With an average of 22 inches of snow per year, Nevada Athletics decided to bring back the womens and mens alpine ski team. This is Nevada’s seventeenth sport in the program and will begin hitting the slopes this school year.
Competition will begin in January and last until April. Nevada will compete in the slalom and giant slalom events. The new sport comes after the recent merge of the University of Nevada, Reno and Sierra Nevada University, which is now named University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe.
Although skiing is new this year, it isn’t the first time Nevada has had a ski team. In 1936, Wayne Poulson established Nevada skiing. The program was cut in 2010 but produced many great athletes and awards.
The Nevada team produced four Olympians, five individual national titles, 39 All-America honors, and 14 top 10 team finishes at NCAA Championships. The four Olympians are Dodie Post Gann, Glenn Jobe, Katerina Hanusova Nash and Lane Monroe.
Brian Sandoval announced the new program on August 31 alongside Stephanie Rempe, Nevada Athletics director, and Mihaela Kosi, Nevada ski coach, inside the Basin Street Club at Mackay Stadium. Sandoval and Rempe were excited to add the ski team to Nevada and community members are already supporting them.
David Wise, Olympic gold medalist freestyle skier, attended the announcement. Wise was born and raised in Reno where he attended Wooster High School. Daron Rahlves, American World Cup alpine ski racer and freestyle skier, also made a presence.
Kosi is the former head skiing coach at Sierra Nevada University from 2018 to 2022. She was also a part of a 16 national title Eagles program. The national titles were in the U.S. Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association Collegiate National Championships.
“Mihaela’s accomplishments in leading Sierra Nevada Skiing to multiple national titles will prepare our program to jump right into action,” Rempe said. “We are excited to have her lead Nevada Skiing’s return to competition.”
The ski team will compete in the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association, part of the Division I NCAA Championship sports. The division includes Alaska Anchorage, Alaska Fairbanks, Colorado, Colorado Mountain College, Denver, Montana State, Utah, Westminster College and Wyoming.
When it comes to the athletes, the team currently has Sierra Nevada University student athletes, a transfer and a Nevada student. Between the men and women, there are 13.3 scholarships available. The team will train all over the region including Mt. Rose, Palisades, Copper Mountain, and Mammoth. For more opportunities, the team is partnering with Sky Tavern.
Kelsey Middleton can be reached at kelseymiddleton@sagebrush.unr.edu or on Twitter @sportsbykels
