Snow forms excellent training

The men’s ski team is going down the slope of their season at full-force, despite the loss of several athletes.
Last season’s team finished 4th in the NCAA Championship with 632 points overall, but it will have to contend without Petter Brenna, who graduated and had the most wins for an Alpine skier in UNM’s history.

The Lobos also feel the losses of Martin Kaas and Tor-Hakon Hellebostad, who, combined, won nine All-American honors for the Men’s Nordic team. Kaas was a runner-up in last year’s NCAA championship.

Head Alpine Coach Tyler Shepherd said despite the losses, the Lobos expect to be in national contention once again.

“Overall, we have some extremely strong teams,” he said. “We’re top three in the nation and we definitely showed that in some preseason races just before Christmas. Both men and women were on the podium for four consecutive days.”

With three consecutive top four finishes, including finishing third in 2009 and 2010 at the NCAA tournament, Shepherd said the team’s goals are ambitious for the upcoming season.

“I think it will go from day to day. Everybody has the opportunity to get to the top. They all should be finishing atop the rankings,” Shepherd said. “I have high expectations for everyone to qualify for the NCAA championships.”

Junior Alpine skier Armin Triendl said the team looks great and it should be another fantastic season for the Lobos, especially the Alpine team.

“The team looks really strong,” he said. “We have eight super guys; I think the Alpine team should be really good.”

Because of the heavy snowfall in New Mexico over the past month, training has been exceptional for UNM at Red River. Both coaches and players feel the conditions have been well suited for what they will see during the season.

“I’m feeling confident because we have really awesome conditions here to train for practice. This past week we’ve been getting into shape and skiing fast,” Triendl said.