USCSCA Announces National Skiers, Coaches of the Year

The United States Collegiate Ski Coaches Association (USCSCA) announced the winners of its annual National Coaches and National Skiers of the Year earlier this week, as voted on by the association’s membership.

Three schools are represented among the six winners, with two from each Dartmouth College, the University of New Mexico and the University of Vermont.  The winners are:

• Women’s Alpine Skier of the Year – Laurence St. Germain, Vermont
• Men’s Alpine Skier of the Year – Tanguy Nef, Dartmouth
• Women’s Nordic Skier of the Year – Katharine Ogden, Dartmouth
• Men’s Nordic Skier of the Year – Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier, New Mexico
• Alpine Coach of the Year – Joe Downing, New Mexico
• Nordic Coach of the Year – Patrick Weaver, Vermont

St. Germain, a senior from Saint-Ferreol-Les-Neiges, Quebec, won both the giant slalom and slalom Individual NCAA Championships last month at Stowe, Vermont, helping the Catamounts to a second place finish.  She was especially dominant in the slalom race, winning by the largest known margin in NCAA Championship skiing history, an astonishing 2.58 seconds.

Nef, a junior from Geneva, Switzerland, won the men’s GS Individual NCAA Championship last month at Stowe and held the lead after the first run of the slalom before a mishap on the second run led to a 27th place finish.  He was part of a 1-3-4 finish for Dartmouth in men’s GS that allowed the Big Green to take a Day one lead at the Championships before eventually finishing fourth.

Ogden, a sophomore from Landgrove, Vermont, was the individual NCAA Champion in the women’s classic race at Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont, successfully defending her NCAA Championship in the race.  She also finished fourth in the women’s freestyle race to earn two first-team All-America honors.  She won all four classic races she participated in throughout the season and hit the podium nine times in 10 races for the Big Green.

Izquierdo-Bernier, a senior from Montreal, Quebec, was the individual NCAA Champion in the men’s classic race at Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe last month. He also finished fourth in the men’s freestyle race to earn two first-team All-America honors.  He won two races on the season and finished in the top 10 in 11 of 12 races with seven podium appearances.  He was second in both the classic and freestyle at the RMISA Championships.

Downing, who finished his sixth season as the alpine coach at New Mexico and his first heading the entire program, led the Lobos to a sixth place finish at the NCAA Championships, a fourth place regular season RMISA finish and third-place finish at the RMISA Championships despite uncertainty about the future of the program.

Weaver finished his ninth season as the Nordic coach for Vermont, helping the Catamounts to a second place finish at the NCAA Championships.  UVM racked up the third-most points in Nordic action last month at Trapp Family Lodge.  Five of his six Nordic skiers racked up seven All-America honors at the NCAA Championships and his teams captured 34 podium appearances throughout the 2019 season.

Release courtesy of USCSCA.