For the fifth consecutive year, these Wildcats teams not only hosted the U.S. Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association Regional Championships at Marquette Mountain, but they carted off both titles last weekend that earned them a berth at the USCSA National Championships.

The national finals will be held from Monday through Saturday, March 9-14, at Whiteface Mountain in Lake Placid, New York.

In their only home meet of the season, Northern did it with strong results throughout, taking almost all the top-three podium spots in each slalom and giant slalom race, each competition using the combined time of two runs down the course.

In fact, the NMU teams are so deep, one of their “B” team racers ended up winning an individual title during the weekend.

The members of the men’s alpine ski team at Northern Michigan University stand together after winning their fifth consecutive USCSA regional championship that was held at Marquette Mountain last weekend. They now await a trip to the National Championships meet set for Lake Placid, New York, from March 9-14. (Photo courtesy NMU)

Here are details about each day:

Saturday

Northern carted off team titles in both men’s and women’s slalom on opening day, claiming five of the six podium positions.

In the women’s meet, NMU’s Ashley Schaffer won with a two-run time of 1 minute, 19.83 seconds on runs of 37.81 and 42.02 seconds, while teammate Tommie Springer was next in 1:22.29 on runs of 39.63 and 42.66.

Though Springer finished about 2 1/2 seconds after Schaffer, she also had nearly a second-and-a-half edge on third-place Jessica Stanton of St. Olaf.

Schaffer and Springer led the Wildcats to a victory of more than 12 seconds, combining to total 4:06.40 as St. Olaf was runner-up with 4:18.56 and the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities next with 4:25.97.

Northern’s next finisher after their top pair was Madalyn Stern in fifth in 1:24.28 on runs of 39.88 and 44.40, while teammate Blanca Srock was seventh in 1:26.26 with runs of 40.85 and 45.41.

Not far out of the top 10 was the Wildcats’ Lucy Stern in 14th in 1:30.08 on runs of 43.15 and 46.93, followed right after by teammate Cassidy Whitener in 15th in 1:30.22 on runs of 43.56 and 46.66.

Also among the 85 skiers getting in two-run times, doing that for NMU was Anna Roethlisberger in 22nd in 1:31.83, Onalee Wallis 25th in 1:32.59, Maya Bubolz 32nd in 1:35.22, Georgette Sake 49th in 1:44.47, Camryn Zotalis 55th in 1:47.10 and Kaylee Byrne in 64th in 2:00.29.

In the men’s standings, NMU swept the podium and had six of the seven fastest times. Team-wise, it was just as dominant with a seven-second victory in 3:24.70 as St. Olaf had 3:31.85 and the University of Michigan 3:40.18.

Northern’s Kyan Hopke won with the fastest time of each run, 32.82 and 34.01, to win by more than 1 1/2 seconds in 1:06.83.

Teammate Noah Bindas was runner-up with 33.95 and 34.55 to total 1:08.50, while Cash Jaeger completed the NMU podium sweep with 34.39 and 34.98 for 1:09.37.

It didn’t stop there for the Wildcats, however, as Anthony Petkov was fourth with runs of 34.76 and 34.82 for 1:09.58 and Connor Abraham fifth with 34.53 and 35.13 for 1:09.66.

Northern also picked up seventh place when Reed Heathman had runs of 35.36 and 35.00 for 1:10.36, while Nathan Dehart was 13th on runs of 36.41 and 35.73 for 1:12.14.

Also for Northern among 81 racers with a two-run total, Mitchell Forsberg was 18th in 1:12.93.

Sunday

The second day of regionals in the giant slalom was much the same for the Wildcats, the big surprise was men’s “B” team member Jaeger skiing off with the individual title.

He won the title by 0.2 of a second over the University of Michigan’s Samuel Dehlin based on having the only sub-28-second first run.

He totaled 55.85 seconds on runs of 27.95 and 27.90. While his second run was faster, it only ended up being the sixth-fastest down the hill that time around.

Dehlin came in at 56.05, while NMU’s first “counting” skier from its “A” team was Eli Heathman, who wasn’t even able to get two runs in the day before. This time, though, he literally saved the Wildcats’ bacon with his fourth-place finish of 56.54 on runs of 28.73 and 27.81.

Northern had a quite narrow victory in the team race, clocking 2:51.48 to St. Olaf’s 2:51.90 as Michigan was also fairly close in 2:53.41.

What also saved NMU’s “A” men were consecutive finishes from seventh to 10th. Petkov was seventh in 57.18 on runs of 28.89 and 28.29, Abraham eighth in 57.23 on runs of 28.81 and 18.42, Forsberg ninth in 57.66 on runs of 29.21 and 28.45, and Reed Heathman 10th in 57.76 on runs of 29.18 and 28.58.

Those four skiers were just a shade over a half-second apart in their scores.

Additionally, DeHart was 16th in 58.30 on runs of 29.85 and 28.45.

The Wildcat women put their foot down and decided to dominate on this day, not only sweeping the podium but actually claiming the first five places and 10 of the top 15.

Springer won this event by 0.61 of a second with runs of 28.45 and 26.78 for a 55.23 total, with Byrne runner-up with 29.01 and 26.83 for 55.84.

Madalyn Stern was third with 29.24 and 26.98 for 56.22, Wallis fourth with 29.43 and 26.80 for 56.23, and Schaffer fifth with 29.50 and 26.98 for 56.48.

Whitener was eighth with 29.64 and 27.77 for 57.41.

NMU claimed four of the first five finishes outside the top 10, starting with Srock in 11th with 30.14 and 27.94 for 58.08, while Sake was 12th with 30.04 and 28.09 for 58.13. And Bubolz was 14th in 58.30 and Julia Greene 15th in 58.36.

Also for Northern, Lucy Stern was 43rd with 1:01.88, Roethlisberger 45th with 1:02.30 and Zotalis 55th with 1:03.93.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press releases

reviewing the meet. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.