Feb. 23, 2006

Vermont Ski Team Competes in EISA Championships This Weekend

VERMONT SKIING NOTEBOOK
The Vermont ski team returns to action this weekend on Friday, Feb. 24 
and Saturday, Feb. 25 in the EISA Championships. The alpine events will 
be held at the Middlebury Snow Bowl in Middlebury, Vt., while the 
Nordic events have been moved to the Craftsbury Outdoor Center in 
Craftsbury Common, Vt. The Catamounts have won all five of the ski 
carnivals on the EISA circuit so far this season.

LAST TIME OUT … The Vermont ski team won its fifth straight carnival 
title of the season by taking the Williams Carnival at Jiminy Peak … 
Vermont finished the weekend with 755 team points ranking ahead of 
second place Middlebury who finished with 716 points … The Catamounts 
used 13 top-10 finishes to take a commanding 45-point lead after day 
one of competition this weekend … Sophomore Jilyne McDonald (Bellevue, 
Wash.), senior Jamie Kingsbury (Waitsfield, Vt.) and senior Amy Cochran 
(Keene, N.H.) all finished less than half a second off the pace in the 
slalom to take spots two through four at Jiminy Peak on Friday … Senior 
Hilary McCloy (Sunapee, N.H.) added an eighth place finish … In the 
men’s slalom sophomore Zac Brown (Sun Valley, Idaho) added a second 
place finish while senior tri-captain Paul Epstein (Carlisle, Mass.) 
turned in an eighth place finish and freshman Ethan Korpi (South 
Londonderry, Vt.) was ninth … In the Nordic events at Prospect Mountain 
in Woodford, Vt., senior captain Kate Crawford (Hawley, Mass.) finished 
second in the women’s 10k freestyle … Senior Anja Jokela (Shelburne, 
Vt.) was fifth and junior Carina Hamel (Southampton, Mass.) followed 
her in sixth place … Senior Emilia DeMarchis (Burlington, Vt.) returned 
to action this weekend to earn a 10th place finish … Senior assistant 
captain Ryan Foster (Weston, Vt.) was the top finisher in the men’s 10k 
freestyle with a fifth place finish … Freshman Anders Folleras 
(Lillehammer, Norway) was eighth and freshman Juergen Uhl was 14th … On 
Saturday Vermont took four of the top six spots in the women’s giant 
slalom led by McCloy’s first place finish … Kingsbury followed up with 
a third place finish in the GS … McDonald was fourth and Cochran was 
sixth … In the men’s GS Epstein and sophomore Sam Beck (Norwich, Vt.) 
finished in a tie for 13th place … Korpi came in 19th place … Because 
of the weather the Nordic events were changed to 3x4k relays at 
Prospect Mountain … In the men’s 3x4k freestyle relay the trio of 
Folleras, Uhl and Foster earned a first place finish … In the women’s 
3x4k relay Hamel, Jokela and Crawford finished in second place.

FULL WEEKEND SCHEDULE FOR EISA CHAMPIONSHIPS … At the Middlebury Snow 
Bowl on Friday the first run of the men’s slalom starts at 9:30am with 
the first run of the women’s slalom to immediately follow. Second runs 
of the slalom are scheduled to start at 12:30pm. At the Craftsbury 
Outdoor Center on Friday the women’s 15k freestyle mass start begins at 
10:00am and the men’s 20k freestyle mass start begins at 11:15am. On 
Saturday the women’s giant slalom first run begins at 9:30am with the 
men’s GS to follow. Second runs of the giant slalom are scheduled to 
start at 12:30pm. Saturday’s Nordic events start with the men’s 10k 
classical at 10:00am and the women’s 5k classical at 11:15am.

RED BIB … Senior tri-captain Hilary McCloy will wear the red bib as the 
points leader in the giant slalom this weekend. This season McCloy has 
two first place finishes in the GS and two second place finishes as 
well. She has won a total of three alpine events on the year.

EISA ALPINE SEASON RANKINGS … In the men’s giant slalom senior 
tri-captain Greg Hardy (Stratton, Vt.) is currently second overall in 
the EISA Rankings and Paul Epstein is sixth. In the men’s slalom season 
standings Hardy is in second place and Zac Brown is fourth overall. 
Hilary McCloy is the EISA points leader in the women’s giant slalom 
followed by second place Jamie Kingsbury, third place Jilyne McDonald 
and sixth place Amy Cochran. In the women’s slalom Kingsbury ranks 
second, McDonald is fourth, Cochran is sixth and McCloy is ninth.

EISA NORDIC SEASON RANKINGS … Anders Osthus (Duluth, Minn.) is the top 
ranked men’s skier for the Catamounts in the freestyle this season with 
a second place standing in the EISA Rankings. Ryan Foster ranks fourth 
overall in the freestyle. In the men’s classical Juergen Uhl is third 
in points, Osthus is fourth and Foster ranks seventh. Carina Hamel 
leads the way in the women’s freestyle ranking second in points while 
Kate Crawford is fourth, Emilia DeMarchis is sixth, Anja Jokela is 
seventh and Marion Solbjorg (Lillehammer, Norway) ranks ninth. In the 
women’s classical points chase Jokela is second, Hamel is fourth and 
Solbjorg is eighth.

OLYMPIC UPDATE … Two former UVM Nordic skiers are doing well for the 
United States at the Olympics. Lowell Bailey ’05 has competed in four 
events in the men’s biathlon thus far and has been the second best 
American in each of the individual events. He finished 27th in the 20k 
individual race, 48th in the 10k sprint, and 50th in the 12.5k pursuit. 
He also skied the third leg for the US team in the 4x7.5k relay race. 
Kris Freeman, who skied for the Catamounts during the 1999-2000 season, 
was the top American in the men’s 15k classical cross country race, 
placing 22nd overall. He also skied the first left of the 4x10k relay 
and the Americans finished 12th overall.

FORMER CATAMOUNT SKIERS IN THE 2006 OLYMPICS … Lowell Bailey ’05, Jimmy 
Cochran and Kris Freeman are former Catamount skiers that are competing 
in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy. Bailey, a three-time 
All-American at Vermont, earned a spot on the US Biathlon Team. Last 
season he led the Catamounts to a second place finish in the NCAA 
Championships. Cochran, a former standout on the UVM men’s alpine team, 
was named to the US Ski Team on Wednesday. Cochran skied for the 
Catamounts for just one season in 2003, but earned All-American honors 
that year. Freeman, a former Nordic standout, skied for the Catamounts 
for one season before moving on to train with the US Ski Team on a 
full-time basis. He was named to the US Cross Country Ski Team for the 
2006 Games. While at Vermont, he earned All-America honors at the NCAA 
Championships in 2000 and competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt 
Lake City. The 2006 Winter Olympic Games run from February 10 to 
February 26 and NBC will carry much of the action on its family of 
networks (NBC affiliate, MSNBC, CNBC, USA).

FORMER UVM SKIERS COACHING IN THE 2006 OLYMPICS … Three Vermont 
graduates are also in Torino as coaches for the US Ski Team. Johno 
McBride ’88 is the head speed coach for the US Ski Team, while Jesse 
Hunt ’90 is the alpine director for the squad. Hunt was a two-time 
All-American at Vermont. Trond Nystad, inducted into the UVM Athletic 
Hall of Fame two years ago, will serve as the head cross-country coach 
for the US Ski Team. He won the NCAA Championship in the 20K classical 
in 1992, leading Vermont to the national championship that year. Nystad 
was also a three-time All-American during his Nordic career.

STOWEFLAKE RECEPTION A SUCCESS … More than 175 people attended the 
reception at the Stoweflake Conference Center & Resort in Stowe, Vt., 
following the Vermont Ski Carnival on Saturday, Feb. 4. University of 
Vermont Alumni Relations and Development would like to thank the Baraw 
Family and Hank Lunde of Stowe Mountain Resort for their support with 
the event as well as the ski program. UVM would also like to give 
special thanks to the Vermont Regional Board and the Events Committee 
for helping plan this event. “As always the reception at the Stoweflake 
Spa and Resort was a great success,” Director of Skiing and head alpine 
coach Bill Reichelt said. “The food was outstanding and it’s always 
great to get a chance to meet alumni and friends of UVM skiing. It's a 
nice reminder to see how many supporters we have in the area.”

ALL-AMERICANS … Last season the Catamounts had seven All-Americans: 
Lowell Bailey ’05 (Nordic), Amy Cochran (alpine), Paul Epstein 
(alpine), Ethan Foster ‘05 (Nordic), Greg Hardy (alpine), Jilyne 
McDonald (alpine) and Jamie Kingsbury (alpine). Vermont has had a total 
of 278 All-Americans in its ski history.

HEAD OF THE CLASS … The Vermont ski team has six student-athletes on 
the 2006 roster that were named NCAA Academic All-Americans last 
season: Amy Cochran, Kate Crawford, Emilia DeMarchis, Molly Gray, Anja 
Jokela and Hilary McCloy all earned the honor.

UP NEXT: NCAA SKI CHAMPIONSHIPS … This year’s NCAA Ski Championships 
are in Steamboat, Colo., from March 9-12. The NCAA’s were last in 
Steamboat in 1993 and the Catamounts took home a second place finish 
that year. Last season at the NCAA Ski Championships in Stowe, Vt., the 
Catamounts also finished in second place.

BUS WITH US … The Vermont athletic department is sponsoring a bus trip 
to the men’s hockey games at UMass-Lowell on March 3 and 4. The cost is 
$150 (single), $210 (double), $275 (triple) and $335 (quad) and 
includes the cost of the hotel, game tickets for both nights and lunch 
from Handy's Lunch on the ride down. The bus will leave from the 
Sheraton in Burlington at 2:00pm on March 3. For more information or to 
reserve your seat please contact the Victory Club Office at 
802-656-3072.

UNICEL TEXT MESSAGING … All UNICEL customers, receive scores for ALL 
the Vermont teams via your cell phone. E-mail skiing contact Chris 
Wojcik at [log in to unmask] to sign up.

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Chris Wojcik
Assistant Director of Athletic Communications
University of Vermont
Phone: 802-656-1110
Fax: 802-656-8328
[log in to unmask]
http://www.uvmathletics.com