2017 UTAH SKIING MEDIA GUIDE 2017 Skiing Roster Men’s Alpine Men’s Nordic Name Yr. Hometown Name Yr. Hometown Endre Bjertness Jr. Lommedalen, Baerun, Norway Martin Bergström Fr. Piteå, Sweden Joergen Brath Sr. Drammen, Norway Kevin Bolger Sr. Minocqua, Wisc. Dominic Demschar Jr. Park City, Utah Logan Diekmann Fr. Bozeman, Mont. Sam Dupratt Fr. Park City, Utah Jacob Engström Fr. Sweden Martin Grasic So. Invermere, B.C., Canada Oscar Ivars Sr. Vansbro, Sweden Ty Sprock So. Stateline, Nev. Martin Mikkelsen Fr. Harstad, Norway Sasha Zaitsoff So. Nelson, B.C., Canada Women’s Alpine Women’s Nordic Name Yr. Hometown Name Yr. Hometown Chloe Fausa Sr. Oslo, Norway Anna-Lena Heynen Sr. Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany Abby Ghent Sr. Edwards, Colo. Guro Jordheim Fr. Hemsedal, Buskerud, Norway Sabine Krautgasser Fr. San Candido, Italy Leah Lange Fr. Park City, Utah Julie Mohagen So. Oslo, Norway Natalia Müller Jr. Scoul, Graubunden, Switzerland Roni Remme So. Collingwood, Ontario, Canada Merete Myrseth Fr. Oeverbygd, Troms, Norway Lauren Samuels Sr. Golden Valley, Minn. Josefin Nilsson Sr. Deje, Sweden Director of Skiing Kevin Sweeney (13th Year) Head Alpine Coach Jaka Korencan Head Nordic Coach Abi Holt Assistant Alpine Coach Jeremy Elliot With two NCAA champions and eight All-Americans returning as well as a strong crop of recruits, the Utah ski team looks to continue to be one of the top teams in the country in the 2017 season. The alpine team returns all but one member of last year's squad, including NCAA Champions Endre Bjertness (men's giant slalom) and Julie Mohagen (women's slalom), along with All- Americans Joergen Brath, Chloe Fausa and Roni Remme. The Utes also add two former U.S. Ski Team members to the roster. Of Utah's 11 Nordic skiers, six are newcomers to the team with many bringing strong credentials with them. All-Americans returning are Kevin Bolger, Natalia Müller and Anna-Lena Heynen. "We have returning athletes with a lot of experience, especially championship experience," Utah Director of Skiing Kevin Sweeney said. "We've got a lot of new blood on the team in both alpine and Nordic, but they’ve transitioned really well. That's been a big challenge but it's also been refreshing. It's gone better than I had expected and I think that bodes really well for us. I think it will take us one or two meets to really gel as a team and let some of the new athletes understand exactly what the team competition is all about. Really excited where stand at this point, wrapping up fall training and getting into the early part of ski season, and I think they're going to fit in very well. We're going to open strong and we're going to charge, but understanding our full strength as a team is probably not going to be realized until after the first third of the season. "We are trying to do the things that we can control a little bit better – dry land training, managing injuries, utilizing our wellness group and making sure we’re recruiting at a competitive level, which I feel we’ve done. I think our strength is that we are again a very balanced team. I think we can score well and have podium finishes in each discipline and we have some depth to back it up. I like where we sit." The Utes open the season hosting the Utah Invitational (Nordic Jan. 7-8, alpine Jan. 12-14) and at the Montana State Invitational (alpine Jan. 8-9, Nordic Jan. 14-15). The RMISA makes a trip to Alaska for the Alaska Anchorage Invitational and Seawolf Invitational (alpine Jan. 25-28, Nordic Feb. 7-8, 11-12). Denver hosts the RMISA Championship/NCAA West Regional (Feb. 24-26) and the teams travel to the NCAA Championships in New Hampshire from March 8-11. Nordic "After graduating over half of our team last spring, I think this is considered a textbook 'rebuilding' year," Utah head Nordic coach Abi Holt said. "We will head into the 2017 racing season with five returning seniors and seven first-year RMISA racers. This adds some excitement to the season ahead! Although we have many athletes who are rookies to the RMISA and NCAA ski racing circuit, every athlete on this team is a top-notch skier with plenty of racing experience. I know we have talented skiers on this team. I know we have had a great fall of training. I know we have had some solid early-season results. What I don’t know is how this new group will adapt to racing as NCAA student-athletes. The early season schedule is busy, with four races in the first nine days of the season. We all know that we need to hit the ground running, so now we’ll just have to see if we can pull it off. This team is ready for the RMISA racing season to start, and I’m enjoying the excitement that comes with rolling into the new year with so many freshmen on board. Stay tuned!" The Utes lost four of the six skiers from last year's NCAA Championships to graduation, including NCAA Champion Veronika Mayerhofer, six-time All-American Sloan Storey, five-time All-American Niklas Persson and All-American Nick Hendrickson, but a crop of newcomers will be looking to take their places. Returning for the men is three-time NCAA qualifier Kevin Bolger, who earned All-America honors in the 20-km classical last year. He has six career top-five finishes and 19 career top-10 finishes. Also returning is Oscar Ivars, a three-time NCAA alternated due to team limits. He has three top-five finishes and one career podium finish. Newcomers on the men's side are Martin Bergström, Logan Diekmann, Martin Mikkelsen and Jacob Engström. Bergström made three appearances at the U23 World Ski Championships, finishing seventh in the sprint classic in 2015 and was 10th in the sprint freestyle in 2014. He has made four World Cup starts. Diekmann was the 2016 U20 Junior National Champion in the men's freestyle sprint and was second in the 10-km classic. Mikkelsen has four top-30 finishes in the Scandinavian Cup and finished in the top 30 six times at the Norwegian National Championships. Engström competed in the 2014 Junior World Championships and finished seventh in the sprint classic at the 2015 Swedish National Championships. For the women, Natalia Müller earned All-America honors in the 5-km freestyle at the 2016 NCAA Championships. Last year she had 10 top-10 finishes in 12 races. Anna-Lena Heynen is a two-time All-American, earning honors in both the 5-km freestyle and 15-km classical at the 2015 NCAA Championships. A three-time NCAA qualifier, she has 13 career top-10 finishes. Josefin Nilsson is a three-time NCAA alternate. She has three career top-5 finishes and eight career top-10 finishes. Newcomers Guro Jordheim, Leah Lange and Merete Myrseth will also be looking to make their mark on the team. Jordheim placed 11th in the 5-km freestyle and was 16th in the 15-km classic at the 2016 Norwegian National Junior Championships. Local product Leah Lange, who comes to Utah from the Park City Nordic Ski Club, competed at the 2016 FIS Junior World Championships. She placed 20th in the women's 10-km classical, 21st in women's freestyle sprints and 21st in the 5-km junior freestyle at the 2016 U.S. National Championships. Myrseth has made four World Cup starts and finished eighth in the sprint at the 2015 U23 World Ski Championships. She won the 2014 U23 Norwegian National Championship in the sprint classic. Alpine On the men's side, 2016 giant slalom champion Endre Bjertness is a three-time All-American, including two years in the giant slalom. He has three career wins and five career podium finishes. Also competing at NCAA's last year was Joergen Brath and Dominic Demschar. In his fourth year at Utah, Brath earned All-America honors in the giant slalom in 2014. He has three career top- five finishes and 16 career top-10 finishes. Demschar, a former Olympian and two-time NCAA qualifier, is a two-time first-team All-RMISA pick who has three career podium finishes (one win) and four career top-five finishes. Four additional men's alpine athletes will be looking to earn their way to the NCAA Championships this season. Ty Sprock and Martin Grasic were both alternates for the NCAA Championships as freshmen last season. Sprock's season-best finish last year was third in the giant slalom at the Utah Invitational. He had four top-20 finishes. Grasic had six top-15 finishes last year, including a season-best finish of eighth at the first RMISA giant slalom qualifier. Sasha Zaitsoff continues to work his way back from a knee injury suffered in fall 2014. He is ranked in the top 100 in the world in the slalom. Newcomer Sam Dupratt is a former three-year member of the U.S. Ski Team. He made four World Cup starts in 2016 and was fourth in the super G at the 2016 U.S. National Championships. Dupratt enters the season ranked in the top 100 in the world in the giant slalom. For the women, Julie Mohagen won the 2016 NCAA title in the slalom and also earned All- America honors in the giant slalom with a 10th-place finish. She enters the season ranked in the top 50 in the world in the slalom and just outside the top 100 in the giant slalom.