The MSU Ski team on Feb 14th, 2016 at USCSA and MCSA regionals, at Marquette Mountain. The team qualified to go to nationals.
While Spartans across campus are headed to many places on vacation over spring break, 10 students from MSU’s Alpine Ski and Snowboard team will be headed to Lake Placid, New York, to compete in the USCSA National Championships.
“It’s huge, I’m really excited,” senior snowboarder and team secretary Kelsey McGorisk said. “This is the first year we’ve ever been able to send this many people, and it’s a once in a lifetime experience.”
This year, the Alpine Ski and Snowboard team has performed excellently at both the divisional and regional level this school year. At the regional meet, women’s snowboard earned first overall, men’s snowboard won second overall, and men’s ski won third, qualifying top performers from all three teams to compete at the national level.
“This is the first time everything’s lined up for us in that way,” senior skier and vice president of the team Mike Suszan said. “In the past we’ve had individuals that are very good skiers, but this is the first time we’ve been there as a team in a while.”
MSU’s Alpine Ski and Snowboard team functions without a coach, instead being governed by an elected student editorial board. They don’t actually have scheduled practices, either. This, they said, puts them at a disadvantage over other teams, which have hired coaches and usually have a lot more funding. But their “underdog” status makes it all the more sweeter when they succeed, like they've done so far this year.
“We’ve beaten teams that pay thousands of dollars for coaches and that sort of thing, but we believe that stuff is just distracting,” senior skier Bobby Leddy said. “That’s not what it’s about. When we got awards, the other teams there would say, ‘who?’”
All that aside, the team still has a record number of members this year. McGorisk said the team accepts any and all who are interested in participating — it’s a “family” atmosphere.
“It’s tough to be upset when you’re flying down a hill,” Suszan said. “It’s a very happy uplifting atmosphere, and it’s It’s co-ed. I’m close to my ski guys, but I also get to know all the other people on the team. It seems cliché, but we really are just a big family.”
Despite being a little unorthodox, and not excessively concerned with winning, the team is always very glad when members pull off a win.
“It’s nice to see how well our team comes together to support each other,” Leddy said. “Skiers usually aren’t satisfied until they win, and we have definitely been the loudest team when it comes to awards.”
The team will continue to support those headed to nationals, and invites other Spartans to do so as well, as it is a nationally televised event. The team has also put together a GoFundMe to support sending their members to nationals, as most of the cost is out-of-pocket.
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