Utah will send 12 to NCAA ski championships

The University of Utah ski team announced this week the 12 skiers who will represent the Utes at the NCAA Championships, held March 5-8 in Bozeman, Mont.

Although 16 Utah skiers qualified for the championships, the NCAA limits that number to 12 per school (three skiers per discipline per gender). The Utes were the only Western squad to qualify a full team.

"To qualify 16 people from our team is a statement to our depth, especially when no one else in the West was able to qualify a full 12-member team," said Eli Brown, director of skiing. "The whole team has contributed to a successful qualifying effort. Because we had so many qualify we were able to prevent skiers from other teams from qualifying, so our efforts will affect not just us but the entire championships."

"It's a huge advantage to us to have a full team because we have more chances to score points. It's great not to have to deal with the extra pressure of not having a full team."

The athletes will concentrate on schoolwork and rest this week before heading to Bozeman on Saturday.

"We are excited about this year's championships," Brown said. "We have gotten through the season as one of the top teams, but the NCAA Championships is a whole new game."

The athletes will concentrate on schoolwork and rest this week before

heading to Bozeman on Saturday, March 1.

"We are excited about this year's championships," Brown said. "We have

gotten through the season as one of the top teams, but the NCAA

Championships is a whole new game."

Utah's NCAA ski qualifiers

Men's alpine: Tague Thorson, Scott Veenis, Thomas Zumbrunn Women's alpine: Chirine Njeim, Mikaela Grassl, Eva Huckova Men's nordic: Snorri Einarsson, Even Sletten and Ben Fick Women's nordic: Sara Schweiger, Zoe Roy and Annelies Cook Alternates: Kyle Kung, Casey Simons, Kjersti Boe, Sarah MacCarthy