ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — It hasn’t happened in 11 years, but with the University of New Mexico being one of seven teams in the 2015 NCAA Skiing Championship field to have a full compliment of 12 skiers, the Lobos have a shot at an NCAA title, especially when UNM has threats for national titles in men’s and women’s Nordic, and the women’s alpine.
The Lobos will seed to have big championship efforts from their top skiers, including Emilie Cedervärn, who has won each of her last for Nordic races, but head caoch Fredrik Landstedt feels his team is peaking at the right time.
“We have been getting better each week, and that was the goal all along,” said Landstedt. “We are finally healthy, and between Emilie and Eva and Mats and Aku in Nordic, we should be able to get some points.”
While UNM’s Nordic squad has been the best group this season, UNM’s alpine squad has the horses, led by Mateja Robnik, who has a giant slalom win and three podiums. “We have talent on the alpine side, but this is the week that we have to have everyone put it all together,” said Landstedt. “We have a lot of NCAA first time skiers in alpine, so they have to rise to the challenge.”
Of course, Landstedt talked all about finally being healthy, and then he had one last curveball thrown at him as Aljaz Pranik, UNM’s No. 3 Nordic on the men’s side came down with flu-like symptoms. Last year at NCAAs, Anni Nord had a similiar situation and UNM went with Nord, and she couldn’t finish either race, lost points that potentially cost UNM second place nationally. However, with UNM’s depth, Christian Otto, a vet of three previous NCAAs and a scorer twice at last week’s RMISA/NCAA Regional meet (including a top-10 finish) will go in Praznik’s place.
“Christian has skied really well lately, and we have four NCAA caliber skiers on the men’s side, so while it’s a tough break for Aljaz, Christian will be ready for this. He is a veteran skier who has raced on a big stage many times, and he had his best week last week.”
| Wed, Mar 11 | NCAA Championships (Freestyle 5/10K-I) | Lake Placid, NY |
| Thu, Mar 12 | NCAA Championships (Giant Slalom) | Lake Placid, NY |
| Fri, Mar 13 | NCAA Championships (Classical 15/20K-M) | Lake Placid, NY |
| Sat, Mar 14 | NCAA Championships (Slalom) | Lake Placid, NY |