USCSA National Championships
Wednesday-Saturday, March 8-11
Mammoth Mountain | Mammoth Lakes, Calif.
WHAT TO KNOW
• The Babson men's and women's alpine ski teams will join the top programs will travel to the Sierra Nevada mountains to compete in the USCSA National Championships beginning on Wednesday morning.
• The USCSA Championships will be held at Mammoth Mountain for the first time and return to the western part of the country for the first time since 2019 when they were held at Snow King Mountain in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
• The Babson men are making their 15th straight appearance at nationals, while the women's squad is back to compete for the seventh year in a row.
• Alpine skiing competition was originally set to begin on Tuesday but the area was hit with more than 12 feet of snow over the last week pushing the start championships back.
SCHEDULE
• Wednesday, March 8 | Women's GS
• Thursday, March 9 | Men's GS
• Friday, March 10 | Women's SL
• Saturday, March 11 | Men's SL
2022 USCSA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS RECAP
• Both the Babson men and women made history with the top finishes in program history by placing third in the combined standings at Whiteface Mountain.
• Junior Caroline Haaijer earned All-America honors in the giant slalom, slalom and combined standings, while senior Lauren Abdow and sophomore Amelie Alkier garnered All-America accolades in the GS as the Beavers had three of the top 15 finishers in the women's GS.
• Victor Wiacek '22 placed seventh in the combined standings and earned three All-America awards, senior Zach Roman and junior Kyle Wolff received All-America honors in the GS and junior Ryan Beardsley collected All-America accolades in the slalom as the Babson men matched the 2013 squad for the best finish in school history.
SCOUTING THE BABSON WOMEN
• The Beavers backed up their first division title since 1992 by placing second in both the slalom and giant slalom on the way to claiming their first USCSA Eastern Regional championship back on February 19 at Sugarloaf.
• Abdow came in second in the GS and fourth in the slalom, Haaijer was the runner-up in the slalom and placed sixth in the GS, and junior Arianna Barile added top-10 results in both races for Babson, which placed four competitors among the top 11 in the combined standings.
• Abdow leads the Green and White with 10 podium finishes in 12 races this winter, while Haaijer has recorded a pair of second-place results and owns four podium finishes in all.
• Barile (10), junior Maeve Fiske-Mercer (5) and sophomore Caroline Johnson (4), who placed 11th in the combined standings at regionals, have combined for 19 top-10 finishes this winter.
SCOUTING THE BABSON MEN
• The Beavers placed second in the MacConell Division regular season standings and finished as the runner-up in the combined standings at the USCSA Eastern Regional Championships just over two weeks ago at Sugarloaf.
• First-year Max Bellino finished third overall after placing fourth in the slalom and third in the giant slalom, Roman posted a pair of top-10 results (7th GS, 9th SL) and Beardsley added a fourth-place showing in the giant slalom for the Green and White.
• Beardsley has finished among the top six on the individual leaderboard eight times this season, while Bellino owns three top-five and 10 top-10 results over 12 races.
• Roman has placed ninth of higher in each of his last three races and senior Jack Beney owns 10 top-20 finishes and has completed 11 of 12 races this winter, and Wolff has crossed the finish line among the top 20 eight times in nine events.
EIGHT EARN ALL-MACCONNELL DIVISION HONORS
• A program-record five women and three men were recognized when the MacConnell Division announced its postseason awards prior to last month's regional championships.
• Abdow became Babson's first female to earn league skier of the year honors after finishing atop the individual standings and was joined on the team by Haiijer (4th), Barile (6th), Fiske-Mercer (10th) and Johnson (11th).
• Beardsley was the top men's finisher in seventh place, Bellino came in eighth and Beney placed 15th in the league standings to earn his third All-MacConnell Division honor.
HISTORY LESSON
• The Babson women have recorded six consecutive top-five finishes at nationals, which includes finishing fourth three times (2016, 2018, 2020) and tying for fourth place in 2019 in addition to last year's third-place showing.
• The Beaver men have posted 10 consecutive top-10 finishes at the USCSA National Championships, which includes coming in a program-best third twice (2013, 2022) and winning the slalom to earn a four-way tie for first before ultimately placing fourth at Whiteface in 2018.
TEAMS TO WATCH
• Both the men and women will crown new alpine champions this week at Mammoth Lakes as Sierra Nevada no longer competes in the USCSA following its merger with the University of Nevada-Reno last summer.
• Sierra Nevada (6) and Rocky Mountain (5) have combined for 11 men's titles going back to 2011 and finished 1-2 in the standings each season going back to 2014.
• MacConnell Division rivals Castleton and Clarkson tied for fourth place with Northern Michigan on the men's side last winter.
• On the women's side, Sierra Nevada leaves after claiming titles in 2019, 2020 and 2022 on the heels of Rocky Mountain finishing atop the podium in 2017 and 2018.
• Castleton, UConn, Northern Michigan and William Smith came in fourth through seventh last winter.
