Top Career Classical Finish: 13th (Twice, 2004 New Mexico and Colorado Invitationals)
Top Career Freestyle Finish: 6th (2004 NCAA West Regional)
This Season ? "We believe our senior and two-time captain can make his first trip to the NCAA Championships in March, and be an All-American. Additionally, he has placed himself in a great position to qualify for the Under 23 United States team."
2005 ? Sterling had a junior season that nearly mirrored that of his sophomore year. In nine races he had all but one top-20 showings. Following 18th, 20th and 25th place finishes, he strung together the most solid two straight meets of his collegiate career, scoring in all but one race, finishing 14th and 17th in the freestyle and classical at the Denver Invite in Winter Park, and an 11th and 12th place effort two weeks later in Red River, N.M. He closed out his junior season at the NCAA West Regional in Bozeman, Mont. Two weeks later with an 18th and 19th place effort in the classical and freestyle, respectively.
2004 ? Though he fell short of competing at the NCAA Championships in his own backyard, Sterling matched his freshman year effort, scoring in three races, including a 20th place freestyle finish at Utah, 13th place freestyle in Colorado’s own carnival and a career-best sixth place freestyle finish in the NCAA West Regional while turning in a career-best top-20 efforts in all 10 races.
2003 ? In his first season, Sterling had one of the most productive seasons on the team scoring in three of 11 races. It was obvious that classical was the stronger of the two disciplines as in five meets his finishes were better than the freestyle in all but one meet. Much like teammate Josh Smullin, he finished 26th in his first race of the season and bounced back to finish 15th the next day in the classical. He maintained that pace a week later to finish 16th and a season best 14th, respectively. He would turn in just two more top-20 finishes, 16th place classical finish at Western State and a 17th place freestyle finish in his last meet of the year, the NCAA West Regional.
High School ? Sterling captained Truckee’s nordic team to league titles in 2001 and ’02 and his soccer team was the state runners-up. As a sophomore he was the named the defensive player of the year in soccer and added second-team all-state as a junior and was the team’s MVP in skiing as a senior. In the classroom he was a distinguished scholar his junior and senior year. Following graduation he spent the summer in the Sierras training.
Club ? Sterling competed for the Far West Nordic Club for four years finishing third at the ’02 Junior Olympics. He had a top-10 finish at Junior Nationals in the sprint and a second top-20 finish in both the freestyle and classical races.
Academics? An environmental studies and geography major at Colorado, Sterling has a better than 3.0 cum going into the 2005 season. He was named to the 2003 Division I National All-Academic Ski Team.
Personal ? Born June 5, 1984, Nicolas William Sterling is the son of Bill and Jody Sterling of Truckee. He has a younger brother, Sam, a junior at Truckee and an older brother Ben Burke. He enjoys kayaking, climbing and biking in his free time.
