Insider Report: NCAA East Regionals

Friday, February 25

Alpine - GS, Mittersill / Nordic-Men's 20K Free, Women's 15K Free - Jackson XC

9:30 AM

University of New Hampshire

EISA Championships

Scott Schulz and the Wildcats are competing in the NCAA Regionals at Jackson XC and Cannon on Friday and Saturday, hosted by UNH.

Photo by: https://www.flyingpointroad.com

2/24/2022 1:14:00 PM | UNH Insider, Skiing

UNH Again Steps Up to Host Ski Championships with Jackson XC, Cannon

By: Allen Lessels

JACKSON, N.H. – Beach weather on Wednesday. A winter storm on Friday.

Welcome to New England and New Hampshire's North Country, home to this weekend's Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association Championships and NCAA East Regionals, hosted by the University of New Hampshire and Jackson XC and Cannon Mountain/Mittersill.

The competition begins with the first run of the women's giant slalom at Mittersill on Friday at 9:30 a.m.

On the other side of Crawford Notch, the Nordic events commence with the men's 20-kilometer freestyle mass start race at 10 a.m. on Friday. Competition concludes on Saturday with Nordic classic races at Jackson and slalom races at Mittersill.

Berths in the NCAA Championships – to be held March 9 through March 12 at Park City Mountain Resort and Soldier Hollow Resort in Utah – are on the line this weekend as the best racers from Vermont, Dartmouth and the rest look to back up their Eastern rankings and nail down official spots.

Race officials tweaked the Nordic schedule with heavy snow in the forecast for Friday, that after it reached about 60 degrees on Wednesday.

No news there: schedules have bounced around and been adjusted all season because of weather and snow conditions.

"Between alpine and Nordic, I don't know if we've had a weekend where there haven't been changes or at least concerns," said Cory Schwartz, who is in his 40^th season as UNH's Nordic coach, 35^th as the ski coordinator in charge of the overall program. "We're used to that a little bit. It's just keep moving forward. The snow will be fine."

The Nordic schedule was adjusted in the interest of fairness and safety. By having the freestyle mass start race go off on Friday, all racers will be competing in the same conditions. In addition, new snow should help make for better conditions for the classic event on Saturday on what have been hardpacked trails.

Racers in all events are vying to back up their rankings from the EISA season. Each league team gets to send three alpine women and men and three Nordic women and men to the NCAA Championships.

Five UNH alpine men have qualifying spots so far and results this weekend will determine who gets to compete in Park City, said head alpine coach Brian Blank.

Grad student Bastien Meisen's win in the giant slalom at the St. Michael's Carnival was one of the highlights of the season so far. Grad student Will Bruneau-Bouchard, sophomore Peder Nersnaes, junior Marius Solbakken and senior Crowley Gentile are also in the running for the NCAAs.

Freshman Zoe Michael and senior Fanny Sanderberg are qualified on the women's alpine side and senior Lisa Olsson needs to follow up her results from last weekend to get in.

On the Nordic side, sophomore Jasmine Lyons and junior Luci Anderson both have spots. They won't be in Jackson this weekend. They've been racing at the World Junior Championships in Norway this week and are due back early next week.

Sophomore Georgianna Fischer needs to ski well to hold onto her NCAA berth.

Lyons, who is from Ottawa, impressed with a 17^th place finish in the 15-kilometer skate race, while being seeded 42^nd, in Norway. She was a third alternate to the Canadian Olympic team this year.

On the men's Nordic side, junior Scott Schulz has a spot and freshman Roger Anderson and sophomore Seth Wyatt are in good position but have to ski well this weekend to stay there.

The fact that UNH is hosting the EISA Championships/NCAA Regionals this weekend is a schedule adjustment in the first place. Bates College was originally due to host the event, but could not.

"We were the only school that could do it and we raised our hand," Schwartz said. "We weren't looking to host this year after last year, but we did it because the league needed it."

Last March, UNH stepped up and hosted the NCAA Championships at Jackson XC and Cannon/Mittersill when COVID-19 impacted the entire season and the school that was originally to host did not compete at all.

"We're just lucky with Cannon and Jackson that they say yes," Schwartz said. "It's vacation week up here and they're helping get the course ready at Jackson and at the same time running their own business. It's the same at Cannon. We all want to bring the best to New Hampshire again."

Yes, things are a little hectic, said Ellen Chandler, the executive director at Jackson XC, but she is happy to have the racers back.

"It's exciting," she said Thursday. "First, we love working with Cory and UNH. Cory really gets it. And it's fun working with racers who can handle challenging conditions."

Being involved in the NCAAs last year was satisfying, Chandler said.

"UNH pulled off the NCAAs last year and let us be part of that," she said. "We were proud to be part of the team with Marty Scarano and Governor Sununu keeping New Hampshire open and skiing with a highlight being the NCAAs. Plus, when we're fully open, the race course is only five percent of our terrain and it's only three or four hours a day. That said, this weekend is a little more challenging right now. But especially if the snow happens, we have so many other options for recreational skiers. Even without it we have the Ellis River Trail and it's gorgeous right now on our high elevation trails."