NCAA's Skiing Championship set to begin Wednesday

Best skiers in the nation arrive in MWV to decide overall skiing crown

March Madness comes to the Mount Washington Valley this week. The 54th NCAA Men's and Women's Skiing Championships kick off Wednesday at Jackson Ski Touring Foundation and continue through Saturday with world class alpine and nordic competition.The championships, hosted by the University of New Hampshire, will take place at Attitash in Bartlett, for the alpine events and the Jackson Ski Touring Foundation is the site of the nordic competitions. Attitash and the Jackson Ski Touring previously hosted the NCAA Championships in 1984 and 1995. The University of New Hampshire has been the host school in 1984, 1992 and 1995.The 2007 NCAA Ski Championships are going to be a world-class event," said Thom Perkins, executive director of Jackson Ski Touring. "We are hosting the 'cream of the crop' skiers from Alaska to Maine. This is a unique opportunity to see top level international caliber athletes compete for the National championships up close. "We are excited to be hosting this caliber of race and these athletes for a third time," John Lowell, managing director of Attitash, said. "This is a spectacular event and an opportunity to see some of the best competitors in the sport."Janice Crawford, executive director of the Mount Washington Valley Chamber of Commerce, hopes the skiers and their supporters enjoy all the area "where anything is possible" has to offer."It's not only a boost for local business but also for our valley as a destination," Crawford said. "For those few days, the ski racing nation will be focusing their attention on the Mount Washington Valley of New Hampshire."This is the fourth time UNH has hosted the Skiing Championships, with the last being in 1995. Skiing is the official state sport, which makes these events important for the Granite State. These events are the most prestigious in collegiate ski racing. Seventy-four men and 74 women were selected to participate in the 2007 National Collegiate Mens and Womens Skiing Championships. Participants are selected on a regional basis from two designated regions for Alpine skiing (East and West Regions), and three designated regions for Nordic skiing (Central, East and West Regions). Bids are awarded to regions using a formula determined by the skiing committee. A maximum of 12 student-athletes (three per gender per discipline) may participate from an institution.The NCAA Skiing competition opens on Wednesday at Jackson Ski Touring, with the mens 10K and womens 5K freestyle races. The men's race is slated for 9 a.m. at the Eagle Mountain House.Jacksons race venue has extraordinary access and viewing opportunities for spectators, both on and off skis," Perkins said. "There will be plenty of great recreational skiing as well, with 140 kilometers available throughout the week.The course, involving the Eagle Mountain Fields, the Christmas Farm Trail, the Wave and the Betty Whitney Trail, is challenging, fun and extremely friendly for spectators, according to Perkins. Free shuttle buses will be running continuously up to the Eagle Mountain House to watch the races, running up to the stadium area from the touring center throughout the competition days, beginning at 8 a.m. Spectators should plan to arrive well before 9 a.m. on race days and park at the Jackson Ski Touring Center. Refreshments will be on sale in a tent by the race stadium and lunch will be available to the public on the porch of the Eagle Mountain House. Wednesday's men's and women's races are skate (freestyle races). This is an individual start event with skiers heading out on the course every 30 seconds. The men will ski 10K will the women, who begin racing at 11 a.m., will ski a 5K course. An awards ceremony is planned for immediately following the women's race.The action then turns to Attitash on Thursday for the mens and womens giant slalom, which will be held on Illusion on the Bear Peak side of the resort. The women's giant slalom kicks off at 9 a.m. with the men's GS to follow at 12:30 p.m. The Nordic competition returns to the spotlight Friday for the womens 15K and mens 20K classical races at Jackson Ski Touring. These will be mass stat races with the women heading out at 9 a.m. followed by the men at 11 a.m. An awards ceremony is scheduled to follow immediately after the races.The Championships conclude on Saturday with the mens and womens slalom at Attitash. The first run of the men's slalom is slated for 9 a.m. followed by the women at approximately 10:15 a.m. The men's second run is set for 12:15 p.m. with the women's second run at approximately 1:30 p.m.The NCAA Mens and Womens Skiing Championships is a unique event in that one competing school is crowned the champion from the combined score of the mens and womens Alpine and Nordic teams. Twenty-four schools representing all three divisions and three conferences (Eastern Intercollegiate Skiing Association, Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association, Central Collegiate Ski Association) competed in 2006, with the University of Colorado, Boulder entering this week's Championships as the defending champion after claiming last years crown in dramatic fashion. The Buffaloes finished with 658 team points, 98 more than its nearest contender, second place finisher New Mexico University, thereby achieving the fourth largest margin of victory in the championships 53-year history. After bouncing back from a sixth-place start on the first day, Colorado mounted the biggest comeback ever under the current scoring format, and did so one skier short of a full 12-member team.The Buffaloes claimed four individual titles in addition to the team title. Sophomore Lucie Zikova won the womens slalom, while sophomore Kit Richmond won the mens 20-kilometer freestyle race. Senior Jana Rehemaa swept the womens Nordic events, claiming the title for both the womens 5-kilometer classic race as well as the womens 15-kilometer freestyle race. Denver Universitys John Stene captured the remaining Nordic title, the mens 10-kilometer classic. On the Alpine side, senior Abbi Lathrop (of North Conway) of Colby College won the womens giant slalom, while freshman Scott Veenis of the University of Utah won the mens. Dartmouths Karl Johnson rounded out Alpine competition with the national title in mens slalom.The schools competing in the championship span from Alaska-Anchorage in the west to Colby College in the east, as far north as Alaska-Fairbanks and south as University of New Mexico. They also range in student enrollment from 1,400 (the Whitman College Missionaries in Walla Walla, Wash.) to over 29,000 at other institutions such as the University of Utah and University of Colorado.Despite the variety of schools competing, the NCAA Skiing Championships has been dominated by the West. A school from the west region has won 12 consecutive NCAA Skiing Championships. The streak began in 1995 the last time UNH was host of the event. The University of Colorado and Denver University have won four titles each and the University of Utah has three championships in that span. The only other school to win it all since 1995 is the University of New Mexico, which captured the crown in 2004.The last eastern school to win was the University of Vermont in 1994. Vermont could be one of the front-runners in 2007. UVM has finished as runner-up each of the last three times the NCAA Skiing Championships was held in the East and the Catamounts placed fifth in 2006. Dartmouth College was the top east finisher last year in third place.