LAKE PLACID, N.Y., March 11, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — Novie McCabe and Madison Hoffman both won two races as the University of Utah continued its recent dominance at the NCAA Skiing Championships with its fourth consecutive team title.
McCabe won the women’s 20K classic in 1:00:04.3 on Saturday, followed closely by Utah’s Lophia Laukli (third) and Sydney Palmer-Leger (fifth), powering the Utes to 526 points and securing the university’s 16th national skiing title.
“It was a really good day out there today,” said McCabe, a junior from Winthrop, Washington, who also won 5K freestyle (12:46.3) Thursday.
“It was fun to ski with both of my teammates for pretty much the whole race. I think we really wanted to really try to work together coming into this and get some good points for the team. I’m really happy with today and proud of how everyone performed,” she said.
Utah won the team title with 526 points, followed by Colorado (491.5) and Denver (416.6) as the NCAA Skiing Championships wrapped up Saturday in Lake Placid, New York.
Hoffman, who missed most of 2022 due to injury, won the giant slalom (2:10.55) Wednesday and the slalom (1:49.37) Friday, as Utah skiers claimed all four women’s races at the four-day championship meet.
“Today was such a rewarding day,” Hoffman said following Friday’s victory. “There was lots of hard work and patience that went into the last year, and to walk away with not one but two individual titles was super cool.
“However, being able to show up for my team and go out there and ski for them was way more special than any individual title. I felt everyone behind me for my second run, and that’s something I will never forget.”
The national title caps a dominant season for the Utes, who won all six meets they competed in on their way to a Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association regular-season championship.
It’s also been a dominant stretch for the University of Utah skiing program on the national stage, as the Utes won their fifth team championship in the past six seasons.
Since the NCAA combined genders in skiing at the 1983 NCAA Skiing Championships, Utah is the first program to win four consecutive team titles, according to Utah Athletics officials.
“It’s an incredible feeling to pull this one off,” said Fredrik Landstet, Utah’s Director of Skiing said in a news release. “It was probably the hardest one in my five years at Utah. Colorado came out and they really performed at a higher level than they have all winter, and it ended up coming down to the wire. I’m very proud of our whole team.”
