Drum Roll Please......Nationals Recap!

Hi all, Sorry about the delayed posting of our slalom results! The team got back from nationals Sunday, March 13th, had a quick week trying to catch up on classes, and then turned around for a week of spring break. Most of us spent the week relaxing in Florida, visiting family in Minnesota, Michigan, or Wisconsin, or skiing for fun or competition. We are now back at school, grinding out the last few months of tests, papers, and reading. Without further ado, here is our Nationals recap: WOMEN'S SLALOM: The girls had an exciting day of Slalom at Sun Valley. The course wasn't particularly difficult, but due to rain the night before, conditions varied from soft snow to rock hard ice. First run pumped out three respectable runs from Katie Ulvestad, Genette Sekse, and Laurie Taschler, but unfortunately claimed both Maddey Mclachlin and Alex Anderson as DNF's (interestingly on the SAME gate). McLachlin and Anderson both started solid runs, but Maddey caught her tip on a gate losing a ski, while Alex sadly booted out without reason. Ulvestad, Sekse and Taschler however, were ready for their second runs. With finish positions from the first run (respectively) in 12th (Ulvestad), 25th (Taschler) and 27th (Sekse) the ole girls knew they needed strong, fast runs for a team place. Sekse and Ulvestad finished with fast times and clean runs moving them up to 4th and 21st. Taschler however, struggled with stop starts in the gate, actually starting and being physically pulled back, and finally starting, skiing, and straddling. Due to the huge competitive disadvantage, a re-run was granted, and she finished cleanly putting her in 27th. Girls came in 4th for the day--hanging on by a thread! MENS SLALOM: Similar to the girls, yet more extreme, the St. Olaf men faced incredibly difficult conditions consisting mostly of sheer ice-- the kind that does not allow you to hold an edge! The course, set by someone crazy-- formed a 'Z' as it zig zaged across the entire hill starting at skiers right, moving to skiers left, and finishing again at skiers right. This course took out both Nick Stang (who fell, got back in the course, fell, got back in the course, and fell again) and Jeff Stamp (who also made an impressive effort to finish-- but just couldn't do it). This left Max Lund, Paal Proitz, and Nate Hanson to finish cleanly, and with speed. Second run was set by a more familiar Mike Dzubay from the Midwest USCSA division and was a fast but straightforward course. With first run finish places of 11(Lund), 17 (Proitz), and 31(Hansen) the boys were in good shape for some second wicked second runs. Luckily all three men pulled through (and moved up in their places) with finishes in 9th (Lund), 15th (Proitz) and 29th (Hansen). This put the men's team in 5th for the day! OVERALL: Overall both the Men's and Women's teams came in 4th-- the best St. Olaf has done in a long time! Combined with the Nordic Teams, this was good enough to win the Presidents cup in both divisions! All in all-- it was a great way to end the year, with a great week competing in beautiful Idaho. We had a blast with all the parents and fans, celebrating Nick's birthday, making meals together, playing cards, tuning skis, training, (sometimes) throwing raw eggs, bickering, and of course, competing. Thanks for all the support! A few pictures will be up soon! Start training for next year everyone! It’s just around the corner!

NATIONALS!!!

So, we know you are all waiting on the edge of your seats to hear about how the Ole's ROCKED at Nationals this year!


We just got back Sunday night and have been scrambling to catch up on homework, midterms, papers, and readings, so more info will be coming your way soon (individual finishes, team finishes, President Cup awards, pictures, stories, etc.)!


but just to give you a sneak peek.. both the men's and women's teams came in 4th overall!

GO OLES!

Thanks for all the support!

Nationals Update

Hey everyone,
We are now done with the GS for both the womens and mens and we have been crushing it! The run we are skiing on has 400 vertical meters of drop (1300 ft.), which is just about as close as you can get to a world cup course. The girls did very well in GS, getting 3 skiers down smoothly to take 6th place! As you can imagine all the girls were quite tired when they made it through the finish, with the top times of the day being around 1:10.00 for each run, it was hard on everyone. But nevertheless, the course was very technical because of the steeps and our girls put 'em down the hill and skied great!

Highlights->
Katie Ulvestad takes 11th and receives Second Team All-American status.
Genette Sekse takes 25th with a great first run and a solid second run to make top 30.
Madison McLachlin finished 35th with two great runs to move up over 20 places from her start.
Laurie Taschler skied in her last GS race ever and was relieved with it!
Elke Wood had a great run but her legs gave out at the bottom, but she still finished!

The guys GS was the best USCSA Nationals GS the oles have ever had, tying with the '99 men! First run was a technical and turny. We got four guys down the first run, but Jeff Stamp, our fourth finisher, had some trouble on his run and was out of the hunt for top 30. After the first run we were in 4th, behind Rocky Mountain College, Sierra Nevada College, and Plymouth College. With our top 3 vs. Plymouth's top 3, we were only 3 hundreths behind them! Second run was a cruiser, and we were looking for a top 3. It was nerve wracking but our top three skiers, Paal Proitz, Nick Stang, and Max Lund, made it down fast and smoothly (except for Max's hip-check that scared everyone). After the top 30 were finished we were happy because we knew we got top 3 by beating Plymouth College. What we didn't realize was that we actually beat Sierra Nevada College because their third skier missed a gate and had to hike. We got 2nd place!

Highlights->
Paal Proitz showed us his mountain skills placing 4th and receiving First Team All-American status.
Nick Stang made an attack from the back placing 12th and receiving Second Team All-American status.
Max Lund raced fast and made it down safely placing 13th and receiving Second Team All-American status.
Jeff Stamp did a flip in his second run (and last GS run ever) in the middle of the course. It was awesome.
Nate Hansen crossed his tips on the third gate and fell ALL THE WAY DOWN THE PITCH. It was really funny!

Katie Ulvestad '14 Freshman

From Stevens Pass, Washington. Her West-coast skiing has made an instant impact on the women Oles; She was victorious in all but one of her collegiate regular season starts and also won a GS Mid-Am up at Lutsen.

Given such consistency, one might think she would be comfortable and relaxed on the podium, but photographic evidence of an awkward step down for the Regional Slalom champ suggests otherwise.

Per her Facebook page, it seems she is also taking up an amateur acting career for some supplementary income. If she is so strapped for cash, lets keep her out of the modeling studio and in her Lange boots by sponsoring her to nationals!

Jeff Stamp: Senior

Although he is quite the rabble-rouser, Jeff Stamp, Senior Captain is looking forward to this years Nationals trip. He has spent the past four years perfecting his midwest skiing (as he is from Casper, Wyoming), but is ready to take on the mountains at Sun Valley. A physics and math major (with a stats concentration), Jeff has calculated that he could do quite well this year as he is skiing with an average velocity of .5 ohms faster than his potential energy of last year.. or something..

IF ONLY HE COULD GET TO NATIONALS!







YES, WE ARE ASKING YOU TO SPONSOR THIS GUY!