The Penn State club ski team hits the slopes this weekend to defend its Allegheny Collegiate Ski Conference championship. The team will host nine ACSC teams this weekend at its Tussey Mountain training grounds.

The weekend will consist of two events, the slalom, which will start tomorrow morning at 9:30, with the second run tentative for 1:30 p.m., and the giant slalom, which will be held on Sunday at the same times as the slalom.

This will be the team's first step toward qualifying for the U.S. Collegiate Ski and Snowboarding National Championships which are held in Tahoe, Calif, March 3-8.

Penn State skiing has a rich history of qualifying for USCSA's, sending either an individual or a team every year since 1983.

Penn State ski coach Jim Polinclok is confident that his team has a lock on a qualifying spot for regionals because of its prior performances and the structuring of the points system in the ACSC.

"We will qualify for regionals, it's a no brainer," he said. The USCSA Regional Championships will be held February 22-23 in Silver Springs. Even with a spot all but guaranteed, club president Joel Gratz wants a good showing this weekend to use as a confidence booster for regionals.

"We're looking for both the men and women to take first and use the momentum and build confidence for regionals," Gratz said.

However, the team will be without its best men's racer, Nick Fox, who suffered a knee injury in last weekend's race.

Fox placed 40th individually at nationals last year, helping the men's slalom A-team place 14th overall.

Polinchok is not phased by the loss of his best skier.

"We're strong, the guys have been stepping up, they have had excellent individual performances," he said. "We'll overcome this."

Gratz is hoping Fox can return for regionals.

The women's slalom A-team may be the team to watch. The trio of junior Nikki Stockey, junior Sarah Geiger, and freshman Julia Ruzyllo finished first, second and third respectively in last week's race at Silver Springs.

The team on a whole is coming off a dominant performance last weekend.

The five-person women's A-teams took first in the slalom and giant slalom.

While the men's A-team took first in the slalom and third in the giant slalom.