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2003 NCAA Ski Championships Regional Previews: East

By Rick Adams * Dartmouth College

The young cubs are looking to give the old lion one last chance to roar.

This year Vermont - traditionally the beast of the East in college skiing - is trying for its seventh national championship, and it would be an especially sweet win since director of skiing Chip LaCasse is set to retire after 34 years with the Catamounts. There's also a bit of redemption in mind. Last year's fifth-place finish was Vermont's lowest since 1972.

But while the Catamounts continued to build momentum with their 28th consecutive Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA) championship at Middlebury, February 22, other Eastern ski powers like Dartmouth and Middlebury also have good reason to be optimistic heading into the National Collegiate Skiing Championships.

Vermont is led by its Alpine team, including sophomore Jimmy Cochran - the East's top men's Alpine seed and current standard-bearer of the legendary Cochran ski family of Richmond, Vermont - and freshman Jamie Kingsbury. Cochran, who transferred to Vermont from Middlebury last year, won eight of 12 Alpine races during the 2003 EISA season, including five wins in the giant slalom. Kingsbury has been almost as consistent on the women's side, finishing either first or second in nine of 12 races.

Kingsbury's consistency has been upstaged, though, by the brilliance of Colby freshman sensation Jenny Lathrop, the East's top-ranked woman Alpine racer and the winner of five of six EISA slaloms this season. With her twin sister Abbi, the Lathrops give Colby a solid one-two punch in Alpine. The field chasing Lathrop and Kingsbury includes Vermont's Gillian McFetridge and Hilary McCloy, as well Dartmouth's Emily Copeland and Sacha Acher, and Middlebury's Jessica Smith and Laura Scripture.

New Hampshire senior Greg Blaisdell is the only man to beat Cochran in the giant slalom this season, and Middlebury's John Rusten and Eric Rygg have posted consistent top-10 finishes. Dartmouth senior Bradley Wall, who competed for his native Australia at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City and at the 2003 World Alpine Championships in St. Moritz last month, has also posted strong finishes for the Big Green. Vermont's Matt Knittle, the 2001 NCAA giant slalom titlist, returns to the championships this year after missing all of 2002 with a knee injury.

In Nordic, a number of skiers with international experience highlight a strong Eastern contingent. Vermont's Lowell Bailey and brothers Ethan and Ryan Foster, as well as Dartmouth freshman Alison Crocker, took time off from this year's EISA carnival circuit to compete overseas. Crocker and Ryan Foster raced at the World Nordic Junior Championships; Ethan Foster at the inaugural under-23 World Nordic Championships and Bailey competed in biathlon at the World University Games.

Dartmouth sends its men's Nordic team intact from last year's championships. Seniors Brayton Osgood and Tom Temple, and junior Andy Hunter were consistent top-10 finishers on the EISA circuit this year. A 1-2 finish by Hunter and Osgood in the 20-k classical at the Dartmouth Winter Carnival in February paced the Big Green to its first home course win in nearly 20 years. Vermont's Ethan Foster heads into the NCAAs after winning the men's 20-k classical title at the EISA championships, while Bailey took the EISA 10-k freestyle race. Bates' Justin Easter, New Hampshire's Matt Schadow and Middlebury's Garrott Kuzzy turned in impressive performances at the EISA championships.

Williams' Melody Scheefer is the top-seed among Eastern Nordic women, but one of the East's top Nordic racers this season came from a school not traditionally known as a ski racing power. Harvard junior Anna McLoon posted seven top-five finishes including a win in the 10-K classical at the Vermont Winter Carnival in February, earning her the fourth seed in the East.

Meanwhile, Middlebury, Dartmouth and New Hampshire have continued to battle it out on the women's Nordic courses. Dartmouth's Crocker entered only three races this season, but won two of them and is the East's second seed. Teammates Chrissy May and Sue Kloek have been consistent top-10 finishers. Middlebury's Claire Anderson came on late in the year, winning the EISA women's 5-k freestyle, while New Hampshire's Kate Underwood has been a top-five finisher all season.

Event schedule