Dartmouth Skiing's Winning Tradition

By Michael Stroup | Friday, May 5, 2006

While most of the Dartmouth undergraduate population was busy studying for Winter Term final exams, the Dartmouth Ski Team’s NCAA Championship squad put together another stellar performance and returned to campus as the nation’s third best collegiate ski team, with the hardware to prove it.

The third place finish was the team’s highest since 1982, and sweet revenge after a pre-season Ski Racing Magazine NCAA Coaches poll ranked the team tenth in the country. Held this year in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, the NCAA championships are the one venue each year where teams from the Eastern and Western collegiate circuits compete against each other. Teams can send up to three athletes for each gender and division (alpine and cross-country) for a total of twelve athletes, provided they qualify with their regular season results.

Unfortunately, the College’s quarter system necessitates that the National Championships coincide with the end of the winter term. However, the skiers are able to meet the challenges of demanding class and athletic schedules. One superb example of this type of dual achievement is Rhodes Scholar and 3-time All-American Alison Crocker ‘06, one of five All-Americans from this year’s team. Dartmouth’s other skiing All-Americans were Glenn Randall ‘09, who placed fifth in the men’s 20-kilometer cross country race and is the Ski Racing Magazine U.S. Junior Nordic Skier of the Year. Karl Johnson ‘06, winner of the men’s slalom and sixth place finisher in giant slalom; Michelanne Shields ‘08, who placed eighth in women’s slalom and ninth in the giant slalom; and Ben True ‘08 the men’s 10-kilometer fifth place finisher.

An Impressive End to a Challenging Season

The 2006 season was marked by some of the worst weather possible, and was a difficult time for the entire ski team. The cross country team, which usually trains at nearby Oak Hill, had to travel throughout New Hampshire and Vermont in search of snow on which to train. The alpine teams were affected too, as races were cancelled after only one run instead of the normal two. At any given race the skiers had to overcome lightning, high winds, or rain.

While skiing is fundamentally an individual sport, the regular season Carnivals and NCAA Championships bring a team element into the competition through team scoring system. One of the great side stories of this year’s Championships was the gutsy performance of cross country skier Kristina Trygstad-Saari ‘07, who finished twenty-second in the women’s 15-kilometer race despite severe illness. This memorable effort, which culminated in Trygstad-Saari’s collapse at the end of the race, helped Dartmouth move into third place on the last day of competition.

A Tradition of Excellence

The Ski Team is one of the College’s most competitive inter-collegiate teams, carrying on a tradition of excellence since the first Carnivals were held at the beginning of the last century at Tuckerman’s Ravine on Mt. Washington. In recent history, this winning tradition is perhaps best exemplified by Dartmouth’s current five year streak of Men’s Slalom Champions. Karl Johnson ‘06, Captain of the Men’s Alpine Team, continued the Dartmouth streak at this year’s National Championships winning the event under the lights at Howelsen Hill in Steamboat Springs, CO by just over a half second. Three of Dartmouth’s previous winners are currently skiing for their respective national teams: Roger Brown ‘04 (U.S. “C” Team), Bradley Wall ‘02 (Australia), and Paul McDonald ‘06 (U.S. “B” Team). The streak itself demonstrates the program’s depth, as a different athlete has won the championship each of the five years. Last year’s champion, David Chodounsky ‘08, was a freshman when he took the title, and will be returning next year with the rest of a strong Dartmouth Team.

Many things have changed both at the College and in the sport of skiing since the days of Otto Schneibs and the national championships of the 1930’s. For instance, the level of specialization in the sport essentially requires that athletes compete in either the Alpine or Nordic discipline, but not both. Also, jumping ceased to be an event in collegiate skiing in 1980, and Dartmouth’s ski jump—the first collegiate jump built and last one standing—was torn down in the early 1990s. Despite these and other changes, the ski team has kept alive many great Dartmouth traditions. The team’s offices are located in Robinson Hall, home of the Dartmouth Outing Club, reminiscent of the days when inter-collegiate skiing consisted of DOC-organized races. Dartmouth has also been represented in every Winter Olympics by both coaches and athletes since The Games’ inception in 1924. And though techniques may change, and athletes come and go, the team will undoubtedly continue its tradition of the Mt. Moosilauke Time Trial, held every fall—half a foot of snow on the trail be damned.

Challenges of Fielding a Top-Notch Program

The Dartmouth Ski Team faces many challenges in staying competitive in NCAA skiing besides its peculiar class schedule. As with all of Dartmouth’s other sports teams, they are unable to offer athletic scholarships like their competitors. Another challenge facing the ski team is that some of its best athletes leave for parts of the season or end their collegiate careers early to compete at the international level, much like football and basketball players at big programs leaving early for the draft. To take the next step to the international level, collegiate skiers need to finish well at races with international competition, and these events often conflict with the regular season Carnival schedule. Carolyn Treacy ‘06, who anchored the U.S. women’s biathlon relay team at this year’s Winter Olympics in Turino, Italy, described the Dartmouth Ski Team this way: “It’s an amazing organization that supports its members, even when they are competing for other teams (e.g. junior national, national, and Olympic teams). This has lead to a large percentage of Dartmouth skiers actually being able to be on these teams.”

Despite these challenges, Dartmouth is able to remain a competitive program year after year. Indeed, one of the best strengths of the team may be the freedom it allows its athletes who wish to compete on the international stage. Combined with a quarter system that allows skiers to compete on their own for a full season and still make progress on their degree during the spring term, Dartmouth College is perhaps better suited to the national team skier than any other college. In fact, Dartmouth is home to many national team athletes that will most likely graduate without ever suiting up in Dartmouth green. This flexibility helps the team in recruiting the top talent throughout the country.

Skiing is one of this College’s great pastimes, and the early development of the sport in America owes much to Dartmouth alums. Dartmouth will continue to face challenges as a small Ivy League school vis-à-vis its larger competitors, but with continued administration support and solid coaching, her ski teams will carry on the great tradition and continue to achieve at the highest level. WAH-HOO-WAH.

Dartmouth Skiing's Winning Tradition

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