The UCSD Ski and Snowboard team competed in the U.S. Collegiate Ski & Snowboard National Championships during March 10–15. The competition was held at Mt. Bachelor in Bend, Oregon, and welcomed hundreds of collegiate athletes from across the country and beyond. All of our athletes who qualified for the national championships knew that this would be the most intense and challenging competition yet, as it was the culmination of a long and rigorous season and featured athletes that we had yet to face.

Nationals began with a full day of training, with our women's alpine team, consisting of Jordan Flood, Lancia Carson, Adelka Hancova, Riley Torgerson, and Emily Wei, honing their skills on the giant slalom course before their competition runs the following day. At the same time, the men's freeski team was training on the skier cross course, learning every trick in the course to perform in both the time trials and group stages. After the training session had concluded, our team participated in the opening ceremony at the main lodge, where each team received a shoutout for their participation, and had the chance to meet teams from far and wide.

Kicking off our first day of competition was our women's alpine team taking on the GS competition. The setting and conditions were ideal, and it was some of our athletes' first taste of a full-length race course. Jordan Flood threw down a combined time of 2:18.91 to put her in the 40th position. Our other racers also put down some solid runs, with Lancia Carson finishing 83rd. Our multi-disciplined athlete, Adelka, competed in both GS and rail jam on day two of the competition. After putting down a run on the GS course, she quickly hurried over so she could compete in the rail jam competition. On the men's side, our freeski team competed in the skier cross competition. After time trials, only Ivan Ijzerman was able to place in the top 64 and qualify through to the group stages. He went on to get second in two heats of the knockout rounds, bringing him into the top 16 before getting eliminated.

Wednesday was met with more great conditions and heightened spirits from the members of our team. Our women's alpine had their chance to compete in skier cross, while our men's freeski team focused on their rail jam session. Three of our four competitors made it past the time trials after placing in the top 64 of the women's athletes. While two dropped out after the first round, Lancia Carson was able to place in the top two of her first heat making it into the top 32 competitors. Men's rail jam was a sight to see. What an environment it was, getting to witness some of the most daring athletes attempt tricks you would never expect to see. Benjamin Scheerger showed an incredible performance with some front swaps on a down-flat-down rail as well as some 270s off a pipe, putting him just outside the top 20 in 21st place. For Seiji Minowada and Ivan Ijzerman, they were both able to complete a smooth grind on the DFD which neither had previously attempted.

Our last day of competition meant the last day to represent UCSD in front of the national stage. The women's alpine team competed in slalom, which was difficult due to the weather as there was heavy snowfall. This meant low visibility when going through the course, adding a level of difficulty for all the competitors. Jordan Flood came on top again for our team, placing 56th. Next, Lancia Carson was able to place in the top 90 competitors with a combined run time of 2:03.29. All of our athletes did finish both runs which goes to show how confident and skilled our athletes are in completing two runs when conditions were far from perfect. The men's freeski team was challenged to be creative and daring in the slopestyle event. With competitors putting on impressive showings, our team had to bring all the stops to solidify our names with the other strong freeski teams. Benjamin Scheerger had a clean second run, scoring a 61.33 after sending a rail into two fat air 360s. Again our team was impressed with the competition and enjoyed the atmosphere around the slopestyle course.

The week concluded with an epic power day where we got to explore the mountain of Mt. Bachelor and catch some sick runs through the dense Oregon trees. After the team did some reflecting on their performances, we were all super stoked with our results and thoroughly enjoyed our week away from San Diego in what felt like a winter wonderland. What a season it has been, where we witnessed some stark improvements across our team. With people with no prior racing experience competing on the national stage, to many of our members becoming comfortable in the park, the growth we have seen has been unprecedented. Nationals was an absolute blast, and we cannot wait to see what the team can accomplish in the coming years.