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We'll Second That
Skiers give Chip Lacasse a thrilling send off
photograph by Bob Handelman
As
the 2003 NCAA Ski Championships came to a close on March 9, Utah had
the team title comfortably tucked away. That was a known. But the matter
of runner-up wasn’t so clear, with Vermont, New Mexico, and Colorado
separated by just nine points. Such close company — like a photo-finish
at the horse track, a goal-line fumble, or a Florida vote — calls
for further review.
So,
the NCAA Rules Committee, which included University of Colorado Coach
Richard Rokos, gathered to pore over three days of alpine and Nordic
results to double- and triple-check the numbers. It took them a couple
of hours and a few lap-top computers to emerge with solid counts. Vermont:
551. Colorado: 546.5. New Mexico: 541.5. Rokos, as astounded by UVM’s
performance as he was disappointed in his team’s result, immediately
sought out Vermont Coach Chip LaCasse. Shaking his rival’s hand,
Rokos said, “Congratulations, your team just performed a mathematical
impossibility.”
Three days after those glad tidings, LaCasse is yet to find a place
for the knee-high trophy that would come with them. And who can blame
the coach for setting it on the floor in the middle of his office? Some
things are worthy of being stepped around gently — especially a
runner-up trophy as unlikely as this one, an exclamation point to close
LaCasse’s marvelous career as head of UVM Skiing.
Mathematical impossibility is a stretch, of course, but UVM’s
chances for taking second were improbable at best. With a women’s
Nordic squad that struggled with illness and injury most of the season,
the Catamounts went to Dartmouth short-handed on qualifiers. The UVM
team was outnumbered 12 to 10 by every other contender at the championships.
As LaCasse told Burlington Free Press sportswriter Patrick Garrity ’90,
the Cats rolled into the NCAAs as “a Ferrari with a flat.”
LaCasse felt like he’d already beaten the odds once this season
by winning his 28th straight Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association
Championship in February. (The longest conference championship winning
streak in any NCAA sport.) But that meet also gave LaCasse a true measure
of the strength and heart of his team, together for the first time all
year after a number of skiers returned, albeit jet-lagged, from world
championship and junior world championship events.
There was reason for optimism in an alpine team that had roughed up
the competition all year, and on the Nordic side, Lowell Bailey and
brothers Ethan and Ryan Foster were skiing strong. Still, without a
full squad, LaCasse and his coaching staff loaded the bus for Dartmouth
figuring they’d do well to come home fifth.
Knowing that his athletes had to ski “flawless and fast,”
LaCasse loosened the reins. “I’m not a gambler,” he says,
“but for this one I took a whole different approach. Cut them loose
and let them go. I let them ski their own races.”
And some very fine races they were. Freshman Jaime Kingsbury won the
women’s giant slalom title and Gillian McFetridge took fifth; Jimmy
Cochran and Scott Kennison went 2-3 in the men’s slalom; Hillary
McCloy was fourth in women’s slalom. Nordic skiers earned two second
place spots on the podium — Ethan Foster for the 20-K classical
and Lowell Bailey for the freestyle. In all, seven of the 10 Catamounts
competing were named either first- or second-team All-Americans.
Looking back, LaCasse rates the 2003 runner-up trophy as the runner-up
moment in a career that has included multiple national championships.
“The NCAA Championship in 1980 was the best because it was such
a relief to win the first one,” LaCasse says. “But this ranks
right up there. It was a surprise to us and everyone else in that competition.”
GO CATS GO
Kristal Kostiew, a junior on the women’s track and field team, put together a string of titles in the 20-pound weight throw this season, winning the ECAC, America East, and New England championships. Her outstanding performance qualified her for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.
The
men’s hockey team pulled off a first-round upset of a higher-seeded
Clarkson team in the ECAC playoffs. Playing on Clarkson’s home
ice, the Cats swept the best-of-three series. Two losses at Harvard
the next weekend ended UVM’s season in the quarterfinal round.
Coach Mike Gilligan’s squad finished the year at 13-20-3. Standout
goalie Shawn Conschafter was among the seniors playing their last collegiate
game in the Harvard contest. “I’ve got nothing but great memories
from my four years here, from the guys in the locker room to the wonderful
fans to all the people associated with the hockey program,” he
said.
On
the strength of a 76-65 victory over Northeastern on February 15, Vermont
head coach Keith Cieplicki earned his 121st career victory and passed
former UVM mentor and current Boston College coach Cathy Inglese as
the all-time winningest coach in the university’s women’s
basketball history. The team closed out the 2002-2003 season with an
overall mark of 21-8. The Cats made it to the semifinals of the America
East Championship for the seventh consecutive year, but a loss at the
hands of Boston University put an end to the season. Senior Morgan Hall
and junior Aaron Yantzi earned America East all-conference honors.
For the latest on Catamount Athletics: www.uvmathletics.com