SNC Ski Team: Training to win this season

Coach Branko Zagar has high expectations for the Sierra Nevada College ski team. He says he's expecting both the mens and womens teams to compete for national titles this year.

But, more than talk about it, Zagar shows his dedication to those expectations by "skinning up," or putting a pair of skins on the bottom of his racing skis and setting up racing gates every morning at Diamond Peak.

Since he shows up at 7 a.m., before the lifts are operating, he has to hike to the top of the mountain to set up the practice race course for his team.

He then runs his team through a practice each morning and takes down the course when Diamond Peak opens to the general public.

"We want to win as much as possible this year and there is a lot of training that goes into that," Zagar said.

Some of the training includes combined training with the University of Nevada, Reno's ski team and the Diamond Peak ski team in addition to the team's daily practices.

The daily practices are following a week the team spent at Mammoth Mountain in Southern California working on racing.

"Branko would get us up pretty early and we'd eat breakfast then go ski for the rest of the morning," said Freshman Gunner Gottschalk. "We'd have some tough workouts and he's doing a pretty incredible job of getting us ready to ski."

Gottschalk's fellow skiers on the men's team have their first race from Jan. 3 to 5 at Sugarbowl Ski Resort.

"We've had three weeks of great conditions at Diamond Peak," Zagar said. "That's allowed us to train for this race and the guys are excited to get out there and start winning."

Zagar said the team will lean on sophomore Mickey Ross for leadership. Ross is a New Zealand native who skied for that country's Olympic team in Torino, Italy.

"Mickey should be a team leader, he is very talented and can be the lead on the team," Zagar said.

Though both the men's and womens teams practice together, the girls don't start their competitive season until Jan. 12- 13 at Squaw Valley USA.

Zagar expects the women's team to do well but said they are relying on some young skiers and skiers returning from injury.

"They are a bit of a younger team, but they will do well. It is just a little challenge to grow the team," Zagar said.

One of those skiers returning from injury is freshman Laura Hoff.

Hoff smashed her tibia last year and is working to rehab the injury and race this year.

"I hope to get back where I used to be and get better from there. It's been a little bit of a struggle (coming back from injury), but it's not too bad," Hoff said.

"It's great to have a racer willing to put in that work and come back from that kind of injury," Zagar said of Hoff.

As the season starts and the racers are training every day they also need to keep an eye on their studies.

To stay eligible for the team they must maintain a 2.8 GPA.

"Skiers need to be smart to race," Zagar said. "So if they are struggling in school, it's because of one of two reasons. Either they are stupid or they are lazy.

And, since we already know skiers are smart, it must mean they are lazy and they need to work a little harder in school," Zagar said.

Gottschalk said time management needs to be more of a priority in the upcoming semester.

"It's tough when you have to get up at 6 a.m. every morning for practice," Gottschalk said. "You can't plan on writing that paper at 2 a.m. anymore, you have to make sure you're asleep a lot earlier to wake up the next morning."

One race Zagar is looking forward to in particular is the team's home meet at Diamond Peak on Jan. 20 and 21.

"We'd love to see the community come out and watch the race," Zagar said. "Ski racing is a great sport and we want everyone in Incline Village to come watch."