NCAA Championships Begin on Wednesday in Utah

Thursday, March 10

Park City, Utah / Park City Mountain Resort

11:30 AM

Dartmouth College

NCAA Giant Slalom

Photos courtesy of Gil Talbot and Steve R Cloutier

NCAA Championships Begin on Wednesday in Utah

3/8/2022 11:29:00 AM | Skiing

Dartmouth Notes for NCAA NCAA Championships Links

Dartmouth is one of five teams with the full allotment of 12 skiers

By: Rick Bender

Returning to NCAAs
Due to the pandemic, Dartmouth did not participate in the 2021 ski season and therefore did not compete at the NCAA Championships. And with the 2020 championship cut short by the pandemic, it has been three years since the Big Green saw their name on the leaderboard at NCAAs.

Full Complement of Skiers
Dartmouth is one of five teams to qualify 12 skiers for the NCAA Championships, as it did every year from 2015-19. But of those dozen, only two have experience at the NCAAs — senior Molly Gellert (women's Nordic) and junior Cameron Wolfe (men's Nordic). But both only had a chance to ski in one race before the pandemic canceled the 2020 championship halfway through. No other team has more skiers making their NCAA Championships debut.

Vying for Fourth NCAA Title
After being shut out from any carnival victories this season and placing second just once, Dartmouth has an uphill climb to win its fourth NCAA crown. The Big Green have won the championship three times previously in 1958, '76 and most recently, 2007. The teams from the West have dominated, however, winning 12 of the 13 titles since Dartmouth last finished atop the heap, and the 12 before that. A total of 68 NCAA champions have been crowned throughout the years, but only Vermont (6) and Dartmouth (3) have won from the East.

Fond Farewell
Peter Dodge '78 is in his 33rd and final season as the Dartmouth men's alpine coach, and he has witnessed quite a bit from his perch when it comes to the Big Green ski team. The 2018 USCSCA Alpine Coach of the Year has coached 22 skiers who have earned 48 All-America honors, including 10 NCAA champions. Five of his skiers went on to compete in the Olympics as well. His alpine squad played a big role in Dartmouth's third NCAA title in 2007, finishing second in the GS and the slalom. The United States Ski & Snowboard Association (USSA) named Dodge the Development Coach of the Year in 2005, and prior to that, its Domestic Coach of the Year in 1999.

Bib Leaders
Dartmouth wrapped up the carnivals with a pair of bib leaders, both in women's Nordic with senior Molly Gellert claiming the top spot in freestyle and freshman Jasmine Drolet leading the way in classic. Gellert won the last two freestyle races to jump into the lead, while Drolet won all three classic races she entered. Unfortunately for Dartmouth, Drolet will not be at Soldier Hollow as she will be skiing in Sweden at the World Cup.

Nordic Rookies of the Year
Not only was Drolet the classical bib leader, she also was named the Women's Nordic Rookie of the Year. She wasn't the only Big Green to earn recognition as a top newcomer in the EISA as Luke Allen was selected as the Men's Nordic Rookie of the Year after finishing the season as the fifth-ranked male in the East with three podiums to his credit, including a win at the home carnival in the 10K free.

Twelve Make All-East Teams
The Big Green had 12 skiers earn spots on the All-East first and second teams, a total exceeded only by Vermont with 16.

Alpine First Team
Oliver Morgan
Hannah Utter
Gwen Wattenmaker
Alpine Second Team
Ellie Curtis
Olivia Holm
Nordic First Team
Luke Allan
Jasmine Drolet
Molly Gellert
Nordic Second Team
Wally Magill
Rena Schwartz
Garvee Tobin
Callie Young

EISA Title Chances Flu Away
Any hopes the Big Green had of winning the EISA Championship on Feb. 25-26 were dashed when the flu struck the men's Nordic team. Before the end of the weekend, it hit the men's alpine team as well, and with just two of three skiers in each discipline, Dartmouth was in a tight race for second with Middlebury and New Hampshire, only to come up just short of both teams and end up in fourth place, its lowest finish since 1986.

Young Team
Of the 12 skiers competing for Dartmouth in Bozeman, five are either freshmen or sophomores, four of whom are men. Freshman Luke Allan (men's Nordic) is the most decorated from this carnival season, winning one race and finishing second in another, while freshman Oliver Morgan (men's alpine) has the most momentum after securing podiums in both the GS and slalom at the EISA Championship two weeks ago. Other Dartmouth young'uns are sophomore Olof Hedelin (men's alpine), freshman Wally Magill (men's Nordic) and sophomore Garvee Tobin (women's Nordic).

NCAA Individual Champions
Dartmouth has had 42 individual NCAA champions throughout the years with a majority coming in the alpine races. The last individual titles won by a Big Green skier came in 2019 — Katharine Ogden in the women's 15K classic and Tanguy Nef in the men's giant slalom. That gave Dartmouth six individual crowns in the 2018-19 seasons, matching its total from the previous 14 years. Ogden is one of just three Big Green women to win a national title, joining Anouk Patty in 1988 and Jen Collins in 1996, both in the giant slalom.

Going for the Gold
Six Dartmouth skiers won a total of 11 carnival races this year, led by Jasmine Drolet with four. Both Molly Gellert and Hannah Utter won multiple races as well, while Luke Allan, Ellie Curtis and Gwen Wattenmaker each won once. Overall, the Big Green placed 11 of their skiers on the podium 25 times through the EISA carnival circuit with Drolet leading the way with six with Allan and Curtis earning three.

Big Green in the Olympics
Dartmouth had eight alums and students compete at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, tied for the sixth most of any college or university in the country. Of those eight, seven competed for the United States, and four competed for Dartmouth as collegians, three with the Big Green ski team. Those three are:

• Rosie Brennan '11 — cross country
• Susan Dunklee '08 — biathlon
• Tricia Mangan '19 — alpine