The Sierra Nevada College ski team left campus nearly two weeks ago with only a few changes of clothes, their skiing gear and designs on winning a 16th straight national title.

It boarded a plane bound for the East Coast, first to train at Mt. Stowe, Vt., and then to compete in the United States Collegiate Skiing Association national championship races at Sunday River, Maine.

They returned Sunday night with an overall team national title, two individual national champions and a host of other awards, increasing their cargo load on the flight coming back West.

"Winning was awesome, better than last year," said coach Branko Zagar, in his second year with the Eagles.

His team won 10 of the 13 possible titles handed out at the USCSA nationals, including the overall team title.

Junior Jessica Bouleau won the women's individual title and freshman Matyas Mleziva matched her on the men's side. Junior Martina Hulten won the giant slalom event and Bouleau captured the slalom title. The women's team also won the slalom and giant slalom overall titles. On the men's side, Mleziva swept the individual awards, winning the GS, slalom and overall title. The men also captured the men's third place overall, slalom and GS titles. And, the entire team won the overall title, giving them the right to call themselves champs of the USCSA.

"We were so relieved when it was over," Hulten said. "It was really intense and we all wanted to ski well, we were so happy when we won."

Hulten said the she felt pressure in the week leading up to the event, from the few days they trained in Vermont to the last events Saturday.

"I really wanted to win and felt I had more pressure than previous years. I think that's why I was so relieved afterward," Hulten said.

Bouleau echoed her teammate, saying nationals require very polished runs to be competitive.

"There was some pressure because to win you have to get everyone to come down and have very clean runs. It's intense, if you have a bad run it can really hurt the team," Bouleau said. "I thought we skied well though, I was really happy to win another title."

Zagar said the team celebrated Saturday after they were announced national champs, and he and his racers fielded calls from across the U.S. and the world.

"My father, he is probably one of the biggest fans of the SNC racing team, was following us on the Internet from Slovenia," Zagar said. He said his wife was following the team from their home in Lake Tahoe and called Zagar after the win.

"I got calls from my parents and grandparents in Sweden, it was great," Hulten said.

Also following the team was the SNC campus community, who were being briefed through e-mails that went out to every student, faculty and staff member.

"This was a great performance for the whole school," said SNC president Robert Maxson. "The students here were following the team's progress closely and had good school spirit. It does so much to spread a school's reputation nationally when people see the Sierra Nevada College name at the events they compete in."

Despite the overwhelming success, Zagar said there were a few moments at Sunday River he was worried about his team.

During the men's slalom on Saturday, two of the Eagles men's skiers had problems, including a fall from senior Geoffery Goodman, during their first run and Zagar saw the team's championship aspirations slipping.

"I got the guys together and said 'hey, this run is the most important run of the year, get out there and do well.' And they did, they really stepped up," Zagar said.

Zagar said both freshmen Gunnar Gottschalk and Kevin Sheehan turned in solid runs and Goodman recovered well from his fall.

"Geoff probably had the best run of his time here. I told him, this is your last run ever, and he went out and skied a great one. I'm very proud of him," Zagar said.

Goodman will be one of the only skiers the team will lose next season, along with fellow senior Tyson McGinty. Zagar said he will be meeting with members of the team over the next few weeks to determine their plans for the 2008-09 season. He said with the youth on the men's team- Gottschalk, Sheehan, Jonathan Cherry and Mleziva are all freshmen - they are poised to return a very strong roster for next season.

Zagar credited much of the team's success to community support, including what the team received from the SNC students and administration, the Incline Village community and medical care from Dr. Dan Peterson at Sierra Internal Medicine and the Incline Village Community Hospital physical therapy office.