Utah Utes among favorites at NCAA ski meet

The NCAA Ski Championships begin today, and if bets were taken the University of Utah would be one of the odds-on favorites.

The Utes are the only Western team to field a complete 12-person contingent. Perennial powers University of Colorado, University of Wyoming and the University of Denver were not able to fill the 12 spots through qualifications.

The Utes, in fact, had 16 skiers post times good enough to qualify for the final event of the winter season.

It appears the Utes' toughest competition from Eastern schools will come from Middlebury and Dartmouth. Both schools were able to field full teams.

Under the NCAA format, the freestyle nordic event will be held today, followed by the giant slalom on Thursday, the classical nordic on Friday and finishing with the slalom on Saturday.

"To qualify 16 people from our team is a statement to our depth," said Eli Brown, director of skiing for the Utes. "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 having fewer skiers.

"We are excited about this year's championships. We have gotten through the season as one of the top teams, but the NCAA Championships are a whole new game. We also hold an advantage over the East teams because we competed on the NCAA hill just last weekend at the Western Regionals. It was a good opportunity for our athletes to become familiar with the NCAA courses."

Western schools will, in fact, have a slight advantage over the visitors from the East. Snow conditions, particular this year with heavy snow accumulations, are very different. Eastern snow tends to be harder, more like ice, where Western snow is softer and more forgiving.

It will also help in that the Western schools were able to compete on the NCAA slopes at Bridger Bowl and the cross country track at Bohart Ranch last week in the Western Regionals. Utah finished second.

In previous NCAA events in Bozeman, Mont., the Utes won in 1996 and finished second in 1998 and 1985.

Last year, Utah finished fourth in the NCAAs.

In competition last week in the regionals, the Utes' three alpine skiers — Scott Veenis, Kyle Kung and Thomas Zumbrunn — all finished in the top 10 in the GS. On the women's side, Chirene Njeim was fifth.

In the nordic 10K freestyle, Snorri Einarsson was fifth, while Even Sletten was ninth for the women. In women's GS, Chirine Njeim finished eighth.