and regionals. The Utes placed third at the other three meets. "Our cross country team skied consis- tently well throughout the season," said Miller. Overall, the Utah cross country squad had its best outing of the year at the New Mexico Invitational, where it won the team title. It placed third on three occasions and finished runner-up at regionals. Miller is extremely pleased with the Ute ski program's performance in `96. "Team management by our staff (coaches Kevin Sweeney, Mark Bonnell and John Farra, trainer Greg Thorpe, strength coach Troy Malson and academic advisor Rob Rainey) was exceptional," he said. "Combine that with the strong work ethic demon- strated by our student-athletes and it equals success." Ski Archives Advisory Board Welcomes New Members The Ski Archives Advisory Board enthusi- astically welcomes the additional support and expertise of new board members. The new members are: Janine Alfano - Director of Special Events for the US Ski Team. Robyn Archer - a lifelong skier and a Director at the Salt Lake Surgical Center. Thomas Carter - a ski enthusiast and Professor of Historical Architecture at the University of Utah. Chuck English - Director of Mountain Operations at Deer Valley Resort Ray Gardiner - Chief Executive Officer of Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort Carol Garner - Program Manager for Ski Utah Ralph Petty - an Attorney and former Ski Racer Chris Raemer - an electrical engineering student at the University of Utah, and former Alta ski instructor. As an employee of the Marriott Library Chris was instrumental in developing the Guide to the Utah Ski Archives. William Spencer - a former Olympic Nordic competitor and currently the US representative to the International Biathlon Organization. |
