RENO, Nev. -- Eight members of the University of Nevada skiing team will compete at the 2008 NCAA Skiing Championships, set for March 5-8 in Bozeman, Mont. Nevada will send three men and two women for the alpine races and one man and two women for the Nordic races, while the Wolf Pack heads to the 2008 NCAA Championships looking to turn in its seventh top 10 finish in its last eight years.
NEVADA QUALIFIERS
Qualifying for the men’s alpine events were freshman Greg Berger-Sabbatel (Saint Maurice, France), senior Cameron Barnes (Canmore, Alberta, Canada) and freshman Shane Collins (Truckee, Calif.). Junior Katie Lyons (Reno, Nev.) and senior Jaana Valimaki (Rovanicmi, Finland) will represent Nevada’s women’s alpine team. This year will mark the fourth career NCAA appearance for Barnes, who earned All-America honors in the men’s giant slalom last season. Valimaki and Lyons will both ski in the NCAA Championships for the third time in their careers. This season will mark the first NCAA invitation for Berger-Sabbatel and Collins.
On the Nordic side, senior Paige Brady (Anchorage, Alaska) and junior Chelsea Holmes (Girdwood, Alaska) qualified in the women’s events, and junior Lutz Preussler (Seiffen, Germany) will represent the Wolf Pack men. Holmes and Preussler will be making their third NCAA appearances, while Brady will compete for the second time in her career.
ABOUT THE 2008 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
The 55th Annual NCAA Championships will be hosted by Montana State University at Bridger Bowl and the Bohart Ranch Cross Country Center, the same courses that held the NCAA West Regional Feb. 22-23. The event begins on Wednesday, March 5 with the men’s and women’s Nordic freestyle races, while the men’s and women’s giant slaloms will be run on Thursday, March 6. Nordic competition concludes with the men’s and women’s classical events on Friday, March 7 followed by the men’s and women’s slalom which wrap up the championships on Saturday, March 8.
Race results can be found at www.ncaasports.com or www.msubobcats.com, while results and a recap of each day will be posted on the official website of Wolf Pack Athletics, www.nevadawolfpack.com.
LAST YEAR AT THE NCAAS
Last season, the Wolf Pack turned in a 10th-place finish at the 2007 NCAA Championships, which were held in Jackson, N.H. Wolf Pack skiers earned three All-America certificates last year, including one from Cameron Barnes who finished 10th in the giant slalom and a pair by Scott Hume in the slalom and giant slalom. Hume was seventh in the giant slalom and ninth in the slalom one year ago.
RACE WINNERS
Nevada skiers won four races this season, including freshman Greg Berger-Sabbatel who captured the men’s giant slalom and the slalom at the NCAA West Regional on Feb. 22-23. Junior Katie Lyons won the makeup race in the women’s giant slalom held just before the NCAA West Regional, while freshman Shane Collins captured the men’s giant slalom at the New Mexico Invitational in early February.
RMISA SKIERS OF THE WEEK
Junior Katie Lyons and freshman Greg Berger-Sabbatel were named the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Skiing Association skiers of the week for Feb. 25-29.
At the NCAA West Regional/RMISA Championships, Berger-Sabbatel of Saint Maurice, France, swept both the men’s slalom (1:48.72) and men’s giant slalom (1:46.09) while Lyons, of Reno, Nev., won a makeup race in the giant slalom held just before the regional meet. She finished third in the women’s giant slalom (1:49.03) and fourth in the women’s slalom (1:35.12) at the NCAA West Regional.
WOLF PACK COACHES
August Teague is in his fourth season as the head coach of Nevada’s Nordic skiing coach. In addition to his coaching responsibilities, Teague will oversee all aspects of the Wolf Pack skiing program beginning with the 2007-08 season.
Teague has helped the Wolf Pack to top 10 finishes in two of his first three years in Reno, including a ninth-place showing in 2005 and a 10th-place effort in 2007.
In May of 2007, he was named to the Cross Country Coaches Committee at the United States Ski Association (USSA) Congress in Park City, Utah. Teague is the only college coach on the 15-person committee and will help create and write policies and rules and address issues in the United States ski racing community.
Prior to coming to Nevada in 2004, Teague spent one season as the head Nordic coach at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash.
Teague lettered four years as a member of the University of Denver skiing team. He helped the Pioneers to three NCAA championships from 2000-02. He also lettered four years on Denver’s cross country team.
A native of Aspen, Colo., Teague earned his bachelor’s degree in statistics from DU in 2003.
Charlie McNamara is in his first season as Nevada’s alpine skiing coach. He joined the Wolf Pack staff after spending the previous three years as a coach with the Sugar Bowl Ski Team in Norden, Calif. He also has over 15 years of experience as an alpine ski racer.
A native of Evergreen, Colo., McNamara attended Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., where he was a member of the alpine skiing team from 1992-96. He skiied in two NCAA Championships and at the Nor-Am and U.S. Nationals levels. McNamara earned his bachelor's degree in geology and political science with a concentration in environmental studies from Williams College in 1996.
