Warner Nickerson '05 went from being a good skier to a great skier during his time at Colby and graduated as the most decorated male skier in school history.
Nickerson finished second in the giant slalom at the NCAA Skiing Championships in 2005 and won two silver medals at the World University Games in Austria. Nickerson had top 10 performances at the 2006 U.S. Alpine Ski Championships.
Robert Saunders '05 became the first Colby male or female skier to win a Division I ski race when he captured the giant slalom at a meet at Dartmouth in 2002. Saunders then went a step better by earning All-America status in the giant slalom in 2003.
Like the women's program, men's alpine skiing became a varsity sport in 1986, then moved to Division I status in 1993. Colby has been a top 10 team at the NCAA meet the past few years in alpine events.
The Lathrop sisters—Abbi '06 and Jenny '06—helped current head coach Mark Godomsky turn Colby into one of the elite teams in the country in 2003. Jenny and Abbi are the daughters of Jeff Lathrop '68, a former ski captain and former alpine ski coach at the College.
Abbi Lathrop did what no other Colby athlete has ever accomplished when she won the giant slalom at the NCAA Skiing Championships in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, in 2006. She became the fourth individual national champion in Colby history, but was the first athlete to compete against Division I schools and win a title.
Abbi Lathrop is the most decorated skier in school history with six All-America honors in eight races at nationals over her four years. She also placed seventh in the slalom at the 2006 meet.
Jenny and Abbi each earned NCAA All-America First Team honors in the slalom, and both also captured second-team honors in the giant slalom during their first years at Colby. Jenny Lathrop was runner-up in the slalom at the NCAA meet, and she won five of the six Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA) slalom events during the 2003 carnival season. Jenny and Abbi both were honored as All-East First Team selections. After her sophomore season, Jenny left Colby to earn a spot on the U.S. National Ski "C" Team.
Before the move to Division I, the Colby women won four straight NCAA Division II championships from 1987 to 1991. Lisa Beliveau '89, Ellyn Paine '91, Nicole Vadeboncoeur '92, and Jennifer Comstock '93 were some of Colby's top skiers during those championship seasons.
Women's alpine skiing started as a club sport in 1949, moved to varsity status in 1986, and has been a Division I program since 1993.
