Six college skiers reach peak in classroom

Six college skiers reach peak in classroom{mosimage}Illustrating that skiing isn’t a sport for dumb jocks, six college skiers were named to ESPN The Magazine’s Academic All-American Team. The teams were named by the College Sports Information Directors of America. Criteria for nomination include a GPA of at least 3.20 and participation in at least 50 percent of the team’s competitions.

With a 4.0 GPA in physics and an NCAA silver medal, Dartmouth’s Ali Crocker was a shoo-in for the Women’s ‘At-Large’ First Team, University Division (the At-Large Team includes 15 sports such as skiing, swimming, tennis, crew).

Crocker was also one of three winners of Dartmouth’s 2004 Phi Beta Kappa prize for having the highest GPA after five terms of study. But the accolades don’t stop there for the future rocket scientist and Olympic hopeful. At the Big Green’s Celebration of Athletic Excellence, she won Dartmouth’s Class of 1948 Scholar-Athlete Award, given to one male and one female of the junior class who have combined outstanding performance in athletics and significant achievement in academics. In her three years at Dartmouth, Crocker has received four academic citations and Dartmouth’s Francis L. Town Prize in physics.

Joining Crocker on the Academic All-American First Team are Amy Cochran, with a 3.98 in physics at UVM – Cochran’s second Academic All-American honor, as she was also named to the Women’s Soccer First Team – and New Mexico’s Martina Stursova, with a 3.97 GPA in biology. Two-time NCAA champion Mandy Kaempf, from Alaska-Anchorage, was named to the Women’s At-Large Team, College Division, with a 3.88 GPA in sociology.

Three male skiers also received Academic All-American honors. UVM’s Lowell Bailey was named to the Men’s At-Large Third Team, University Division, with a 3.67 in environmental science. Also on the Third Team are New Mexico’s Lars Loeseth (3.99 in general management) and Wisconsin-Green Bay’s Shane Hoelz (3.932 in chemistry/human biology).

‘The teams are very difficult to make, especially the At-Large squads, which encompasses student-athletes from 15 different sports, including skiing’ commented UVM spokeswoman Lisa Champagne. ‘Amy and Lowell were vying for a spot on the team with student-athletes from across the nation at the Division I level in those 15 sports for this honor.’

McDonald stays at UVM
This summer, the University of Vermont’s Jilyne McDonald was named to the U.S. Ski Team development team. But rather than follow in her older brother Paul’s footsteps (a Dartmouth student, Paul was named to the U.S. Ski Team B team this year), the UVM sophomore has chosen to remain a Catamount.

‘The training opportunities are great with the (U.S.) team, but we have excellent training here at UVM too’ said McDonald, in an article in the Stowe. ‘Between the coaching and the training hill, I think it’s a good decision.’

‘It’s great that Jilyne decided to stay as far as the team goes’ said UVM head alpine coach Bill Reichelt. ‘The group of women we have is tight-knit and she is a part of that. It also speaks to the program and college skiing in general that she feels she can improve here.’

McDonald earned All-America honors in her first NCAA championships appearance, helping the Catamounts earn national runner-up honors last season. She was one of two freshmen on UVM’s NCAA squad and finished sixth in the giant slalom and 17th in the slalom, after a fall on her first run.