WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- Curtailing your time on snow to enroll in an academically
demanding liberal arts college is not the easiest nor most common way to pursue a berth on
the U.S. Olympic alpine ski team.Nonetheless, even though Whitman College freshman Holly Shelton has taken the road less traveled, she heads to Lake Placid, N.Y., later this month with a shot at making the Olympic team in the downhill and super-G events.
Shelton, 19, is one of the 15 to 20 women who will compete in those two events at the Olympic Trials, slated for Dec. 31 through Jan. 4. Based in part on results from the trials, the U.S. Ski Team will announce its Olympic alpine rosters for the 1998 Winter Olympics, which begin Feb. 7 in Nagano, Japan.
Shelton, who has skied the slopes of Sun Valley, Idaho, since age 5, graduated from high school in Hailey, Idaho, in the spring of 1996 and then spent the next year on the ski circuit. She trained that fall in Switzerland and raced in South Korea before returning to North America for a series of events in the U.S. and Canada.
By last summer, Shelton had piled up enough World Cup points to set the stage for a possible invitation to the U.S. Olympic trials.
"By the time I enrolled at Whitman this fall, I was hoping I would be invited to the trials, but I certainly wasn't counting on it," Shelton said. "When a skier decides to go to college, people in the ski world tend to think you are giving up to some extent on your skiing. That isn't true in my case, and I'm very excited about making the Olympic trials. I think it's going to be a great experience."
Shelton helped her own cause earlier this month by making a good showing in races at Lake Louise near Banff, British Columbia. Her best result came Friday, Dec. 12, in the downhill when she placed seventh overall and third among U.S. skiers. A day earlier in the downhill, she was 10th overall and seventh among the Americans.
She didn't fare quite as well in two super-G races held Saturday, Dec. 6. She finished 15th and 18th overall while placing seventh among the Americans in both races.
"The two super-G races didn't go that well for me, but I really didn't have any preparation time at all," Shelton said. "Because of problems with connecting flights, I didn't arrive at Lake Louise until the night before those races."
While Shelton did well enough at Lake Louise to nail down a spot at the Olympic trials, she would have liked to placed higher. "Other than the one race where I finished third among the Americans, I think I could have skied better," she said. "But considering how little time I've been on snow this fall, I think I did okay. Most of the skiers at Lake Louise probably had 60 days on snow. It was about 15 days for me."
Shelton, who plans to major in biology and pursue a career as a physical therapist, pediatric physician or orthopedic surgeon, spent most of her fall on the Whitman campus. Prior to Lake Louise, she skied one week at Beaver Creek, Colo., in mid-November and one week at home in Sun Valley over the Thanksgiving holiday.
Her relative lack of snow training might also be a factor at Lake Placid. "As far as I know, there might be one other skier who spent the fall in one of the colleges back east," Shelton said. "The rest have been skiing full-time."
She took the last of her final exams at Whitman today (Thursday, Dec. 18) and plans to spend the next 10 days skiing at Sun Valley before leaving for Lake Placid.
Her baggage for the flight back East will not include any grand illusions about her chances of making the Olympic roster. "I think I'll probably have to win one of the events at Lake Placid to make the Olympic team," she said. "If I placed second or third in one of the events, for example, I don't think I'd necessarily get to go.
"Right now, because I'm young, I'd be happy to make the top 10 at the trials, or do well enough to make the U.S. team for the World Junior Championships next February."
Tom Olson, the alpine coach and director of skiing at Whitman, is confident Shelton will do well. "Holly is what I call a quiet winner," he said. "She doesn't like to brag or even talk about her ability, but she's as good as any of the women who will be at Lake Placid. I'm confident she can make the top 10, she has the ability to place in the top five, and anyone at that level can win a ski race.
"Holly has the right mental framework to do well in the trials," Olson added. "I think she can show everyone that it is possible, despite what some people think, to go to college and still ski well in the big events."
Shelton considers the downhill, where she reaches speeds as high as 80 miles per hour, as her best event. The super-G is a hybrid event that tempers the speed of the downhill with some of the gates found on a giant slalom course.
The downhill event at Lake Placid is slated for Friday, Jan. 2, with the super-G to follow on Saturday, Jan. 3. The trials will be televised nationally by the ESPN and Outdoor Life cable networks.
Olson understands that Whitman will lose one of its top skiers next semester if Shelton makes the Olympic roster. "She would have to take a leave of absence, but that's not a problem," he said. "Skiers know that when they come to Whitman for an education, we will do everything we can to support them in their skiing."
With or without Shelton, the men's and women's alpine teams at Whitman are heavily favored to win their fifth consecutive Northwest Conference ski titles early in 1998. At the national level (U.S. Collegiate Ski Association), the Whitman alpine teams hold the No. 2 preseason ranking, trailing only Sierra Nevada College, a school that typically stocks its ski rosters with foreign-born athletes.
In last year's national championships, the Whitman women's team wrested the alpine combined title away from Sierra Nevada for the first time since 1991. This year, Shelton is one of three newcomers who will give Whitman its strongest women's team ever. "We've never had a women's team this deep and talented," Olson said.
The Whitman men's cross country ski team also won its all-around title last year and is ranked No. 1 in the USCSA's preseason poll. The women's team finished second at nationals last year behind Air Force and currently hold the No. 2 ranking.
This year's USCSA national championships are slated for next March 11-14 at Loon Mountain, New Hampshire. The Whitman men and women will be favored to win their fourth consecutive 4-way titles, which are based on combined results from the alpine and cross country events.
Dave Holden, Whitman Sports Information, (509) 527-5902
E-Mail Address: holden@whitman.edu