Dartmouth Sending 11 to NCAA Championship; All-East Teams Named

HANOVER, N.H. — The NCAA announced the complete field of skiers that will compete at the Skiing Championship in Bozeman, Montana, on March 11-14 hosted by Montana State, and Dartmouth will be sending 11 skiers to compete for the national title.

Since the Big Green last won the championship in 2007, teams from the West have won 11 of the last 12 crowns (Denver six, Colorado three and Utah two). Those three teams happen to be the only ones in the field that qualified the full complement of 12 skiers. Vermont was the only Eastern team to interrupt that dominance, beating the field by 161 points in 2012. And other than that last Dartmouth crown and the Catamounts' in 2012, no other team from the East has won the title in the past 25 years.

Of the eleven Big Green skiers competing, four are returning to the NCAA stage (one in each discipline and gender). Junior Katharine Ogden (Landgrove, Vt.) is the most decorated of the skiers having won three NCAA titles in her first two seasons at Dartmouth. Although she has not raced in a carnival in a month, she hasn't been on the shelf but rather competing on the World Cup circuit in Scandinavia. Now the four-time All-American is back in the United States, looking to defend her classical title and reclaim the freestyle crown she won as a freshman.

Ogden will be joined in the women's Nordic races by sophomore Alaska native Molly Gellert and freshman Mara McCollor (Plymouth, Minnesota), each of whom has a podium finish this season, including Gellert's third-place showing in the 5K freestyle at the East Regional this past weekend.

For the women on the slopes, Olympian and All-American Tricia Mangan (Buffalo, N.Y.) is the veteran of the group. After finishing third in the giant slalom at the championship last year, the junior boasted four stops on the podium this winter and finished sixth or better in seven of her eight races. But junior captain Claire Thomas (Salt Lake City, Utah) has come on strong this season, earning the GS leader bib in the East with three podiums — including a pair of victories — as well as another podium in the slalom. Sophomore Abi Jewett (Ripton, Vt.) will be Dartmouth's third for women's alpine events, sporting a podium in both the GS and the slalom this year.

The men's alpine team will be led by junior captain Drew Duffy (Warren, Vt.), who earned All-American honors in both events at last year's championship. With seven top-five finishes and four podiums under his belt this season, a strong candidate for All-America honors again this year. The Big Green will also have senior Kipling Weisel (San Francisco, Calif.) and sophomore Andrew Miller (Park City, Utah) carving up the slopes at the Bridger Bowl. Weisel's best work has come in the slalom this year with four top-seven finishes, while Miller's biggest successes have come in the giant slalom with a victory at Colby and a second-place finish at Bates.

The men's Nordic team will feature a pair of skiers in junior Adam Glueck, a local product from Hanover, and freshman Cameron Wolfe (Vail, Colo.). Glueck is looking to build off his experience from his NCAA races last year, and Wolfe scored points for the Big Green in every carnival race this winter.

The EISA also announced their postseason awards after the regional last week, including the All-East teams, with Dartmouth having nine skiers earn a spot on the first or second team:

First Team Alpine
Drew Duffy
Tricia Mangan
Claire Thomas
First Team Nordic
Katharine Ogden
Second Team Alpine
Abi Jewett
Andrew Miller
Gwen Wattenmaker
Kipling Weisel
Second Team Nordic
Mara McCollor

The NCAA Championships, webcast live on NCAA.com, will begin on March 11 with the alpine races taking place at the Bridger Bowl on the first and third days, while the Nordic races will take place at Crosscut Mountain Sports Center on March 12 and 14.

Schedules