March 7, 2006
DENVER -
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Championship Central
PIONEERS GO FOR REPEAT: After winning the NCAA Championships in 2005, the University of Denver ski team will go for the repeat at the 2006 NCAA Championships, held this year in Steamboat Springs, Colo. It would mark DU's second repeat national championship in the last six years. The Pioneers won three in a row from 2000-03.
NCAA TEAM ANNOUNCED: The Pioneers were one of just six teams to qualify a full complement of skiers (12), joining New Mexico, Utah, Dartmouth, Middlebury, and Vermont.
RETURNING FOR MORE: Denver sophomore Rene Reisshauer (Erfurt, Germany) won both Nordic legs at the 2005 NCAA Championships, becoming the first DU skier to do that since Ola Berger in 2002. He'll go for three and four March 9 and 11 in Steamboat. Otto Tschudi holds the DU career record for individual NCAA Championships with five from 1970-72. Tschudi also holds the record for most individual championships in a single NCAA Championships with three, set in 1971 (alpine, downhill, slalom). That record is unlikely to be broken anytime soon, as now there are just two disciplines each for Nordic and Alpine racers.
REPEAT OFFENDER: Reisshauer will attempt to become DU's first back-to-back winner of an individual national championship since Pietro Broggini defended his 2000 nordic freestyle win with another win at the 2001 NCAA Championships. DU has had four repeat champions in its skiing history: Willis Olson (ski jumping, 1954-56); Otto Tschudi (downhill, 1970-72); Roberta Pergher (slalom, 1996-97); Pietro Broggini (freestyle, 2000-01).
ALPINE DROUGHT: The Pioneers will be looking to end a six-year drought without an individual championship in the men's alpine events with the team of John Buchar (Ostersund, Sweden), Francesco Ghedina (Cortina, Italy), and Todd Ligare (Park City, Utah). The last DU alpiner to win an NCAA individual national championship was Jayme Smithers in the slalom in 1999. DU's last title in the giant slalom was Erik Roland in 1994.
DEFENDING CHAMPS: The University of Denver won its first skiing title since 2002 when it secured the 2005 NCAA National Collegiate Skiing Championship title thanks to a 1-2 sweep of the men's nordic races and a solid performance on the women's alpine events. The national title was Denver's 18th in skiing, the most in NCAA history, three more than Colorado's 15. It is DU's 24th overall national title (with seven men's ice hockey titles).
DU OWNS MOST SKIING NATIONAL TITLES: The Pioneers currently have the most national ski titles with 18. Denver won titles in 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1971, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2005. Denver won seven titles in a row from 1961-1967, four straight from 1954-1957 and three straight between 1969-71 and 2000-2002.
DENVER TOTALS 64 INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONS: With two more individual championships at the 2005 NCAA Championships, the Pioneer ski team raised its total number of individual champions to 64, second only to Colorado (70).
REVIVE AND REVITALIZE: The University of Denver ski program was discontinued in 1984 and reinstated in 1992. Director of Skiing and former head Alpine Coach Kurt Smitz was appointed to return the program to its previous stature. It's fair to say that Smitz has done that, leading the team to four national championships in the last in six years. His first year on the mountain in 1993, the team finished 12th, and steadily made progress until breaking through in 2000 with DU's first national championship since 1971. Here's the year-by-year breakdown: 1993: 12th; 1994: 7th; 1995: 4th; 1996: 2nd; 1997: 4th; 1998: 3rd; 1999: 2nd; 2000: 1st; 2001: 1st; 2002: 1st; 2003: 5th; 2004: 3rd; 2005: 1st
2006 Season Recap
ALASKA INVITATIONAL (Jan. 7-8; Jan. 11-12): The University of Denver ski team began the 2006 campaign in much the same way it wrapped up 2005; by winning ski meets. The Pioneers won the first race of 2006, capturing the University of Alaska Invitational with a team score of 555 points, edging second place Colorado (545). Utah finished third with a score of 499 points.
MONTANA STATE INVITATIONAL (Jan. 15-16): The top-ranked University of Denver ski team held off a furious final day rally by Colorado and held on to win its second consecutive meet in the span of four days by winning the Montana State Invitational. The Pioneers scored 568 points, followed by CU (565), Alaska-Anchorage (521), and Utah (476).
COLORADO INVITATIONAL (Jan. 28-Feb. 4): Despite DU skiers winning three of the eight races, the University of Denver ski team finished in third place at the 2006 Colorado Invitational, as CU won its own meet for its first win since 2003. New Mexico finished second as an eight-meet DU winning streak ended. CU won with 592 points, easily outdistancing New Mexico (544) and DU (531½).
WESTERN STATE INVITATIONAL (Feb. 7-8): The University of Denver ski team recorded a combined 17 top-10 finishes, but it wasn't enough to overcome a strong performance by the University of Colorado as the Pioneers finished second at the Western State Invitational. The Buffaloes won their second consecutive meet with 599 ½ points, followed by DU (556), New Mexico (527), Utah (450) and Nevada (412).
RMISA/NCAA WEST REGIONAL (Feb. 23-24): The University of Denver ski team became one of three teams in the Western Region to qualify 12 racers for the NCAA National Championships, but it wasn't enough for the Pioneers to overcome a deficit at the RMISA/NCAA West Regional as DU finished third in the final tuneup before the NCAA Championships March 8-11. The Pioneers had a team score of 533, behind New Mexico (547.5) and winner Colorado (577). The Buffaloes won their third consecutive meet.
