Skiing Ranked Sixth in Inaugural Preseason Coaches Poll

HANOVER, N.H. — The Dartmouth College ski team was ranked sixth in the inaugural SYNC Coaches Poll as announced last Friday by the United States Collegiate Ski Coaches Association (USCSCA). The defending NCAA Champion Denver Pioneers earned the top spot atop the poll, compiling nine of the 12 first-place votes.

Utah finished behind Denver in second with 94 points while Colorado and Vermont tied for third with 90. Completing the top five was New Mexico with 68 points, ahead of Dartmouth (60) and Northern Michigan (36) in sixth and seventh, respectively. New Hampshire (31), Alaska Anchorage (29) and Montana State (24) rounded out the top 10.

The poll is further broken down into alpine and Nordic rankings, and the Pioneers ranked first in both of those lists as well. Denver claimed five of the six first-place votes in the alpine poll, garnering 59 of a possible 60 points, and four first-place tallies in the Nordic in gathering 53 points. Colorado was right behind the Pioneers with the other two first-place votes and 52 points.

Dartmouth finished sixth in the alpine poll with 29 points and seventh in the Nordic poll with 31 points, one behind New Mexico.

“We felt it was important as a coaches association to help better promote our sport, and a coaches poll was at the top of the list to create,” said Andy LeRoy, president of the USCSCA. “SYNC is a company focused on the needs of athletes in the ski community. We are proud of this new partnership and couldn't be more appreciative of their support.”

SYNC, a new performance ski race wear company offering products for competitive racers and mountain athletes, sponsors the coaches poll, which is voted on by coaches from around the nation. There are 12 coaches who vote, six each in alpine and Nordic, and those coaches rank only their own discipline. The rankings are then combined for an overall coaches poll.

With the sixth-place showing in the preseason poll, the Big Green are expected to finish exactly where they did at the 2014 NCAA Championships. Dartmouth returns all six alpine skiers that competed in the NCAAs, including senior captains Ben Morse and Abby Fucigna. On the Nordic side, three of the six NCAA skiers are back this winter, led by senior captain Silas Talbot, with a stable of veterans to take the places of those who graduated.

The carnival season opens Jan. 16-17 with the Bates Carnival.

2015 SYNC PRESEASON COACHES POLL
Rank	School (1st-place votes)	Points
1.	Denver (9)	112
2.	Utah	94
3.	Colorado (2)	90
	Vermont	90
5.	New Mexico (1)	68
6.	Dartmouth	60
7.	Northern Michigan	36
8.	New Hampshire	31
9.	Alaska Anchorage	29
10.	Montana State	24

SYNC Preseason Coaches Alpine Poll
Rank	School (1st-place votes)	Points
1.	Denver (5)	59
2.	Utah	49
3.	Vermont	46
4.	Colorado	38
5.	New Mexico (1)	36
6.	Dartmouth	29
7.	New Hampshire	28
8.	Montana State	16
9.	Middlebury	15
10.	Alaska Anchorage	14

SYNC Preseason Coaches Nordic Poll
Rank	School (1st-place votes)	Points
1.	Denver (4)	53
2.	Colorado (2)	52
3.	Utah	45
4.	Vermont	44
5.	Northern Michigan	36
6.	New Mexico	32
7.	Dartmouth	31
8.	Alaska Anchorage	15
9.	Alaska Fairbanks	9
10.	Montana State	9

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