Colorado University Athletics

Ski Team Update

Ski Team Update
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Secret Santa:

Another two weeks have passed us by and once again the ski team has been very busy.  Many of the alpiners competed in a number of NorAm and Rocky Mountain Trophy Series races, RMTS, in either Keystone or Winter Park over that time.  They have battled difficult snow conditions and high caliber fields to hold their own and post some strong early season results. 

 

Captain Miles Cooke scored his first ever NorAm points in a Giant Slalom, and coach Jed Schuetze is excited about the progress he has made since last season.  Freshman Arman Serebrakian entered his first race after coming back from last years season ending knee injury to post solid results.  He admitted to literally shaking in the starting gate, but had the strength to persevere through his nerves to post a solid performance.  He believes every race will continue to be stronger as he becomes more comfortable racing.  Lucie Zikova has finished 2nd in two races, but the top collegiate finisher, and her teammate Lisa Perricone had a 6th place.  Lisa’s result is even more remarkable given the fact that she underwent foot surgery this summer, and therefore could not train much this fall.  I guess it was the solid 12 strip canting technique expert ski tech Jed Schuetze provided. She is ahead of the coach’s expectations at this point in the season; which simply means they will be raising them when the collegiate season begins.

 

The Nordics battled the cold and traveled up to Breckenridge for two races where our arch rival, the University of Denver, would be.  The first race was a 5/10k classic for the women and men.  Standout performances were by Maria Grevsgard, winning the race with Kristin Ronnestrand coming in 2nd out of the college skiers.  The men witnessed a stellar performance from new transfer, Karl Nygren, who was the top CU skier that day, and 4th collegiate skier overall.  Despite it being a great performance it was still behind DU’s three top men.  Therefore, we expect Karl to continue his excellent preparation, and can only expect it to be a matter of time before he catches them.  The following day was another showcase of CU domination for the women with Maria winning the college race again, followed by Kristin in 2nd, and Lenka Palanova’s 4th place finish to round out CU’s performance.  The men were led by Kit Richmond, last years NCAA skating champion, as he finished in 2nd overall, only 2 seconds behind DU’s Rene Reisshauer.

Last Tuesday night, the entire ski team came together down at the ski building for our annual secret Santa gift exchange party.  The athletes were instructed to bring food to share, and they did not disappoint.  Sophomore Pat Duran fried his own tortilla chips, Rachel Roosevelt and Lisa Perricone made potato latkes (to represent Rachel’s Jewish heritage), Jodi Mossoni baked cookies, and Tony Cesolini and Stephan Hughes stepped up and delivered pre made Tyson chicken wings and tostadas.

 

All the gifts exchanged were creative, but I feel I need to mention a few standouts.  Starting with Karl Nygren who received Santa boxers and a Santa hat, Matt Gelso’s family guy boxers, and finally a couple of Carmen Electra’s new workout DVD’s.  The coaches have not been able to evaluate the DVD yet, but we are expecting to incorporate it into our daily training post New Years.  All in all, it was a fun evening, and provided our team with a chance to all be together prior to finals, the Holidays, and the start of the race season.

 

This next week is equally important for the ski team as we enter finals period and our defense of the athletic department’s highest GPA per team award.