WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- From the standpoint of his alpine ski teams, Tom Olson is convinced the time is right for Whitman College to make the jump to NCAA competition.
"This is one of the strongest and deepest alpine teams we've had in my time here, especially on the men's side," Olson says. "After being one of the dominant teams in the U.S. Collegiate Ski Association (USCSA) for the past decade, this is a perfect time for us to make the move to the NCAA."
Olson, the longtime director of skiing at Whitman, coaches the alpine teams and assists nordic coach Ethan Townsend with his program.
Whitman's alpine and nordic teams, slated to begin their first NCAA seasons in early January, will compete as the newest members of the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Conference Association (RMISA). The conference includes six NCAA Div. I schools and two Div. II schools, in addition to Div. III Whitman.
The other RMISA institutions, including the universities of Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado and Alaska, offer athletic scholarships and recruit heavily in Europe. Competition within the conference, which also includes the University of Denver, the three-time national champion, as well as Montana State and Western State College, will be extremely high, Olson admits.
"As the only school not giving athletic scholarships, it's going to be difficult," Olson says. "We still think we're going to surprise some people this season. This may be our first season at this level, but we think a few of our best skiers have a good shot at qualifying for the NCAA national championships."
Olson is beginning his 13th season at Whitman, while Townsend is in his second year at the helm of the nordic teams.
Of his alpine squads, the men's group might be the strongest, Olson says. The group is led by seniors Arne Backstrom (Seattle, Wash. / Highline HS-Burien) and Doug Whitfield (Sydney, Australia / Scots College Secondary School-Sydney). Backstrom was the dominant skier last winter in the USCSA's Northwest Conference, skiing to an individual championship by a wide margin. In each of the two previous seasons, Backstrom had placed second in the battle for top individual honors. Whitfield, the runner-up to Backstrom last winter, won the conference title three years ago.
"Both Arne and Doug have a lot of talent," Olson says. "Both have the potential to qualify for the national championships."
Also back from last year's alpine team are junior Russ Crandall (Park City, Utah / Winter Sports School), sophomore Dan Cook (Salem, Ore. / North Salem HS) and senior Jarod Schoening (Bend, Ore. / Bend HS).
"Russ is another athlete who has the potential to ski into the
top 15 at any given NCAA event," Olson says. "He might not do it
right off the bat, but he has that ability. Dan also showed good
talent last season as a freshman. Because of our depth, Jarod is
less likely to get the opportunity to compete in one of the
NCAA events."
Whitman can enter as many as seven men and seven women in the alpine events. Only five can be designated as "scorers," and only the top three times count toward the team score. "The number of skiers we take to the different events will vary," Olson says. "It will depend in part on who's skiing well, and who has other commitments on campus. We've also got budget considerations when it comes to travel expenses."
The men's team this season includes a trio of freshmen. Hannes Zirknitzer, a native of Bright, Australia, enrolls at Whitman at the semester break and brings the most talent.
"Hannes has been one of the top juniors skiers in Australia, and we expect him to ski right there with Arne and Doug," Olson says. "He'll definitely contribute to our team, and he's also got a chance at nationals. After graduating from high school in 1999, he's spent the past few years bouncing back and forth between competitive skiing and taking college classes in Australia. He's very bright, very intelligent. He's a good fit for Whitman."
Zirknitzer is a good example of how Whitman's switch to NCAA skiing will affect recruiting efforts, Olson says. "We've already seen a huge increase in the number and quality of young athletes interested in skiing at Whitman. In the past, we've seen a number of top skiers choose Division III colleges on the East Coast, schools like Williams and Middlebury, because of their NCAA programs. Rather than coming to Whitman and being a major player in USCSA skiing, they chose to go to the Eastern schools and play a smaller role in NCAA skiing."
Another athlete interested in Whitman for next season is a Slovakian who placed 19th at the recent Salt Lake City Olympics and 11th at the World Championships. "As it turns out, the coach of the Slovakian national team is a U.S. citizen whose grandparents graduated from Whitman," Olson says.
The other freshmen on the Whitman men's team this season are Nate Johnson (Mukilteo, Wash. / Kamiak HS) and Chris McCullough (West Vancouver, British Columbia). "Both of these guys can ski," Olson says. "They have the talent to contribute to our program for the next four years."
The Whitman women's team also returns plenty of talent in juniors Julia Babilis (Ogden, Utah / Rowland Hall-St. Marks School-Salt Lake), Michelle Wall (Melbourne, Australia / Burke Mountain Academy-East Burke, Vt.) and Lindsay Barksdale (Winthrop, Wash. / Liberty Bell HS). All three skiers, however, were away from campus during the fall semester, studying in Ireland, Scotland and Australia. "Not having them on campus for fall training adds some uncertainty for the women's team, but all three have a lot of talent," Olson says.
Babilis won the USCSA's Northwest Conference women's title last winter, while Wall was the champion the season before. Wall, who nurses a chronic knee problem, finished in fourth place last year, one spot in front of Barksdale.
Also back from last year are sophomores Jennifer Zappone (Spokane, Wash. / Burke Mountain Academy), who missed the entire season due to a knee injury, and Carolyn Newcom (Walla Walla, Wash. / Walla Walla HS), who competed as Whitman's No. 6 skier.
Zappone was expected to be one of Whitman's top skiers last season before suffering her knee injury. "There's no question that Jennifer can ski right with Julia and Michelle," Olson says. "All three, if healthy and skiing well, have the potential to qualify for nationals."
Langely McNeal (Ketchum, Idaho / Community School) and Victoria Amorello (Sutton, Mass. / White Mountain School-Bethelem, N.H.) are first-year student-athletes enrolling at Whitman at the semester break. Amorello is slated to travel to Whitman's first two NCAA events, while there is a good chance McNeal will join the traveling team after that. "Langely hasn't competed in more than a year, but she finished in the top five at the Junior Olympics two years ago," Olson says.
Other first-year women expected competing for one of the traveling spots are Jamie Hinderliter (Bountiful, Utah / Woods Cross HS) and Amy Sharp (Denver, Colo. / Colorada Academy). Two more first-year skiers, Rose Ryan (Eden Prairie, Minn. / Hopkins HS-Minnetonka, Minn.) and Jane Rynbrandt (Petoskey, Mich. / Petoskey HS), add more depth to the women's roster.
Whitman alpine teams begin their seasons on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 3-4, with a pair of RMISA events at Big Sky, Mont. Montana State will serve as the host. Two more events, hosted by the University of Anchorage-Alaska, follows on Jan. 11-12 at Park City, Utah.
After the University of Colorado hosts alpine races on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 at Lake Eldore, the competition shifts to Crested Butte, Colo., for events on Feb. 7-8, hosted by Western State College. The regular season concludes Feb. 23-24 with regional championship races at Winter Park, Colo.
Although the RMISA schools compete for a conference title, the primary goal is to qualify as many three athletes per team for the national championships. Individual skiers qualify based on their best results in the 10 regular season events that conclude with the regional championships. The conference will send 19 men and 19 women to nationals, set for March 5-9 at Hanover, New Hampshire.
RMISA is the strongest of three conferences that send skiers to the NCAA championships. The universities of Vermont and New Hampshire are the only NCAA Div. I schools competing in East and Central conferences and offering athletic scholarships, Olson notes.
At last year's national championships, RMISA schools swept four of the top five spots. The lone exception was the University of Vermont, which placed second to the University of Denver. Colorado was third, Utah fourth and New Mexico fifth. Placing sixth was Dartmouth College, an NCAA Div. I school that doesn't give athletic scholarships because of its membership in the Ivy League. Middlebury College placed seventh to claim top honors among the Div. III schools.
With the NCAA ski season ready to start, Olson's biggest concern has been the lack of on-snow training opportunities available to most of his athletes. Snowfall has been minimal thus far at ski sites throughout the Pacific Northwest.
"It leaves us at a disadvantage compared to the other schools," Olson says. "If we get off to a slow start, we hope to ski ourselves into a more competitive team as the season continues."