Bobcats Qualify Full Squad for 2015 NCAA Skiing Championships

Bobcats Qualify Full Squad for 2015 NCAA Skiing Championships

3/4/2015 5:17:00 PM | Men's Skiing, Women's Skiing, Skiing

Montana State is one of only eight teams to qualify a full contingent and one of just seven that will compete at the NCAA Championships March 11-14 in Lake Placid, New York, hosted by St. Lawrence and the Olympic Regional Development Authority.

By: Tom Schulz

For the third consecutive season the Montana State ski team has qualified a full 12-member squad for the NCAA Skiing Championships, the NCAA announced Monday night.

Montana State is one of only eight teams to qualify a full contingent and one of just seven that will compete at the NCAA Championships March 11-14 in Lake Placid, New York, hosted by St. Lawrence and the Olympic Regional Development Authority.

All six teams that compete in the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association qualified full teams, while only Vermont from the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association and Northern Michigan of the Central Collegiate Ski Association (Nordic only in CCSA) fielded full squads.

In all, 148 student-athletes qualified for the national meet

Qualifying for the Bobcats is Nordic members Erik Axelson, Sawyer Kesselheim, Forrest Mahlen, Lina Hultin, Annie Liotta and Cambria McDermott. Qualifying on the alpine side is Garret Driller, David Neuhauser, David Owsley, Kari Hole, Stephanie Irwin and Benedicte Lyche.

Participants are selected on a regional basis from two designated regions for Alpine skiing (East and West Regions) and three designated regions for Nordic skiing (Central, East and West Regions). Bids are awarded to regions using a formula determined by the skiing committee. A maximum of 12 student-athletes (three per gender per discipline) may participate from an institution.

Nordic events will be held at Mt. Van Hoevenberg. The women's five-kilometer and men's 10-kilometer freestyle cross-country races will be conducted March 11. The women's 15-kilometer and men's 20-kilometer classical races will be held March 13.

Alpine events will run at Whiteface Mountain. The men's and women's giant slaloms will be held March 12, with the men's and women's slaloms conducted March 14.