USCSA 44th National Championships At Mammoth Mountain Event Recap
The United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association (USCSA) wrapped up its 44th Collegiate National Championships on Thursday March 9th. Record-breaking snowfall at the mountain, totalling over four feet of snow since the scheduled start of the National Championships, necessitated multiple scheduling changes as well as the cancellation of some events due to unsafe conditions.
On Thursday, USCSA athletes competed in men’s snowboard and freeski slopestyle, women’s snowboard and freeski cross, women’s and men’s alpine ski slalom, and a women’s and men’s Nordic 15k freestyle mass start.
At the Tamarack Cross Country Ski Center Nordic athletes finished their week with a 15k freestyle mass start. For the women, the University of Wyoming took home another team National Championship, followed by St Olaf College in second and the University of Minnesota Twin Cities in third. Lily Hubanks from St Olaf College won her third individual National Championship of the week, giving her a sweep of all events. After the men’s race, Western Colorado University won another team National Championship, with Paul Smith’s College in second and Cornell University rounding out the podium in third. Albert Hesse from Western Colorado University won his first individual National Championship of the week.
Alpine ski athletes competed in a slalom race on Fascination. Due to the snow conditions and the need to have both men and women compete before another winter storm arrived Thursday afternoon, both men and women competed in a one run race. The men’s team National Championship was won by Castleton University. Rocky Mountain College took second and Northern Michigan University placed third. Rocky Mountain College won the team women’s National Championship, Northern Michigan University placed second, and Hobart and William Smith Colleges placed third. Reagan Olli from Northern Michigan won the individual National Championship and Alexander Sehlberg took home the men’s individual championship.
Men’s snowboard and freeski athletes competed in a slopestyle competition. The men’s snowboard podium consisted of the University of Nevada Reno in first, Liberty University in second, and the University of Virginia in third. For freeskiers, the University of Nevada Reno placed first, second place went to the University of Colorado Boulder, and third place went to Fairfield University. Meanwhile, women’s teams competed in a ski and snowboard cross competition. Lees-McRae College took home the women’s team snowboard National Championship, the University of Nevada Reno placed second, and Liberty University placed third. In the skier-cross, Rocky Mountain College won the team National Championship, followed by the College of Idaho and Babson College in second and third, respectively. For the week, Rocky Mountain College won the freeski women’s overall Championship, the University of Colorado at Boulder won the freeski men’s overall Championship, Lees-McRay College won the alpine snowboarding women’s overall Championship, and the University of Nevada at Reno won the freestyle snowboard men’s and women’s overall Championships as well as the men’s alpine snowboarding overall Championship.
“Despite the challenges presented to us by this unprecedented weather, we worked closely with the Mammoth Mountain team to put on several competitions for the record number of athletes who came to Nationals this year,” said Meegan Moszynski, USCSA’s Managing Director. “The camaraderie and teamwork that is so prevalent throughout the USCSA was out in full force this week, and we are grateful for the enthusiasm and dedication of everyone who participated in this unforgettable week.”
Event partners include Mammoth Mountain, Ikon Pass, Borah Teamwear, SYNC Performance, ACL Strong, Curated, Reliable Racing, Vola Racing, Cardo Systems, Atomic, and Swix.
USCSA is the only ski and snowboard league where colleges and universities compete and qualify for postseason competition as a team. This emphasis on team performance is a departure from the typical individual or world cup scoring format often found in skiing. Allowing entire teams to qualify for the US Collegiate Ski & Snowboard National ChampionshipsTM also allows for a greater number of competitors to attend the event, with over 200 alpine athletes, 200 freeski and snowboard athletes, and 100 Nordic athletes competing at the annual championships.
A record breaking 615 athletes representing 69 colleges and universities competed at the 2023 US Collegiate Ski & Snowboard National ChampionshipsTM. This includes alpine, snowboard, freeski, and Nordic teams which qualified through their regional championships, including powerhouses such as Babson College (Alpine), Castleton University (Alpine, Nordic), Clarkson University (Alpine, Nordic), the University of Wyoming (Nordic), Lees-McRae College (Snowboard), Paul Smith’s College (Nordic) Rocky Mountain College (Alpine, Freeski), and St Olaf College (Alpine, Nordic). A full list of qualified institutions is attached.
Throughout the week at Mammoth, the USCSA Broadcast Network brought audiences LIVE, multi-camera HD video coverage from all three competition venues at its web portal: http://www.uscsa.com/broadcast. Scott “Boss” Hogg returned to lead the USCSA Broadcast Team at Mammoth, joined by legendary announcers at the alpine, Nordic, and snowboard/freeski venues. The 2023 event included live coverage of Wednesday’s Daily Awards Ceremony and the Thursday Awards Banquet on the USCSA X-TRA Channel. Visit https://www.uscsa.org/broadcast for more information and on-demand archived broadcasts.
Teams began their quest to qualify for the U.S. Collegiate Skiing and Snowboarding National ChampionshipsTM in their local conference competitions, held across 11 conferences spanning the nation, this December. Top teams from each conference attend one of six regional championships, which decide who ultimately qualifies to participate in events at the Collegiate National Championship. Results from all events can be found at www.uscsa.org/schedules–results.
The USCSA is the sports federation for collegiate team ski racing and snowboarding in America. The USCSA believes that student-athletes of all levels and abilities should have access to quality and exciting venues of competition. USCSA athletes agree that our team orientation fosters a collaborative approach across their collegiate athletic and academic careers, and often this mentality proves indispensable in their adult lives and careers. The organization includes 178 colleges from coast to coast, fielding 4,945 male and female, alpine, freestyle, Nordic, and snowboarding athletes in over 300 events annually.
