Ski team preps for nationals

The Penn State ski team is looking for its third title of the season this weekend when it competes in the collegiate national skiing championships in Lake Tahoe, Nev.

"The team has had a really good season," said team member Ryan Church (sophomore-biology). "The members really skied for the team, and they weren't worried about individual glory."

This is the first time both the men's and women's teams have qualified for the championship since 1994, but coach Lee Gonder does not want the team to get overly confident.

"A lot of these skiers (we will face at nationals) have European and World Cup racing experience who are now going to college in the U.S. and skiing on the side," Gonder said. "It's kind of like a AAA baseball player who doesn't make the pros and then decides to go to college."

Nevertheless, Gonder still feels his team, which won the Allegheny conference championship earlier in the season, will perform well this weekend.

"This is one of the strongest teams since I've been here and since I skied here 10 years ago," he said.

Team captain Ty Rost (senior-electrical engineering) agrees with his coach, saying the team is very optimistic.

"It's going to be a challenge," he said, "but anybody can have a great day, and anybody can have a bad day."

Rost, in his third year on the team, also said the team should perform well because it has great depth and unity.

"Our one through five skiers all have the potential to win races," he said, "and everybody on the team is ready to pick up the slack."

Along with their solid team performance this season, there were a number of great individual performances. Church and Heather Kogelmann won the men's and women's overall individual conference championships, and both men's and women's teams placed four skiers in the top 10 in the league.

Following Church on the men's side was Greg Null (third place), Rost (fourth) and Mat Green (10th), while in the women's division Kogelmann captured top individual honors with Erin Furimski (second), Paige Williamson (sixth) and Betsy Marsh (seventh) followed close behind.

"We managed to dominate pretty much the entire season," said Williamson (sophomore-business). "We are a well-knit team, and I think that's one of the reasons why we function so well together."

Kelly Stocker (sophomore-marketing and international business), who was sidelined toward the end of the season for treatment of a blood clot, said this team unity was never more evident than when she was in the hospital.

"All of the teammates came to visit me," she said. "They really made me feel like part of the team."

Stocker said it is this unity that makes the team so strong.

"There are some skiers from other schools who can compete with us individually," she said, "but as a team we are clearly the best."

Gonder also believes this team effort is the reason for its success, saying, "The biggest thing they learned this season is to ski as a team. This made me very proud because it's something that I really key on."