US Ski Team Nominations

As always, there's lots to talk about with who is and isn't nominated for various national teams right now.  Let's start by stating outright that, despite the claims made by USSA SkiRacing.com, it is not true that "Nominated skiers have qualified for the teams according to published criteria."  Unless you count coaches' discretion as meeting criteria, which we don't.  USSA knows a thing or two about discretion.  And that's where the fun begins:

Alice McKennis made the women's A-team criteria for last season and then was injured early on this year, after some strong finishes in Lake Louise.  So she makes the A-team again.  The question is: how did she used to have less than 6 DH points, despite having never scored below a 15 in that event?  It must be because she was ranked 22nd on the World Cup Start List, and 30th in the world gets 6 points, so she also gets 6 points?  Thank you, Swiss people, for the rules.  Either way, she's in.  And she has plenty of WC top-15's to back it up.

Noticeably left off the men's A-team (and, in fact, left off of every other team) is Warner Nickerson.  Despite scoring some World Cup points, qualifying for the World Champs team, and generally being on the up-and-up, men's head coach Sasha Rearick has deemed it best for Warner to ski with them only "when it makes sense."  They treated him well last year and gave him plenty of opportunity, but it's unfortunate that a WC points scorer needs to rely on favors and good will to continue to get opportunity.  Hopefully that good will holds out for another season.

America's Favorite, David Chodounsky, got nominated for the B-team after a pretty stellar season and a great run over the past 3 years.  The former US National Slalom Champion needed just one top-35 world ranking, and he just snuck in there with a 34th in SL.

There were a number of discretionary picks at the B-team level on the women's side.  Kiley Staples got picked for her truly excellent skiing ability.  She needed one top-50 world rank, but her best is 66 in GS.  In other words, 16 places out is not good enough to get you named to the team, unless your skiing looks good and has plenty of obvious potential.  The same goes for Hailey Duke.  Her points skyrocketed at the last list after injuries and a long string of DNQ's and DNF's.  Everyone who knows Hailey and has seen her ski is certain that she'll figure it out, and apparently her coaches agree.  Megan McJames and Chelsea Marshall both suffered injuries, but were renamed based on past performances.  Also, they started a catering/baked goods business in Park City, so if you've got a hankering for some cupcakes...

For the men's C-team, the athletes had to meet "a technical event performance band or a speed event performance band."  Whatever the hell that means.  There are some published criteria for the C-team, but none of the guys in the group qualified with that.  I guess they're just a good speed band or something?  By the looks of it, if you scored 20 or fewer points and didn't make the B-team, you made the C-team.  Except Warner.  Regardless, between Kelley, Tarberry, Ankeny, and Stiegler, there are a bunch of good skiers in that group.

The women's C-team is a little leaner, with just 2 athletes: Julia Ford and Brook Wales.  It would be great if someone could explain having 9 men, none of whom made criteria (aside from the elusive "performance band") and only 2 women.  They both made C-team criteria, but apparently the discretional love was not spread to the women's side.  Is it because almost all of last year's D-team was either injured or left the US Ski Team and are now college-bound?  Perhaps the person with the answers will also speak Norwegian?  I guess we have lots of questions these days.

As for the Development Team, well, that's a whole separate article unto itself.  Let's just say there's been lots of head scratching among coaches lately about what exactly is going on, who is making decisions, and how they are making them.  More on that later.  We just finished listening to that (German) Warrant song again, and we're headed out to the parking lot to do some donuts and let off a little steam.

Here's the full list of nominees, and here's the published USSA criteria.  Have fun, we sure did:


A TEAM
Men
Jimmy Cochran (5/29/81; Keene, NH; Cochran's/Mount Mansfield Ski&Snowboard Club)
Tommy Ford (3/20/89; Bend, OR; Mount Bachelor Ski Education Foundation)
Nolan Kasper (3/27/89; Warren, VT; Burke Mountain Academy)
TJ Lanning (8/27/84; Park City, UT; Park City Ski Team)
Ted Ligety (8/31/84; Park City, UT; Park City Ski Team)
Bode Miller (10/12/77; Franconia, NH; Carrabassett Valley Academy/Franconia Ski Club)
Steven Nyman (2/12/82; Provo, UT; Park City Ski Team/Sundance)
Marco Sullivan (4/27/80; Squaw Valley, CA; Squaw Valley Ski Team)
Andrew Weibrecht (2/10/86; Lake Placid, NY; New York Ski Education Foundation)

Women
Stacey Cook (7/3/84; Mammoth, CA; Mammoth Mountain Ski Team)
Julia Mancuso (9/9/84; Olympic Valley, CA; Squaw Valley Ski Team)
Alice McKennis (8/19/89; Glenwood Springs, CO; Rowmark Ski Academy)
Laurenne Ross (8/17/88; Klamath Falls, OR; Mount Bachelor Ski Education Foundation)
Sarah Schleper (2/19/79; Vail, CO; Ski&Snowboard Club Vail)
Leanne Smith (5/28/87; Conway, NH; Mt. Washington Valley Ski Team)
Lindsey Vonn (10/18/84; Vail, CO; Ski&Snowboard Club Vail/Buck Hill Ski Team)


B TEAM
Men
Thomas Biesemeyer (1/30/89; Keene, NY; New York Ski Education Foundation)
Will Brandenburg (1/1/87; Spokane, WA; Schweitzer Alpine Racing)
David Chodounksy (6/25/84; Crested Butte, CO; Crested Butte Ski Team)
Ryan Cochran-Siegle (3/27/92; Starksboro, VT; Mt Mansfield Ski Club)
Erik Fisher (3/21/85; Middleton, ID; Bogus Basin/Rowmark Ski Academy)
Travis Ganong (7/14/88; Squaw Valley; Squaw Valley Ski Team)
Colby Granstrom (9/21/90; Lake Stevens, WA; Mission Ridge Ski Education Foundation)
Will Gregorak (9/30/90; Longmont, CO; Ski&Snowboard Club Vail)
Tim Jitloff (1/11/85; Reno, NV; Park City Ski Team)
Wiley Maple (5/25/90; Aspen, CO; Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard)

Women
Hailey Duke (9/17/85; Boise, ID; Park City Ski Education Foundation/McCall Ski Team)
Chelsea Marshall (8/14/86; Pittsfield, VT; Green Mountain Valley School)
Megan McJames (9/24/87; Park City, UT; Park City Ski Education Foundation)
Mikaela Shiffrin (3/13/95; Eagle-Vail, CO; Burke Mountain Academy)              
Kiley Staples (2/2/89; Park City, UT; Rowmark Ski Academy)
Resi Stiegler (11/14/85; Jackson Hole, WY; Park City Ski Team/Jackson Hole)


C TEAM
Men
Michael Ankeny (1/17/91; Deephaven, MN; Buck Hill Ski Team)
Nick Daniels (4/5/91; Tahoe City, CA; Squaw Valley Ski Team)
Mark Engel (10/1/91; Truckee, CA; Sugar Bowl Ski Team)
Jared Goldberg (6/17/91; Holladay, UT; Team Flow)
Robby Kelley (5/26/90; Starksboro, VT; Cochran's Ski Club / Mt Mansfield Ski Club)
Keith Moffat (2/3/91; Berkeley, CA; Squaw Valley Ski Team)
Brennan Rubie (4/8/91; Salt Lake City, UT; Snowbird Ski Team)
Seppi Stiegler (11/28/88; Wilson, WY; Jackson Hole Ski Club)
Ace Tarberry (2/4/88; North Conway, NH; MWVST-Mount Washington Valley Ski Team)

Women
Julia Ford (03/30/1990; Plymouth, NH; Holderness Ski Team)
Brooke Wales (08/28/1990; Sammamish, WA; Mission Ridge Ski Education Foundation)