By Shannon Lukens. (Photo courtesy Clarkson Creative.)
The 2024 NCAA Nordic and Alpine Ski Championships are in Steamboat Springs, March 5-9. The host team is the University of Colorado. Local hosts include the City of Steamboat Springs, Steamboat Resort, and the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club.
The NCAA Men’s and Women’s Skiing Committee has chosen 74 men and 74 women to compete in both disciplines.
Four athletes who are from Steamboat Springs or have lived here before have been chosen to compete. They are:
- Trey Seymour, University of Denver (Alpine – West Region)
- Elsie Halvorsen, Harvard University (Alpine – East Region)
- Bode Flanigan, Boston College (Alpine – East Region)
- Hannah Soria, Colby College (Alpine — East Region)
Alpine races kick off Tuesday, March 5, at the base of Steamboat Resort, with men’s and women’s Giant Slalom racing beginning the next day.
Howelsen Hill hosts a 7.5K race on Thursday, a night slalom on Friday, and a 20K mass start classic race on Saturday.
This is the ninth time that Steamboat Springs has hosted the NCAA Ski Championships. About 148 skiers from 20 to 25 schools nationwide will be in Steamboat Springs to compete for the title of NCAA Champion.
2024 NCAA skiing championship field announced
Press release from the University of Colorado; January 2024.
Steamboat Springs, CU To Play Host To 2024 NCAA Ski Championships
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. – The city of Steamboat Springs along with Steamboat Resort and the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club will partner with the University of Colorado to host the 2024 NCAA Ski Championships, March 6-9.
The NCAA Championships consist of eight races with both men’s and women’s Nordic and alpine teams combining to race for the ultimate goal of a National Championship. The event will kickoff Tuesday, March 5, with an opening ceremony at the base of Mt. Werner with racing beginning Wednesday, March 6 at Mt. Werner with men’s and women’s giant slalom races.
Action will then turn to Howelsen Hill, where 7.5K interval start freestyle races will take place on Thursday, March 7. Friday’s alpine action remains at Howelsen Hill with a night slalom, a staple of the event in Steamboat and the only night race in all of college skiing. Saturday’s 20K mass start classic races will close out the event.
“Steamboat Springs has always been a great partner of ours,” CU Director of Skiing Jana Weinberger said. “The city, the resort and the winter sports club are all great to work with, whether we just host our annual Nordic meet, our Regional meet with both alpine and Nordic or, like this season, the NCAA Championships. The support of the community in Steamboat Springs is second to none and ensures that we put together one of the best championships of any site in the country.”
This will be the ninth time Steamboat Springs has played host to the NCAA Ski Championships, the most of any one site in the country, breaking a tie with Bozeman, Mont., with this championship. This is also the 10th time CU has served as the host of the Championships, the most by any school.
Previously, the Buffaloes and Steamboat teamed up to host the event six times in 1979, 1993, 2006, 2010, 2016 and 2018. Steamboat also hosted without a school partner in 1968 and 1969.
The NCAA Ski Championships are one of the top amateur ski events in the world, having a field of skiers filled with past and future Olympians, World Cup skiers and national champions.
The NCAA Championships have recently been dominated by the Utah Utes, who have won four straight titles dating back to 2019 (the 2020 event was cancelled at the half-way point), and will be joined by western powers Denver (NCAA leading 24 national championships) and the host Buffaloes (20 team titles, NCAA leading 103 individual national champions).
The NCAAs are the only time teams from each of the three regions compete against each other, which adds to the excitement. Besides Colorado, Denver and Utah in the west, eastern powers Vermont, Dartmouth and Middlebury always compete for the championship and central powers Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan, while only competing in Nordic events, are always a factor and greatly affect the overall team standings.
CU and Steamboat’s history are somewhat intertwined, as some of the top names in skiing have both places in common, including Buddy Werner, Billy Kidd, Charles Leckenby, Jim Barrows, Roche Bush, Van Card, Norris Durham, and in more recent seasons Scott Wither, Andy LeRoy, Mary Rose, Heidi Hillenbrand, Lisa Perricone, Tony Cesollini, Lucy Newman, Tyler Terranova, Katie Hostetler, Charlie Von Thaden and countless others.
There are currently 32 skiers that are Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club alumni on NCAA rosters.
- Sequoia Anstine, Alpine, Bates
- Sidney Barbier, Nordic, Denver
- Sumner Cotton, Nordic, St. Scholastica
- Peter Dohr, Alpine, Williams
- Maren Elvidge, Alpine, Colby-Sawyer
- Bode Flanigan, Alpine, Boston College
- Riley Grosdidier, Alpine, Dartmouth
- Elsie Halvorsen, Alpine, Harvard
- Lauren Haerter, Alpine, St. Lawrence
- Chase High, Nordic, St. Scholastica
- Jaelie Hovey, Alpine, Bates
- Cooper Jones, Nordic, Colby College
- Trey Jones, Nordic, Colorado
- Kyle Kagan, Alpine, Bates
- Wally Magill, Nordic, Dartmouth
- Alec Nolan, Alpine, St. Lawrence
- Cooper Puckett, Alpine, Dartmouth
- Dominic Rainville, Alpine, New Hampshire
- Noah Reimenschneider, Alpine, Colby College
- Nico Richeda, Alpine, Middlebury
- Chase Seymour, Alpine, Colorado
- Trey Seymour, Alpine, Denver
- Jordan Simon, Alpine, Dartmouth
- Cam Smith, Alpine, Boston College
- Izzy Washburn, Alpine, Dartmouth
- Marat Washburn, Alpine, Bates
- Louis Weiner, Alpine, Colby College
- Charlie Welch, Alpine, St. Lawrence
- Grace Zanni, Nordic, Dartmouth
- Jay Poulter, Alpine, Utah
- Jack Reich, Alpine, Colorado
- Nick Unkovskoy, Alpine, Middlebury
- Cam Owens, Alpine, Colby