USCSA Week 1 Alpine Recap

By Emma Logan

Featured Image: Male racer competing at a McConnell Division race on January 12th. Credit: Tom Martin

The United States Collegiate Ski & Snowboard Association (USCSA) kicked off its 2024 season with alpine races taking place across the Eastern and Southeastern conferences. Races took place in New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine and North Carolina. 

Eastern Conference

The Eastern Conference has four different divisions that hold races for season openers. 

The MacConnell Division held two slalom races on Friday at Proctor Academy in New Hampshire. In races 1 and 2, Castleton University’s Lorenzo Mencaccini won victory. Sam Hayden of Clarkson University closely followed in second for both races. In race 1, Castleton secured the team victory, with Fillippo Collini finishing in third. The Babson College men’s team won over Clarkson and the University of Massachusetts in race 2. 

The women’s team results remained the same, with Babson taking the top team result, followed by the University of Connecticut and Caselton for both races. In race 1, Caroline Haajer of Babson led the field ahead of Emilie Reinert Stene of Castleton and Casey Havrda from St. Micheals. In race 2, Lola Mozun Ribe from St. Michaels narrowly beat Emilie Reinert Stene of Castleton, who trailed by 0.08 seconds. Elyse Donaghue of Clarkson rounded out the podium in third. 

The McBrine Division held its Giant Slalom season opener at Middlebury Snowbowl in Vermont on Sunday. Marist was on top of the men’s team competition, with three finishers in the top five. Brennan Chuang from the University of Rhode Island led the individual competition ahead of Leyton Sheppard of Brandeis University and Chase Muller of Marist. 

Anna Erb from the University of Rhode Island led the women’s field ahead of Kira Howard from the United States Coast Guard Academy and Madison Holmes, a Court of Brandeis University. With two finishers in the top five, USCG earned the team title for the day. 

On Sunday, Reynolds Division held its slalom season opener at Black Mountain of Maine. Joseph’s College of Maine men’s team started their season strong by taking first, second, and third. Jack Price led the team in front of William Strobeck, and Jacob Morris led the team to its first victory of the season. 

On the women’s side, the University of Maine at Farmington took the team title, led by Elanore Robb, followed by Hokulani Caroselli in second, and Madelyn Zordan of St. Joseph’s College of Maine in third. 

Southeastern Conference

Athletes in the Southeast Conference were able to open their season with both disciplines in one weekend, starting with a slalom race on Sunday, followed by a giant slalom race on Monday.

In the race Sunday, Pierce Hamlin stood atop the podium for Virginia Tech, leading Tyler Jensen from the University of Virginia and Will Spradling of Appalachian State University. The men’s team competition was led by Virginia Tech, who had four finishers in the top 10.

In the race Monday Hunter Post of Lees-McRae College achieved victory, ahead of Tyler Jense of the University of Virginia and Joshua Grosser University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Virginia Tech men’s team defeated the rest of the field with a combined time of over 35 seconds ahead of second place.

On the women’s side Georgetown University led Sunday’s slalom race with Neve Martin narrowly beating Marian McDanial of Georgia Institute of Technology who was only 0.12 seconds behind in second, while Chloe Vlases of Georgetown University closely followed in third. 

In the Giant Slalom competition, Georgetown University occupied four of the top five spots, led by Elizabeth Saunders, Mia Lossius and Chloe Vlases in podium position. 

As the second week of the season gets underway, many conferences will compete for the first time in 2024. Follow along nationwide https://www.uscsa.org/competition-calendar.html#/2024 

USCSA is the federation for collegiate team ski and snowboard competitions in the United States. The organization believes that student-athletes of all levels and abilities should have access to quality and exciting competition venues. Our athletes agree that our team orientation fosters a collaborative approach across their collegiate athletic and academic careers, and often, this mentality proves indispensable in their adult lives and careers. USCSA includes over 175 institutions from coast to coast, fielding over 5,000 female and male alpine, freestyle, nordic, and snowboarding athletes participating in more than 300 events annually.