Featured Image: Alpine Ski Dual Slalom. Picture Courtesy John DiGiacomo.

By: Emma Logan and Jay Moyer

LAKE PLACID, New York. – MARCH 13th, 2024.  The U.S. Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association (USCSA) concluded the week of competition for its Collegiate National Championships Saturday with the men’s and women’s Dual Alpine Slalom, men’s and women’s Snowboard Alpine GIant Slalom, and the Nordic Freestyle Team Relay. The wind kicked up during the competitions but events were able to be completed before a major snowstorm moved into the area.

A record breaking 621 Collegiate athletes representing 71 colleges and universities competed at the 2024 U.S. Collegiate Ski and Snowboard National Championships^TM, presented by Celsius. This included alpine, snowboard, freeski, and nordic teams which qualified through their regional championships. Events included Alpine Giant Slalom, Alpine Slalom, Dual Slalom, Nordic Sprints, Nordic Relays, Nordic Distance, Slopestyle, Skier Cross, Snowboard Cross, Rail Jam, Snowboard Slalom, and Snowboard Giant Slalom. For a complete schedule of events, news, and results please go to the official USCSA website at www.uscsa.org. To view our video broadcast archives from our 2024 Championships, visit www.uscsa.com/broadcast.html. Photos of all events are also available online at www.uscsa.org/photo–video.html 

Nordic skiers finished their week of competition at Mount Van Hoevenberg with the Classic Team Relay. Paul Smith’s College’s men’s and women’s teams both won team National Championships in the event.  The winning men’s team from Paul Smith’s College consisted of Aidan Ripp, Timothy Ziegler, and Diego Schillaci while the women’s championship team was Dolcie Tanguay, Jessie Church, and Kasia Bosek. For the women’s overall combined team awards, encompassing all Nordic events that took place during the Championship week, St Olaf College took home first place followed by the University of Wisconsin at Madison in second and the Paul Smith’s College in third. On the men’s side, Clarkson University took home the team combined Championship, followed by the Paul Smith’s College in second and Western Colorado University in third. Aiden Ripp and Dolcie Tanguay, both from Paul Smith’s College, won the combined individual men’s and women’s National Championships, respectively.

Snowboard athletes closed out their championship competitions with a Snowboard Giant Slalom. James Madison University followed up their women’s team championship in the Snowboard Slalom with another victory in the Giant Slalom. For the men, The University of Wisconsin won their first Snowboard team National Championship of the week.

In the combined Freestyle Snowboard championship, Liberty University won for both men and women. Lees-McRae College won both team men’s and women’s Snowboard Alpine Combined championship, winning the tiebreaker on the women’s side over James Madison University who took home second place. Liberty University’s men also took home the combined Freeski team National Championship, with the Claremont Colleges winning the women’s team Freeski combined National Championship.

The Alpine Ski competition week wrapped up with both men and women competing in a dual slalom championship race. The Vermont State University Castleton men’s team kept their success alive placing first in the dual slalom competition as well. For individual qualifiers, Eli Seaver from Wesleyan University finished in first place, Sam Molitor from the University of St. Thomas finished in second place and Caleb Richert from Messiah University finished in third place. 

Rocky Mountain College women’s team kept their momentum from the week and placed first in the team result. On the individual side, Lauren Carlson from the University of Michigan placed first, Kacey Benjaminson from San Diego State University placed second and Holly Grzelak from Michigan Technical University placed third. 

For the week, Rocky Mountain College won the women’s combined team National Championship and Vermont State University Castleton won the men’s title.

“Last year when the men won in Mammoth, it was nice, but the championship was only based on one run of slalom,” said Chris Eder, Head Alpine Coach for Vermont State University Castleton. “To be able to win the overall this year with both GS and SL being contested, really justifies what they did last season as well. Once again, I am very proud of how our men put their individual goals aside and skied as a team and supported each other. This includes our men, who did not race on one day or another, who ended up giving valuable course reports and support through the races. They had a plan going into each race to ski themselves into the top-30 flip each day and then take advantage of favorable early course conditions on the second run to move up in the rankings. They executed that plan perfectly.”

Teams began their quest to qualify for the U.S. Collegiate Ski and Snowboard National Championships^TM in their local conference competitions, held across 11 conferences spanning the nation, this January. Top teams from each conference attend one of 6 regional championships, which decide who ultimately qualifies to participate in events at the Collegiate National Championship. 

The USCSA is the sports federation for collegiate team ski racing and snowboarding in America. The USCSA believes that student-athletes of all levels and abilities should have access to quality and exciting venues of competition. USCSA athletes agree that our team orientation fosters a collaborative approach across their collegiate athletic and academic careers, and often this mentality proves indispensable in their adult lives and careers. The organization includes 213 colleges from coast to coast, fielding 4,765 male and female, alpine, freestyle, cross-country, snowboarding and nordic ski jumping athletes in over 300 events annually.

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For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact jmoyer@uscsa.org