Abbi Lathrop (Green Mountain Valley School/North Conway, N.H.) saved her best for last and earned the first national championship for Colby College in skiing.

Lathrop, a senior on the women's alpine team, won both runs to capture the giant slalom at the NCAA Skiing Championships at Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Lathrop is the first Colby athlete to compete against Division I schools and win a national title.

"The hill was a little rough on Monday, but I had two really good training runs on Tuesday and felt pretty confident," Lathrop said. "I had been skiing pretty well as of late and thought I could ski well. I just didn't know that skiing well would mean first place."

Lathrop took the first run in 1:07.69 and had a slight lead over Middlebury College's Megan Hughes (1:07.74) and Denver University's Florence Roujas (1:07.78). University of Vermont's Jamie Kingsbury, a rival for the past four years on the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association circuit, was a distant fourth at 1:08.08.

Lathrop knew she had the meet won at the bottom of the hill when her 1:09.16 finish in the second run was posted. Roujas, who finished with a two-run total of 2:16.95, had a 1:09.17 and Lathrop just beat that time.

"My parents were still up on the hill and I didn't see them to later," Lathrop said. "My teammates, Jody Centauro and Charlie Reed, both came running at me and attacked me. We were all hugging and rolling around on the ground. Jamie Kingsbury came up and gave me a hug as well, which I thought was great sportsmanship."

Kingsbury won the giant slalom title a year ago on her home course at Stowe and Lathrop finished in second place in that race. Despite her success at the NCAA meet last year, Lathrop's best finish this year on the EISA carnival circuit was fourth at the Vermont ski carnival.

"She has skied well this year, but today she came to ski race," Colby head coach Mark Godomsky said. "It was a great hill for her because it was steep and there were lots of turns. We also got eight inches of snow this morning and they decided to do both runs on the same course. All those things helped Abbi."

Lathrop earned her fourth straight All-America honor in the giant slalom. She and twin sister, Jenny, both earned All-America honors in the slalom and giant slalom as first-year students at Colby. Jenny Lathrop left Colby after her sophomore year and made the U.S. National 'C' Ski Team.

The Colby connection does not end with Abbi and her sister. Jeff Lathrop, their father, is a member of the Colby Class of 1968 and was a ski coach at one time at Colby.

"When the two were younger it always seemed like Abbi was a little better in the giant slalom and Jenny was a little better with the slalom," Jeff Lathrop said. "They both have strengthened their weaker (events) and I'm proud of that. I've always been amazed at how much they can teach other in short periods of time."

Abbi will compete in the women's slalom on Friday and then join her sister in Alberta, Canada for a North American (Nor-Am) Championship event from March 14-17.

Lathrop is the fourth Colby athlete to win an individual national championship. Todd Coffin '83, the current men's cross country and track and field coach, won the steeplechase at the outdoor track and field national meet in 1983. Jamie Brewster '00 won the hammer throw at the outdoor track and field meet in 1997, 1998 and 2000. Meanwhile, Cindy Pomerleau '97 also won in the 1997 outdoor track and field meet in the heptathlon.

Colby's 2003 women's crew won the first team championship at the College.

Through four consecutive years of strong recruiting, head coach Mark Godomsky has put together a winning team capable of dominating the Eastern NCAA Division I racing circuit.

The men's team returns NCAA qualifier Charlie Reed '06 and will look for junior Rory Kelly, sophomore Jody Centauro, and first-year students Jared Hourihan, Christian Talmage, and Sam Witherspoon to help keep the men's program strong.

The women's team returns a strong group led by senior Abbi Lathrop. In addition to Lathrop, returning skiers Caitlin Healey '06, Ashley Best '07, McKenzie Wessen '07, Brett Wagenheim '08, and Alissa Consenstein '08 will help the women work hard to improve on last season's results.

"I'm excited for next year," said Godomsky. "We have a great group of athletes who will have to work hard to replace those athletes we lost to graduation."

Warner Nickerson made his mark last year on the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association alpine ski circuit with five victories. This year he went a step beyond that with two silver medals at the FIS-Winter World University Games in Innsbruck, Austria. Nickerson earned a silver medal in the giant slalom competition. His other medal was for combined, taking in his finishes in the four alpine skiing disciplines. Nickerson also was fourth in the Super G, sixth in the slalom, and ninth in the downhill for the United States team.

Nickerson, a senior, was the first double medallist for the U.S. squad (alpine and Nordic) in World University Games competition since 1997. He is the first alpine skiing double medallist since 1993.

During the winter carnival season, Colby qualified full teams ofthree men and three women for the NCAA Division I Championships. Nickerson earned first team All-America honors for being second in the giant slalom at the NCAA meet. Nickerson won three Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA) races during the season, including the Eastern title in the slalom at Middlebury College.

Robert Saunders earned second team All-America honors for placing sixth in the giant slalom at the NCAA meet. He also led the Mules by finishing 13th in the slalom. Charlie Reed placed 14th in the slalom for Colby.

The Colby men were second in the giant slalom and third in the slalom at the NCAA meet.

Reed and Jacob Colognesi were on the NESCAC Winter All-Academic Team.

The women's alpine ski team had a first by qualifying a full three-woman team for the NCAA Division I Championships. Abbi Lathrop, Siri Ashton and Nicole Wessen made the NCAA team for Colby. In the past two years, Abbi Lathrop and twin sister Jenny Lathrop were the only representatives.

Lathrop earned first team All-America honors after two greats runs in finishing second in the giant slalom at the NCAA Division I Skiing Championships. She helped the Colby women place third in the giant slalom. Lathrop was a consistent top-10 finisher during the course of the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA) winter carnival season. She was sixth in the giant slalom and eighth in slalom at the Eastern meet.

Ashton and Wessen both showed dramatic improvement in earning NCAA spots. Aston capped of her EISA season by taking eighth place in the giant slalom and 19th in the slalom. Wessen was 13th in the slalom and 22nd in the giant slalom at Easterns.

Wessen then finished 17th in the giant slalom and Ashton was 20th at the NCAA meet.

Ashton also made the NESCAC Winter All-Academic Team.

Colby's attraction cannot be summed up to a single factor, but is the result of the ski program's overall advantages. Colby's dry-land program begins in September with an off-snow workout scheduled five days a week. Colby's ski training is based out of Sugarloaf/USA - one of the premier eastern resorts for snowmaking, size, and terrain. Having on-snow training based out of Sugarloaf means Colby's skiers usually can start training the first week of November. In addition to the early on-snow training program, Colby holds two intense six-day, on-snow camps to work on ski technique.

Colby's academic schedule is another huge advantage for the program. Students enjoy a short term during the month of January where students take only one class. Colby's Jan Plan provides ski team members with free time for training and racing throughout January - the heart of the carnival ski circuit. With so many advantages it is not surprising that Colby's ski program has had so much success at both USSA/FIS events and in the Division I carnival circuit.

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