Ski Team Update

BOULDER - The CU Ski Team is back after a brief hiatus resulting from IT upgrades at the ski building. We do have lots of information to report on though including another Left Hand Time Trial, strength results for the alpiners, the CU Ski Ball, Thanksgiving camps, and finally, the first races for the Nordic team.

First, back on Nov. 15 our Nordic team held the second Left Hand time trial of the season. It was a warm morning with a very strong headwind making the race especially difficult, and consequently difficult for us coaches to measure progress from the previous race. The results are listed below, but the winners of the day were Matt Gelso for the men and Kristen Ronnenstrand for the women. Further mention goes to Maisha Goodpaster and Megan Wilder as the only two athletes to improve their times from a month ago. As coaches, it is difficult to interpret this information because on the one hand, we could be dismayed because the majority of our athletes were slower than only a month ago, but how are we to determine what effects the weather had on the results. Therefore, we look to our athletes for their feedback on their performances and trust their judgment. One group of athletes felt tired throughout the race, yet the other group said they felt strong and were able to push the entire race. Armed with this information we were able to tailor our training plans to specific athletes to ensure that they were healthy, rested, and strong for our upcoming training camp beginning on November 18. In summation, it was an excellent workout and we are not dwelling on the results too much.

Now on to our alpine squad; which has been doing extensive strength training throughout the fall. They recently completed a max strength evaluation program run by our strength and conditioning coaches. They are put through a number of exercises and lifts, and each one corresponds to a specific point total based on how the athlete performed. Upon completion of all the exercises, the points are tallied and every member of the team is given a quantifiable number from which they can compare against each other, and more importantly, a number they can measure individual progress from. Needless to say, the team looks very strong, and assistant coach Jed Schuetze, is very impressed with what he has seen. Tony Cesolini is the overall men’s DONINATOR, and Rachel Roosevelt is our overall women’s DOMINATOR. The results are posted below.

Next on the agenda was the 36th Annual Ski Ball, and for those of you who could not attend, I strongly recommend it next year. It was the most successful Ski Ball in CU’s history, with over $50,000 raised. This money will enable the team to send athletes to represent our team at the World University Games, attend summer school, provide the highest quality equipment to our athletes, purchase new uniforms, upgrade our vans, and many other necessities. The generosity that took place that night was so important for our athletes to witness because it has added yet another incentive for them to work hard every single day in hopes of winning another championship. Once again, they realized that in addition to racing for themselves, they are also racing for the CU Ski community. That community is the large contingency of people who support, value, and follow what these athletes do, and their support was greatly appreciated.

This now brings us to Thanksgiving and with it intensive training camps for both the Alpiners and the Nordics. Firstly, the alpiners were busy with quality on snow training in Keystone, home to this weeks NorAm races. Head coach Richie said, “We have never been able to have so much quality on-snow training this early in the year. This team is looking very strong, and all of the athletes are pushing one another everyday to get better.”

The Nordics had their own eight day training camp in West Yellowstone, Mt. We expected a lot from our athletes this past week and they all rose to the occasion. A typical day involved 2.5 hours of skiing in the morning and 1.5 hours in the evening. We took video daily, and analyzed technique during the evenings. The majority of the training was long and slow with the intent of building an on snow base from which we can add speed to later. For intensity, the team skied intervals Tuesday morning, as well as competed in races on both Friday and Saturday. The races were FIS sanctioned, and the majority of high level skiers, including many other collegiate teams, in the country were on hand to compete. Friday’s race was a sprint race, and not something we focus on because this event is not raced at the collegiate level Nevertheless, it is a good training opportunity and a number of our athletes skied well. Matt Gelso won the junior men’s division handily, and Kristin Ronnenstrand was our top female finisher in 10th place. Saturday’s event brought a 10/15k classic race, and we had our sights set much higher. Although we were primarily focused on training for the week, our athletes raced very well including a third place by Maria Grevsgard, and fifth and sixth place by Matt Gelso and Kit Richmond respectively. All three were the top collegiate finishers in the race, and overall we did very well as a team.

Once again, my apologies for the long break in updates, and I promise to write more often in the future. Next week their will be much to report on as our alpine team will be competing in their first races this week.

Left Hand Time Trial - 11/15
Name	Time	Difference from 9/22 race
Matt Gelso	28.08	**
Joaquin Goodpaster	29.40	.57 slower
Karl Nygren	30.50	2.29 slower
Garrett Reid

Kristin Ronnenstrand	21.02	.30 slower
Maria Grevsgard	21.45	.52 slower
Lenka Palanova	24.55	2.52 slower
Maisha Goodpaster	25.39	.01 faster
Mia Gaw	24.34	1.13 slower
Megan Wilder	29.10	1.16 faster

DOMINATOR
CU Men's Skiing Fall 2006

	Bench	pt	Squat	pt	Power Clean	pt
1	Josh Bryan 263	10	Stefan Hughes 447	10	Stefan Hughes 250	10
2	Tony Cesolini 234	8	Drew Roberts 429	8	Josh Bryan 220	8
3	Arman Serebakian 222	6	Miles Cooke 356	6	Drew Roberts 206	6
4	Stefan Hughes 216	4	Arman Serebakian 299	4	Tony Cesolini 201	4
5	Miles Cooke 198	2	Josh Bryan 288 Front	2	Miles Cooke 190	2

	Flex	pt	SLJ	pt	Pull Ups	pt
1	Drew Roberts 5.5	10	Stefan Hughes 10'	10	Drew Roberts 25	10
2	Tony Cesolini 6.5	8	Tony Cesolini 9' 9"	8	Tony Cesolini 21	8
3	Miles Cooke 7	6	Drew Roberts 9' 3"	6	Miles Cooke 18	6
4	Josh Byran 7.5	4	Josh Bryan 9'	4	Arman Serebakian 14	4
5	Arman Serebakian 9.5	2	Miles/Arman 8' 1"	2	Pat/Stefan 13	2

	Incline	pt	Vertical Jump	pt	Dips	pt
	Josh Bryan 224	10	Tony Cesolini 31.5	10	Tony Cesolini 38	10
	Tony Cesolini 213	8	Stefan Hughes 31	8	Drew Roberts 35	8
	Arman Serebakian 207	6	Josh Bryan 29.25	6	Aramn Serebakian 26	6
	Stefan Hughes 189	4	Drew Roberts 28.75	4	Josh Bryan 25	4
	Miles Cooke 170	2	Miles Cooke 28	2	Stefan Hughes 24	2

			OVERALL	pt
			Tony Cesolini	66
			Drew Roberts	52
			Stefan Hughes	50
			Josh Bryan	48
			Araman Serebakian	30

DOMINATOR
CU Women's Skiing Fall 2006


	Bench	pt	Squat	pt	Power Clean	pt
1	Rachel Roosevelt 134	10	Rachel Roosevelt 262	10	Rachel Roosevelt 125	10
2	Lucie Zikova 123	8	Lucie Zikova 216	8	Lisa Perricone 115	6
3	Lisa Perricone 119	6	Lisa Perricone 125	6	Kristin Taylor 115	6
4	Kristin Taylor 119	4			Lucie Zikova 115	6
5	Leslie Fox 99	2			Leslie Fox	2

	Flex	pt	SLJ	pt	Pull Ups	pt
1	Leslie Fox -1	10	Lucie Zikova 7' 7"	10	Lucie Zikova 8	10
2	Rachel Roosevelt 1.5	8	Kristin Taylor 7' 4"	8	Kristin Taylor 5	8
3	Lucie Zikova 3	6	Rachel Roosevelt 7' 1"	6	Leslie Fox 3	5
4	Kristin Taylor 6.5	4	Leslie Fox 6' 8"	4	Rachel Roosevelt 3	5
5	Lisa Perricone 7.75	2

	Incline	pt	Vertical Jump	pt	Dips	pt
	Rachel Roosevelt 119	10	Leslie Fox 22.5	10	Kristin Taylor 11	10
	Lucie Zikova 113	8	Kristin Taylor 22	7	Rachel Roosevelt 9	8
	Kristin Taylor 109	6	Rachel Roosevelt 22	7	Lucie Zikova 8	6
	Lisa Perricone 105	4	Lucie Zikova 19	4	Leslie Fox 3	4
	Leslie Fox 89	2

			OVERALL	pt
			Rachel Roosevelt	74
			Lucie Zikova	66
			Kristin Taylor	53
			Leslie Fox	39
			Lisa Perricone	24

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