SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah ski team will try to defend its NCAA Championship this week when a dozen Ute skiers hit the slopes in Bozeman, Montana.
The meet will get underway Wednesday with alpine giant slalom races at Bridger Bowl. Nordic races will be contested Thursday at Crosscut Mountain Sports Center with more slalom races on Friday. The championships conclude Saturday.
The Utes are one of three schools that have qualified a full team of 12 skiers along with Denver and Colorado. Teams with 11 include Alaska-Anchorage, Dartmouth, Middlebury, Montana State and Vermont, while New Hampshire has 10 participants. Utah’s Westminster College has six skiers in the meet.
During the regular season the Utes won three of four meets in the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association that includes Denver and Colorado.
Utah’s team includes six-time All-American Guro Jordheim, Mariah Bredal and Leah Lange in women’s nordic events and freshman Samuel Hendry, Ola Jordheim and Maximillian Bie in men’s nordic.
In alpine events, Erin Engeset, Sona Moravcikova and Katie Parker lead the way in women’s races, while Joachim Lien, Addison Dvorcek and Gustav Vollo are the men’s top racers.
The Utes have won two of the last three NCAA championships, 2017 in addition to last year and they rank third all-time behind Denver and Colorado with 12 total titles.