The UNH ski team will send an experienced group of seven skiers, three seniors and four juniors, to compete at the 2009 NCAA National Championships, which will be hosted by Bates College from March 11-14th. UNH will be represented by a full complement of six alpine skiers, highlighted by EISA slalom champion Sean McNamara, and Sarah Wright in women's Nordic.
Nerves should not be an issue for the Wildcats, as all seven have competed in the NCAA championships in previous years. Juniors Willie Ford and Veronique Archambault-Leger have both competed in two, while McNamara will be competing in his fourth.
This year's team will be bolstered by a very strong alpine contingency, especially on the men's side, where McNamara is joined by Ford and Michael Cremeno. Representing the women will be juniors Archambault-Leger, Cynthia Tessier and Allison Farrell, who is coming off a sixth-place finish in the slalom at the 2008 NCAA championships.
After finishing 11th in overall team scoring in both of the past two years, UNH has a very good chance to be a top-10 team or better, according to head coach Cory Schwartz. The team will rely on strong performances by the alpine skiers to put them in a good position.
"Well there's no doubt that the strength of our program has been the men's alpine," said Schwartz. "Our hope is that after the [men's and women's alpine on] the first day we will be in the top three, if not winning. There's no doubt that we hope to crack the top 10, and to do that we need our alpine skiers to ski to their potential."
The trifecta of McNamara, Ford and Cremeno look to score the most points this year for the Wildcats. The three posted a total of 28 top-10 finishes during the regular season, including a 1-2-3 finish at the UNH Carnival at Attitash Bear Peak in Bartlett, N.H.
McNamara has been arguably the league's best male alpine skier this season, garnering first place in the slalom and second in the giant slalom (GS) at the EISA championships on Feb. 27th. His remarkable senior season also includes top-10 finishes in all 12 of his races, with a win in the GS at the Dartmouth Carnival, and two second-place finishes in both the slalom and GS.
Ford and Cremeno also had very impressive resumes in 2009. Ford followed up an 11th-place finish in last year's NCAAs with wins in the GS at both the Dartmouth and UNH Carnivals, to go along with his seven other top-10 finishes. Cremeno came back from early season struggles to win the bronze at the EISA championships.
On the women's side, Archambault-Leger looks to continue her NCAA tournament success after two third-place finishes as a freshman and a 13th-place result in the slalom last year. Archambault-Leger, a two-time All-American, raced to season-best third-place finishes in the GS at Vermont and the slalom at the UNH Carnival.
Farrell had the best placement of any Wildcat at last year's NCAA championship with her sixth-place finish in the slalom. She continued that success into this season, placing in the top 10 in both races at the EISA championship. The home snow of Attitash Bear Peak was a good friend to Farrell at the UNH Carnival in January, as it was to many Wildcat skiers. Farrell scored a season-best second-place finish.
Tessier will be returning to the NCAA championship this year after a 21st-place finish as a freshman in 2007.
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