Most teams would find it hard to compete with varsity squads from other schools that have paid coaches, both full time and part time. But the Virginia skiers and snowboarders are doing just fine without any coaches on their staff. Led by a nine-person executive board comprised of both men and women, the Cavaliers are doing what fully funded varsity programs are not.
The Virginia teams are dominating the Southeastern Conference of the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association. The conference is made up of 10 teams from Virginia and the Carolinas, including Virginia Tech, Duke, James Madison, North Carolina, N.C. State, Virginia Military Institute, East Carolina, Appalachian State and Lees-McRae.
The skiers are going to compete in regional competition in two weeks against teams from three other conferences in the eastern part of the country. The top four teams from that weekend will go on to compete in national competition in Colorado.
The men's ski and snowboard teams are each in first place, as are the women's snowboarders. The women's ski team is in third place in the conference.Club President Drew Wagner, a senior skier, has a highly optimistic outlook for both the men's and women's ski teams as they head to regionals, based on their season-long hold of first place in the conference.
"The main reason why we do so well is the amount of people that are on our team, as we can really draw top talent from those people," Wagner said. "We always get every year people who are really excited about racing and are really good skiers. Our top three men on the team -- [sophomores] Cody [Dyke], Christian [Hoehner], and Andrej [Kiska] -- have raced before college, so that has helped us out a lot. Andrej is from Slovakia, and he was on their junior national team."
Dyke, Hoehner and Kiska are ranked second, fourth, and seventh in the conference, respectively. Wagner is eighth in the standings, and junior Andy Hasty rounds out the top 10 on the men's side. Virginia's women's team also boasts some of the Southeastern Conference's top skiers with juniors Katie Canavan and Alli Fogle placing fourth and 10th, respectively. With proven winners on both the men's and women's sides who will be competing in regionals, Virginia expects to send members of its ski team to the national championships. Women's ski team captain Sarah Howell is eager to see how the women will stack up against competition from New York, New England, and local rivals.
"This weekend, I think we can do pretty well," Howell said. "As far as our personal goals, we're going to try to beat some of the girls in our own conference. We're racing against girls from Duke and [James Madison], and JMU won the conference this year, but we're pretty close behind. So hopefully we can compete against the people in our own conference."
The top snowboarders will also be competing in Colorado next month, as they qualify without needing to compete in regional tournaments. At the 2006 USCSA National Championships, held last March, Virginia junior Will Bodmer captured the men's snowboarding championship, and he will head back to Winter Park again this March to defend his national title. Some of his best competition, however, might come from his own teammates. Sophomores Aaron Smith and Mike Leighton have emerged as the first and second ranked snowboarders in the Southeastern Conference, respectively, based on their performances this season. Bodmer sits at fourth in the standings, and senior J.C. Conover is in sixth place.But, as the club president is quick to point out, the women have the talent necessary to bring back some trophies as well.
"Our women's snowboard team competed against Appalachian State, who was the preseason number one team, but our girls beat them this year," Wagner said. "We have some girls that hopefully will place in the top five in nationals."
Virginia lays claim to five of the top six women snowboarders in the Southeastern Conference. Sophomore Julie Vaeth and juniors Danie Brown, Tania Tauer, Isabel Shea and Claire Gutmann are ranked second through sixth, respectively. These five will likely represent the Cavaliers in Colorado.
As is the case with all club teams, dedication is the key to survival, but the skiers and snowboarders have to pay their own way to compete. The ski team will take a bus to Pennsylvania to compete in this weekend's regional tournament, enduring the long drive with other teams from the area, such as Duke. Those who qualify for nationals will join their snowboarding teammates to fly out to Colorado, and will compete on the mountains during Spring Break.
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