WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- No one was more thrilled than Ethan Townsend to see Whitman College move its varsity ski programs into the realm of NCAA competition.
As part of the U.S. Collegiate Ski Association (USCSA) in recent years, the Whitman nordic teams faced little if any collegiate competition prior to the national championships. With USCSA members in the Northwest fielding alpine but not nordic teams, Whitman's cross country skiers filled their "regular season" schedule with various citizen races around the Northwest. Given the circumstances, few NCAA nordic races were available to Whitman skiers.
As Townsend notes, most competitors in the Northwest citizen races ranged from 30 to 50 years of age, or were still in high school. "One of my seniors last year summed it up pretty well," Townsend says. "He said it wasn't easy getting excited about racing on the weekends when he knew he was going to be competing against someone's father."
Now that Whitman has switched its national ski affiliation to the NCAA, the Missionary nordic and alpine teams are competing as part of the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association (RMISA), which includes six NCAA Div. I schools and two NCAA Div. II schools.
Other RMISA institutions, including the universities of Utah, Nevada-Reno, New Mexico, Colorado and Alaska-Anchorage, offer athletic scholarships and recruit heavily in Europe. That means that competition within the conference, which also includes the reigning national champion University of Denver, Montana State, and Western State College, is fierce. Whitman is the smallest school in the conference and the only one not in a position to give athletic scholarships.
Despite the high level of competition, at least a few of his nordic skiers have a good shot at qualifying for the NCAA championships, Townsend says. RMISA, the strongest of three NCAA ski conferences in the country, will send 19 men and 19 women to the nordic championships, this year's regional quota.
The Missionary with the best chance to qualify for nationals is junior Holly Brooks (Seattle, Wash. / Summit K-12 School). Brooks was among a handful of Missionaries who competed as individuals in a select number of NCAA events last winter. She competed in six of 10 races, placing as high as 11th in one freestyle event. Even though she didn't have a full compliment of scoring opportunities, she finished near the top of the first alternate list the region's national qualifiers.
Brooks was the dominant skier at last year's U.S. Collegiate Ski Association (USCSA) national championships. She made it a clean sweep, winning the sprint, classic and freestyle events, while anchoring Whitman's triumphant relay team.
"The only question about Holly is that she studied off campus during the fall semester and wasn't able to train as consistently as she normally would," Townsend says. "But she still came back to campus in great shape, and she's still a great athlete. Holly is one of two women on our team with a good chance at qualifying for nationals."
The other athlete with an eye on nationals is Laura Valaas (Wenatchee, Wash. / Wenatchee HS), one of seven first-year skiers on the women's nordic team. "Laura was one of the top skiers at junior nationals last year," Townsend says. "She has the ability to place in the top 20 in our races this season."
Other than Brooks, the only Missionary returning to the Missionaries from last season are sophomores Sarah Hardee (Bothell, Wash. / Bothell HS) and Meredith Hyslop (Spokane, Wash. / Ferris HS). Hardee competed in four NCAA events last winter, placing as high as 21st in one of the classic races.
At last year's USCSA national championships, Hardee placed second in the classic and fourth in the freestyle. Hyslop was second in the sprint and freestyle and third in the classic. Hardee and Hyslop joined Brooks as members of Whitman's winning relay team.
Hyslop has yet to make a final decision about competing this season, Townsend says. She won't join the team until mid-January at the earliest, he adds.
Townsend plans to travel with as many as six women to this year's NCAA events. Other skiers with an inside track on traveling spots are sophomore Tara Gregg (Winthrop, Wash. / Liberty Bell HS) and first-year skiers Molly Smith (Ely, Minn. / Memorial HS) and Becky Dickison (Anchorage, Alaska / Service HS). Gregg, who attended Montana State last year but did not compete on its nordic team, has been impressive in early season time trials.
Other newcomers this season on the Whitman women's nordic squad are Leah Fisher, Meghan Goss, Ashley Joyce-Sommerfeld and Michelle Ritzenthaler. Fisher is Liberty Bell High School in Winthrop, Wash., while Goss, Joyce-Sommerfeld and Ritzenthaler all hail from Mountain View High School in Bend, Ore.
The men's nordic team, with just five skiers on the roster, is led by sophomores Justin Daraie (Casper, Wyo. / Natrona County HS), Conor Flynn (Aspen, Colo. / Aspen HS) and David Wellington (St. Paul, Minn. / Central HS). Daraie placed as high as 27th in one of the NCAA classic events. Wellington finished as high as 35th in one of the freestyle races.
Competing at the USCSA national championships, Daraie won the classic race, joined Flynn in helping Whitman to victory in the relay event, and placed eighth in the classic. Flynn was second in the classic and sixth in the freestyle. Wellington placed third in the classic and ninth in the freestyle.
Rounding out the men's team are senior Dan Cadol (Jackson, Wyo. / Jackson Hole HS) and freshman Alex Farnand (Bend, Ore. / Mountain View HS).
"This is going to be a fun season," Townsend says. "It will be interesting to see how we do against some of the top nordic skiers in the country. I think we have athletes on both the women's and men's teams who can raise their performance levels because of the competition. We have at least two women who could qualify for nationals, and a few of our men could surprise us."
Whitman's switch to full-time competition in the NCAA has already made a big impact on his recruiting efforts, Townsend says. "My active recruit list has at least 10 men and 10 women, and I'm guessing that at least half of those skiers would not be considering Whitman had we not made the move to the NCAA."
Whitman's nordic season is set to begin Jan. 12-13 at Soldier Hollow, Utah. The universities of Utah and Alaska-Anchorage are sponsoring those events. The nordic portion of the Bobcat Invitational, hosted by Montana State, follows Jan. 17-18 at Bohart Ranch near Bozeman, Mont.
The University of Colorado and Western State College will host events on the weekends of Jan. 31-Feb. 1 and Feb. 7-8. The NCAA regionals are set for Feb. 23-24.