Skiing on slippery slope

By: Lukas Eggen

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 - 2:09 AM

Despite a history of success, Nevada’s ski team is in danger of being cut. The team needs to raise $500,000 in order to stay operational over the next four years. Photo by John Byrne/Nevada Athletics Department.

Nevada’s ski team has experienced success in recent years that other sports teams only dream of. Along with alpine head coach Evan Weiss, Nordic head coach August Teague has helped the ski team develop into one of the school’s most successful programs year after year. The team has finished in the top 10 at the NCAA Championships three times since Coach Teague arrived in 2005.

Despite the success, the ski team is in danger of being cut. The team lost its operating budget, meaning the team must raise $500,000 (enough money for the next four years) this season if it wants to continue.

But the team is not ready to go quietly. With a fundraiser set for this Friday through Sunday, the skiers hope to save the team they love.

SKI TEAM

When freshman Nicole Poleschuck joined the Wolf Pack, she knew she was making the right choice.

“I heard that Nevada had the best skiing around the university and that the addition of Coach Weiss meant Nevada probably had the best coaches in the NCAA,” she said.

The ski program, which is one of the school’s most successful programs, has attracted athletes locally, nationally and internationally, including junior Gustavo Johnson, who transferred from the University of Utah a year ago.

“I decided that skiing was important enough to me that I’d try to find a place to do it,” Johnson said. “August was kind enough to give me a spot on his team. He said I don’t have a scholarship for you but join the team and see how it goes.”

Johnson is now on scholarship.

“I’m really glad I made the decision to come here,” Johnson said.

Junior Amy Harris came to the team after taking a year off to try and make the U.S. National Ski team.

“I’ve had a better time skiing here than my entire career,” Harris said. “I’m so happy I came here. It’s been the most positive experience and it’s good to have a balance between skiing and racing.”

CUTS WERE COMING

When the final cuts to the University of Nevada’s budget were released in June, Weiss knew the team had a rough road ahead.

“(Nevada Athletics Director) Cary (Groth) has explained it to us that because we’re not a WAC sport and because of the depleted participation numbers, our funding was getting cut,” Teague said.

The team no longer was going to receive any funding for travel, equipment or T-shirts. A plan was made for the team to raise $125,000 each year for four years in order to stay operational.

“We need to raise enough money to cover all our costs for this team to continue,” Teague said.

Once the news was confirmed, the team felt as though it was losing something more than just a team.

“I was pretty upset,” Harris said. “It kind of defines you and you lose a part of yourself when you lose something you’ve done your whole life.”

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

With the team’s fate still unclear, athletes and coaches are left to decide what they will do next if the team doesn’t raise enough money.

Weiss said he believes that athletes are faced with two options.

“They view it as an opportunity to prove themselves if they want to transfer or possibly their last opportunity to ski race so this will be the culminating experience,” Weiss said.

Poleschuck, who found out about the team’s situation only a couple of weeks after committing to Nevada, had no idea what she was going to do.

“I’m just taking it day by day,” Poleschuck said. “I really like Reno, but we’ll see what happens.”

Johnson, who has already transferred once, said his skiing career would be hard to continue.

“I’m far enough along with school that I’d lose credits by transferring and I’ve built a good group of friends here,” Johnson said. “I would try to train on my own as much as possible, but it’s pretty tough to continue to progress if you don’t have the support of a team.”

For coaches Teague and Weiss, their future with the school and the sport of skiing is unclear. They were unsure of whether they would continue coaching elsewhere.

“Possibly, if the opportunity arose,” Weiss said. “But the opportunities are limited so we’ll have to see.”

While athletes and coaches are left to worry about their future, the ski team as a whole has plans to try and keep the team alive.

With the ski team needing to raise $500,000 total, or enough money to operate for four years, the importance of fundraisers has sky rocketed.

The team’s annual ski swap takes place Friday through Sunday at the Livestock Events Center Exhibition Hall. New and used gear and equipment will be for sale at discounted prices.

The ski swap is the team’s biggest fundraiser of the year and Weiss hopes people will show their support.

“The ski swap usually covers 30 to 50 percent of our operating budget,” Weiss said. “We’re hoping people will come out to support us, not only to get new or used equipment, but because it could be a make-or-break with how much money we have to travel with. “

The ski team will receive 20 percent of the selling price of each item that is sold.

-The ski team will be sponsoring the ski swap Nov. 13-15.

-The team’s annual ski swap takes place Friday through Sunday at the Livestock Events Center Exhibition Hall. New and used gear and equipment will be for sale at discounted prices.

-Event will be at the Livestock Events Center at the Washoe Country Fairgrounds.

Lukas Eggen can be reached at leggen@nevadasagebrush.com.