While the skies may be clear and sunny in Hanover currently, the ski team is still experiencing showers of their own in the form of NCAA awards resulting from their performance at the NCAA Skiing Championships held in Bozeman, Mont. over the break. The Big Green put together a strong team effort, finishing seventh overall in the competition.
The biggest accolade came as Dave Viele '98 finished out his collegiate career on top by winning the giant slalom competition, giving Dartmouth their first male national champion since 1988. To capture the title, Viele had to knock off heavily favored Andrej Bachleda of Denver University, who finished in fifth place at the Winter Olympics in Nagano last month. The win also gave highly acclaimed coach Peter Dodge his first national champion since arriving in Hanover in 1990.
"The championship race was the best race of my life. I have worked extremely hard this year and when you work with a coach like Peter Dodge, it is bound to pay off," Viele said.
The awards for the Big Green men weren't limited to Viele. Andrew Pennock '99 shook off a case of tonsillitis to finish 10th, earning him the final spot on the All-American squad. Jeremy Joseph '00 just missed the All-American squad as he finished in 11th place.
Despite the obvious success of Viele and Pennock, it was the effort of the female skiers that helped propel the Big Green to seventh place. Headed by All-American Jen Collins '99, the women finished with five All-Americans as a result of their performance at the championships.
Collins, the last Dartmouth skier to win a national championship after winning the giant slalom in 1996, proved once again that she is one of the nation's elite. Collins finished second in the giant slalom and fourth in the slalom event. Joining Collins on the All-American squad were junior Nordic skiers Abi Holt, Jessica Smith and Barb Jones.
This was Jones first season competing for the Big Green after transferring from Northern Michigan. She placed fifth in the championships a year ago.
Perhaps the most inspiring story of the championships came from Gutsy Swift '01, who competed one day after tearing two ligaments in her knee.
"To see her race the day after her injury in such pain was a big emotional lift to the team," he said.
The University of Colorado won the team championship with Utah finishing second and Denver University rounding out the top three.
"Considering the adversity that we had to overcome with the unforeseen injuries and illnesses, I was very pleased with our team finishing seventh," Pennock said. "This was a big improvement on last year where we finished just outside of the top 10," he said. "This result not only shows that our team has improved this year, but also that we have matured as skiers. This improvement is largely attributable to our remarkable coaching staff who have pushed us to our limits all year."
While happy with this year's results, Pennock indicated that the Big Green wanted to raise the expectations for next year.
"With 11 out of our 12 skiers returning next year, I believe it is quite possible that we could finish in the top three," he said.
