Photo by: Stephen R Cloutier
Season of Firsts Delivers BC First Full NCAA Championship Squad
March 08, 2021 | Skiing, #ForBoston Files
The Eagles will compete as a full six-member squad for the first time ever at nationals
When Chuck Carmone became the head coach of the Boston College skiing team, he did so under the premise that he could turn the Eagles into a national contender. He intended to build a program capable of competing with Vermont or Middlebury, and he charted a course to revolutionize BC's approach to the slopes in order to awaken a program overlooked by more traditional eastern powers.
He sought to change the team's identity and transition it over a few years, but the process inadvertently accelerated over the 2021 season when nationally-recognized powerhouses created a power vacuum amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. BC stepped into that wake and filled the holes by competing better than ever, and the success clinched by podiums at carnivals led to an unprecedented season.
This week, in a season of firsts, the Eagles will do something never accomplished in the history of their program when they send an entire squad of six to the NCAA Championships at Cannon Mountain in Franconia, New Hampshire.
"This was a goal and a dream I had four or five years down the road," Carmone said, "not in year two. But I'm really thrilled with the six skiers that we have (at the national championship). They're all terrific kids and terrific skiers, and they all have a chance to really shock the world. I know now what some of the bigger programs have to go through because we left some really talented, hard-working, dedicated kids at home. We had a choice of picking who would compete, and some people didn't have the opportunity to come up. That was a dream, and it ironically became a little bit of a nightmare because we left some unbelievable talent back home."
It's a watershed moment for the entire program and comes just four years after Carter Robertson became the first BC skier to ever qualify for the NCAA Championship. He went to the 2018 event in Steamboat Springs, Colorado and ultimately scored seven points for the Eagles after placing 26th in the slalom.Â
He was followed by Parker Biele's qualification as the first female skier at the national level last season. Skiing as the only BC competitor at Montana's Bridger Bowl, she placed 18th in the giant slalom but fell victim to the NCAA's cancellation of the event when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the governing body to cancel all events.
"We had raced the (giant slalom) and had our training day for the slalom," Biele said of last year. "There were rumblings that it might get canceled because school closures had already started, but we felt like we were in a bubble and that it would be fine. Then all of a sudden, we were told to leave the next morning. It was very abrupt, and shortly after that, the rest of any season for independent work was canceled as well. Everything was done."
It prematurely ended a special season for Biele, but the overarching ending cast a pall over any semblance of an offseason. The sport, like so many others, completely shut down and ended any chance at training on a mountain. The team's fall training trip never happened, and the first carnival arrived without so much as an opportunity to work together as a unit. The schedule itself was abbreviated as teams around BC's conference dropped out for the season, and individual skiers made separate determinations if they would compete this year or not.
"We weren't allowed to practice until that first carnival," Carmone said, "so we just showed up without working together as a team. That created a challenge, and the next carnival was almost a month later. That finally gave us a chance to start to ski together as a team, but even after a couple more weeks of a layoff, we ended with this flurry of races over a short time period. (Half of) our season was over four days, and it was pretty intense."
The Eagles eventually competed in three carnivals in February and two over a four-day span in both New York and New Hampshire but produced immediate and historic results. Biele clinched the program's first-ever podium finish over Valentine's Day weekend at Burke Mountain in Vermont, and both genders finished at least third against sub-zero conditions. Â
That preceded another history-making finish two weeks later at Whiteface Mountain in Lake Placid, New York. Biele won the giant slalom to become the first BC skier to ever win an event before finishing second in the slalom, while Zach Simmons' second place finish in the grand slalom earned the first podium finish for a male skier.Â
The Eagles then returned from Lake Placid to immediately host their first-ever EISA carnival at Proctor Academy in New Hampshire. Despite being the home track of three of the men's skiers and the excitement of hosting an event, BC finished third overall in the women's slalom race but fourth in the other three races.
"I think it was more mentally grueling than physically," Carmone said. "It was physically demanding, but the mental part of having all that pressure meant that if you had a bad couple of days, your entire season was shot. I think they put a lot of pressure on themselves to really focus and go for it, and we really shattered some records, but we didn't really perform the way I think we expected on our 'home field.'"
It didn't diminish the success at Lake Placid. Five female skiers finished between 12th and 17th with Emma Birtwhistle, Lauren Geary, Gigi Kranjc and Madeline Davis occupying the 14th through 17th slots in the grand slalom. Haley Castner was the second-highest BC skier with a 12th overall finish in the second GS race.
The men, meanwhile, watched Chris Bertram and Trent Gutstein finish inside the top-20 in both GS races to help lead the men, with Simmons, to a third place finish.
"This season has been really special," Simmons said. "You can see some of the guys with their game plans and see how everyone else gets ready the same way as everyone else. Even within their own teams, seeing the pace that some guys have, everything is possible. You can learn from everything that you see from your teammates and the best guys on the circuit. I think COVID made us a little bit of a tighter group, especially the freshmen, because we spent so much time together when students were just stuck in their rooms for the whole winter. We really cherished those moments on the hill with each other and really tried to take advantage of the training opportunities."
"This fall was definitely tough," Biele agreed. "Instead of hanging out and getting to know each other, we only really met for workouts. If you wanted to do anything, we had to do it in small groups. So we created a mentor-mentee system that worked out really well, especially with a young, big class of freshmen. It helped that we weren't ever breaking protocols for numbers, and everything was kept safe and socially distanced. It was tough to have that same level of connection with everyone, but it forced us to go out of our way to connect in new ways and to make sure the new skiers knew we were there to support them. As a team, one person could bring down the whole team, and everybody wanted to have a season that we all worked for."
That run now has BC poised to compete with the nation's elite in a national championship hosted close to home, at Cannon Mountain in New Hampshire. On the men's side, Simmons, Gutstein and Will Kornya all qualified for the top-15 men with Ben Charleston as an alternate, and Biele, Geary and Castner all qualified for the women. Both Biele and Simmons are in the early conversation for All-American status after earning the No. 3 and No. 7 seeds in the East Region.
"There is the obvious that several teams weren't competing," Simmons said, "but throwing in solid performances against top-tier guys feels pretty good. Regardless of who competed this year, we know our team has speed, and all of the guys showed it this year. We should be able to put up some solid results and be happy to be a part of this. We couldn't have done this without all of our guys pushing ahead.
"I don't know the other (competitors) personally, but there is wicked speed out west," he added. "There are a lot of European skiers, so it'll be interesting because we haven't matched up against them. Those guys are going to be skilled enough to adapt, but conditions change. There is a little bit of the unknown, but it's only in the sense that we haven't raced against them before."
"Sending a full team is really special," Biele said. "One of my big goals was to be part of a BC team to develop this program. Carter Robertson was the first guy, and I was the first woman, and now we're sending a full team. That's the progression we want to see. We're performing at the highest level. I'm super excited for this group, and I think we can do some really great stuff this week. This is a hill we've trained a lot at, so we have comfort. Comfort leads to confidence."
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He sought to change the team's identity and transition it over a few years, but the process inadvertently accelerated over the 2021 season when nationally-recognized powerhouses created a power vacuum amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. BC stepped into that wake and filled the holes by competing better than ever, and the success clinched by podiums at carnivals led to an unprecedented season.
This week, in a season of firsts, the Eagles will do something never accomplished in the history of their program when they send an entire squad of six to the NCAA Championships at Cannon Mountain in Franconia, New Hampshire.
"This was a goal and a dream I had four or five years down the road," Carmone said, "not in year two. But I'm really thrilled with the six skiers that we have (at the national championship). They're all terrific kids and terrific skiers, and they all have a chance to really shock the world. I know now what some of the bigger programs have to go through because we left some really talented, hard-working, dedicated kids at home. We had a choice of picking who would compete, and some people didn't have the opportunity to come up. That was a dream, and it ironically became a little bit of a nightmare because we left some unbelievable talent back home."
It's a watershed moment for the entire program and comes just four years after Carter Robertson became the first BC skier to ever qualify for the NCAA Championship. He went to the 2018 event in Steamboat Springs, Colorado and ultimately scored seven points for the Eagles after placing 26th in the slalom.Â
He was followed by Parker Biele's qualification as the first female skier at the national level last season. Skiing as the only BC competitor at Montana's Bridger Bowl, she placed 18th in the giant slalom but fell victim to the NCAA's cancellation of the event when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the governing body to cancel all events.
"We had raced the (giant slalom) and had our training day for the slalom," Biele said of last year. "There were rumblings that it might get canceled because school closures had already started, but we felt like we were in a bubble and that it would be fine. Then all of a sudden, we were told to leave the next morning. It was very abrupt, and shortly after that, the rest of any season for independent work was canceled as well. Everything was done."
It prematurely ended a special season for Biele, but the overarching ending cast a pall over any semblance of an offseason. The sport, like so many others, completely shut down and ended any chance at training on a mountain. The team's fall training trip never happened, and the first carnival arrived without so much as an opportunity to work together as a unit. The schedule itself was abbreviated as teams around BC's conference dropped out for the season, and individual skiers made separate determinations if they would compete this year or not.
"We weren't allowed to practice until that first carnival," Carmone said, "so we just showed up without working together as a team. That created a challenge, and the next carnival was almost a month later. That finally gave us a chance to start to ski together as a team, but even after a couple more weeks of a layoff, we ended with this flurry of races over a short time period. (Half of) our season was over four days, and it was pretty intense."
The Eagles eventually competed in three carnivals in February and two over a four-day span in both New York and New Hampshire but produced immediate and historic results. Biele clinched the program's first-ever podium finish over Valentine's Day weekend at Burke Mountain in Vermont, and both genders finished at least third against sub-zero conditions. Â
That preceded another history-making finish two weeks later at Whiteface Mountain in Lake Placid, New York. Biele won the giant slalom to become the first BC skier to ever win an event before finishing second in the slalom, while Zach Simmons' second place finish in the grand slalom earned the first podium finish for a male skier.Â
The Eagles then returned from Lake Placid to immediately host their first-ever EISA carnival at Proctor Academy in New Hampshire. Despite being the home track of three of the men's skiers and the excitement of hosting an event, BC finished third overall in the women's slalom race but fourth in the other three races.
"I think it was more mentally grueling than physically," Carmone said. "It was physically demanding, but the mental part of having all that pressure meant that if you had a bad couple of days, your entire season was shot. I think they put a lot of pressure on themselves to really focus and go for it, and we really shattered some records, but we didn't really perform the way I think we expected on our 'home field.'"
It didn't diminish the success at Lake Placid. Five female skiers finished between 12th and 17th with Emma Birtwhistle, Lauren Geary, Gigi Kranjc and Madeline Davis occupying the 14th through 17th slots in the grand slalom. Haley Castner was the second-highest BC skier with a 12th overall finish in the second GS race.
The men, meanwhile, watched Chris Bertram and Trent Gutstein finish inside the top-20 in both GS races to help lead the men, with Simmons, to a third place finish.
"This season has been really special," Simmons said. "You can see some of the guys with their game plans and see how everyone else gets ready the same way as everyone else. Even within their own teams, seeing the pace that some guys have, everything is possible. You can learn from everything that you see from your teammates and the best guys on the circuit. I think COVID made us a little bit of a tighter group, especially the freshmen, because we spent so much time together when students were just stuck in their rooms for the whole winter. We really cherished those moments on the hill with each other and really tried to take advantage of the training opportunities."
"This fall was definitely tough," Biele agreed. "Instead of hanging out and getting to know each other, we only really met for workouts. If you wanted to do anything, we had to do it in small groups. So we created a mentor-mentee system that worked out really well, especially with a young, big class of freshmen. It helped that we weren't ever breaking protocols for numbers, and everything was kept safe and socially distanced. It was tough to have that same level of connection with everyone, but it forced us to go out of our way to connect in new ways and to make sure the new skiers knew we were there to support them. As a team, one person could bring down the whole team, and everybody wanted to have a season that we all worked for."
That run now has BC poised to compete with the nation's elite in a national championship hosted close to home, at Cannon Mountain in New Hampshire. On the men's side, Simmons, Gutstein and Will Kornya all qualified for the top-15 men with Ben Charleston as an alternate, and Biele, Geary and Castner all qualified for the women. Both Biele and Simmons are in the early conversation for All-American status after earning the No. 3 and No. 7 seeds in the East Region.
"There is the obvious that several teams weren't competing," Simmons said, "but throwing in solid performances against top-tier guys feels pretty good. Regardless of who competed this year, we know our team has speed, and all of the guys showed it this year. We should be able to put up some solid results and be happy to be a part of this. We couldn't have done this without all of our guys pushing ahead.
"I don't know the other (competitors) personally, but there is wicked speed out west," he added. "There are a lot of European skiers, so it'll be interesting because we haven't matched up against them. Those guys are going to be skilled enough to adapt, but conditions change. There is a little bit of the unknown, but it's only in the sense that we haven't raced against them before."
"Sending a full team is really special," Biele said. "One of my big goals was to be part of a BC team to develop this program. Carter Robertson was the first guy, and I was the first woman, and now we're sending a full team. That's the progression we want to see. We're performing at the highest level. I'm super excited for this group, and I think we can do some really great stuff this week. This is a hill we've trained a lot at, so we have comfort. Comfort leads to confidence."
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