The University of Alaska Fairbanks Nordic ski team will race as a member of the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association for the upcoming 2016-17 season, head coach Nick Crawford announced Wednesday.
The RMISA has been the dominant conference in NCAA Nordic skiing since its founding in 1950. Conference schools have won the national title in 53 of the last 61 NCAA championships.
“The western region is without a doubt the strongest region in the country and also has the most NCAA quota spots allocated to it, based on results from performances by their schools in previous years at the NCAAs,” Crawford said. “Racing against the best in the country throughout the regular season will set us up to be successful at the NCAA Championships. We also anticipate qualifying more student-athletes to the NCAA championships with the opportunity of more quota spots available. This will allow us to design our training program so our athletes are in peak fitness at the championships itself, instead of needing to be in top shape just to qualify.”
The RMISA’s full members include the University of Alaska Anchorage, the University of Colorado, the University of Denver, Montana State University, the University of New Mexico and the University of Utah. Colorado Mountain College, Westminster College and the University of Wyoming are associate members.
The UAF team has been a member of the Central Collegiate Ski Association since 1992. The CCSA has eight other members: College of Saint Scholastica, Gogebic Community College, Gustavus Adolphus College, Michigan Tech University, Northern Michigan University, Saint Cloud State University, Saint Olaf College and University of Wisconsin–Green Bay.
“Racing in the CCSA has served the Nanooks well in the past, and I want to be clear that we’ve developed great relationships with the other CCSA schools throughout the years,” Crawford said. “We’ve enjoyed the high-quality competitions that the CCSA has hosted in the Midwest, but the benefits of racing in Alaska every other year was our biggest reason to change conferences.”
The RMISA voted unanimously to accept the Alaska Nanooks during its annual meeting in Park City, Utah, earlier this summer.
“This is a monumental move for the Alaska Nanooks men’s and women’s Nordic ski teams and something that has been in the works since the conclusion of last season,” Crawford said of the conference shift. “I’m so glad it’s been finalized through the NCAA and we are even happier to have the strong support from the other RMISA member schools.”
The Alaska Nanooks’ 2016-2017 ski meet schedule is now available here.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks men’s and women’s Nordic ski teams, follow @AlaskaNanooksXC on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks XC team page on Facebook.