UW Nordic Ski Teams Place Fifth at Nationals

Both University of Wyoming Nordic ski teams placed fifth overall at the U.S. Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association Collegiate National Championships after Saturday’s final relay team event at Lake Placid, N.Y.

Both teams entered the weeklong national competition with young clubs; the men had just three team members qualified for the year-end meet. The Cowboys had won the past three national men’s titles, while the UW women were national runners-up last season.

Both clubs were fifth in the final relay team race.

“They skied so hard but just couldn’t quite get it,” UW co-head Coach Christi Boggs says.

Western State Colorado University (WSCU, Gunnison, Colo.) came through on the final day to overtake St. Olaf College (Northfield, Minn.) for the men’s title. WSCU had a team-low 76 points during the meet’s four events, while St. Olaf scored 95 points. Both Clarkson College (Potsdam, N.Y.) and Colorado Mesa University (Gunnison, Colo.) tied for fourth with 134 points. The Cowboys were fifth with 164.

St. Olaf repeated as the women’s national champions with 64 points, while WSCU was the national runner-up with 85. Clarkson College scored 95, Cornell University 152 and the Cowgirls 169.

“Our teams skied hard, gave it everything they had and showed all the grit,” Boggs says. “We’re super proud of them.”

The Cowgirls placed four individuals in the overall individual top 20: Ella DeWolf, of Laramie, 12th; Leann Bentley, of Laramie, 16th; Casper’s Maddy Tinker, 18th; and Jackson’s Sydney Wiswell, 19th.

Laramie’s Mason Vincent had the highest overall individual finish for the Cowboys, placing fourth, while teammate Trevor Willoughby, of Casper, also cracked the top 10 in sixth.

More than 500 athletes competed for national collegiate titles in alpine, Nordic, snowboard and free ski events at nationals this week in Lake Placid, home of the 1980 Winter Olympics.