Alumni in Action: Former Ski and Snowboard Club Vail athletes claim NCAA runner-up finishes at national championships
Robert F. Bukaty/AP photo
Haley Brewster and Julian Arthur both claimed runner-up finishes at the NCAA ski championships last week in Park City and Midway, Utah.
Brewster, a graduate student at the University of Vermont, was second in the 20-kilometer freestyle mass start on March 14. The former junior and senior national champion and U23 silver medalist — who claimed two runner-up results at the 2024 NCAA championships — was 27.8 seconds behind winner Rosie Fordham, an Australian Olympian competing for the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Fordham also won the 7.5-kilometer individual start classic two days prior at Soldier Hollow Nordic Center, an event in which Brewster was 15th.
In his first NCAA championship slalom, Arthur cut almost three seconds off his first-run time to post a combined total time of 1 minute, 34.02 seconds. He finished just 0.25 seconds behind Dartmouth’s Oscar Zimmer to secure the silver and first-team All-American honors. Arthur posted the highest-finish by a male Middlebury skier in the slalom since David Donaldson grabbed silver at the 2013 championships. Arthur was also 23rd in the giant slalom.
All told, five SSCV alumni qualified for the NCAA championships. In addition to Arthur and Brewster, Nick Kirwood (Boston College), Kjersti Moritz (Middlebury College) and Emma Resnick (Dartmouth College) competed in the giant slalom and slalom on March 11 and 13, respectively at Utah Olympic Park.
Moritz led Middlebury in the giant slalom with a sixth-place result to claim second-team All-American honors. In Moritz’s opening slalom run, the sophomore skied off course and had to hike back to a gate. She responded by posting the fastest second run of the day to finish 29th overall. Neither Kirwood nor Resnick finished their first run in the GS; Resnick returned to place 13th in the slalom.
Support Local Journalism
The University of Colorado entered the final day of the four-day championships with a 6.5-point lead over the University of Utah. The Utes outscored the Buffs in the women’s 20-kilometer freestyle and took a 7.5-point advantage into the men’s race. At the 17.5-kilometer split, the margin between the two teams — which have combined to win the last seven titles — was just half a point. Ultimately, Utah’s Mons Melbye claimed the individual title to lead the Utes to a 10.5 point win. The margin was the second closest since 1998, behind only Colorado’s two-point win in 2024.
Former SSCV skier podiums at North America’s largest cross-country ski race
Emma Reeder — a former SSCV and Dartmouth athlete now competing for the Bridger Ski Foundation Pro Team — finished third overall in the 50-kilometer skate race at the American Birkebeiner last month.
The 23-year-old completed the trek from Cable to Hayward, Wisconsin in 2 hours, 8 minutes, 12.56 seconds. World Cup veteran Alayna Sonnesyn won her fifth title in 2:08:09.61 and Germany’s Anna-Maria Dietze finished second, just 0.36 back. Roughly 830 athletes finished the women’s skate race and another 2,900 were in the men’s competition, which doubled as a Super Tour event.
The American Birkebeiner, which began in 1973 with 35 participants, is North America’s largest cross-country ski race. Between the skate and classic Birkie, Kortelopet and Prince Haakon races, roughly 12,000 skiers took part in the 2026 event.
