Dimitri is NCAA-bound, Evan heads to JO's, and 7 Skiers Named to the All-Academic Team

From the Williams Athletics Site: 

Ski Team Sends Four to NCAAs, Two Named All-East, Ten Named to NSCA All-Academic Team

Williams College will send four student-athletes to the NCAA National Collegiate Men’s and Women’s Skiing Championships hosted by Bates College, to be held March 11—14 at Sunday River and Black Mountain in Bethel and Rumford, Maine. Williams will be represented by alpine skiers Eric Mann ’09, Alex Dyroff ’10, and Emily Porter ’10 and nordic skier Dimitri Luthi ’12.  

Participants are selected based upon the combination of points from their best two races in each discipline (giant slalom and slalom for alpine; classic and freestyle for nordic) and will compete against athletes from the Central and West regions. Luthi will race in the 10K individual start classic race on Thursday and the 20K mass start freestyle race on Saturday. Mann, Dyroff, and Porter will race giant slalom on Wednesday and slalom on Friday. This is Luthi’s first trip to the NCAAs, while Dyroff and Porter return for the second time and Mann, already a two-time All-American (2006 and 2008, both in giant slalom) makes an impressive fourth trip to the Championships.

The coaching staff is excited for the upcoming week of racing. “We have a lot of experienced athletes returning to the NCAA Championships,” said alpine skiing head coach Ed Grees. “Emily and Alex raced last year in Bozeman and this is Eric’s fourth NCAA Championship, which is quite a feat in itself. I have tremendous confidence in their capabilities as skiers and racers so it will be an exciting few days of racing ahead!”

“I think Dimitri is ready to have his best race of the season in the 10K individual classic race,” said assistant nordic coach Aubrey Smith. “He knows how stiff the competition is and he’s the type of competitor who will rise to meet the challenge.”

Additionally, Dyroff and Mann were two of just five athletes named First Team All-East, by virtue of their two best slalom and giant slalom results during the 2009 season. They join David Donaldson of UVM, Sean McNamara of UNH, and Willie Ford of UNH on the First Team. Mann was named to the First Team in 2006. This is Dyroff’s first All-East honor.

Highlights of the skiing championships will be shown on CBS at 1 p.m. Eastern time, Saturday, May 2. CBS Sports Presents Championships of the NCAA will feature highlights of 17 different NCAA championships, each taking place during the winter season.

Ten student-athletes were named to the National Ski Coaches Association (NSCA) All-Academic Team. To be honored a skier must compete at the EISA Championship race, hosted by Colby College last weekend, and have at least a 3.5 GPA during the fall term.

Three alpine skiers and seven nordic skiers were honored. Alpine skiers receiving this award include captain Jim Whitledge ’09, Eirik Buraas ’09, and NCAA qualifier Alex Dyroff ’10. Nordic skiers honored include captain Sam Kapala ’09, Fiona Worcester ’09, Alice Nelson ’10, Alex Taylor ’10, Keith Kantack ’11, Evan Dethier ’11, and Kirsten Johnson ’11. Worcester and Kapala are being honored for the third straight year, while Dyroff, Nelson, Taylor, and Dethier receive this award for the second time.

Evan Dethier '11 is in Truckee, CA all week competing at the Junior Olympics.  Check out the JO 2009 Website to see how he's doing.  Sprinting on Monday, Freestyle on Wednesday, Classic on Friday, Relays on Saturday AND most importantly the JO Dance on Saturday night where Evan is guaranteed a podium spot on the dance floor.