MSU ski team top 10 in country

Members of the MSU ski team competed in the NCAA Skiing Championships at Stowe Mountain Resort in Stowe, Vermont over a four-day period spanning March 6-9. The championships consisted of 74 male and 74 female athletes representing 24 schools across the country. MSU had 10 athletes qualify for the national championships, two shy of fielding a full team, but due to the injury of Stephanie Gartner, only nine ended up competing.

The competition kicked off Wednesday with nordic freestyle races. Six MSU skiers competed in the event, three women and three men. Freshmen Ti Donaldson and Ty Godfrey finished inside the top 25 for the 10k race, taking 23rd and 25th, respectively. Sophomore Emma Tarbath took 21st in the 5k followed immediately by sophomore Kathleen O’Connell. With one day of the championships down, the Bobcats, as a team, sat in ninth place overall.

On Thursday, MSU Freshmen Åge Solheim and Louis Muhlen-Schulte and sophomore Jocelyn McCarthy competed in the giant slaloms course. Solheim was consistent between both runs and managed to find his way to 18th place. Muhlen-Schulte finished his first run just 0.05 seconds off of the fastest time. During his second run he came out aggressive looking to place in the competition but popped on the seventh gate causing him to lose a ski, effectively ending his chance at earning a spot on the podium. McCarthy skied incredibly well at the Big Sky Championships but wasn’t as fortunate on the National Stage. She ended up taking 26th in the event.

On Friday, the Nordic competition continued with the men’s 20k race and the women’s 15k race. This time sophomore Eli Jensen led all of the Bobcat competitors, taking 19th overall in the event. Godfrey and Donaldson weren’t far behind, earning 22nd and 27th place, respectively. The women’s team also had two competitors inside the top 25. Sophomore Anna Fake and Tarbath both found themselves inside the top 25. Fake managed to earn 22nd place while Tarbath was only seconds behind capturing 23rd place. O’Connell finished just outside of the top 25 in 26th place. At the conclusion of day three, the Bobcats were in tenth place overall.

MSU ended the competition with their best single-day score, racking up 77 points between three competitors. Solheim and Schulte continued to perform well, earning sixth and seventh place, respectively, in the slalom event. McCarthy bounced back from her lackluster performance earlier in the week and took seventh in the women’s slalom competition.

MSU took ninth overall in the competition with a total of 184.5 points. The University of Utah took first place, racking up an impressive 530.5 points in four days of competition. Next year’s NCAA Skiing Championships will be hosted by MSU for the eighth time in MSU’s History. The events will be held at Bridger Bowl and Bohart Ranch.