SSCV alumna snags two silvers at NCAA Ski championships in Steamboat Springs

Haley Brewster’s breakout season continues.

Last weekend, the Ski and Snowboard Club Vail alumna and University of Vermont junior claimed two runner-up finishes at the NCAA Ski Championships held in Steamboat Springs.

Brewster — who won a U.S. senior national title in January, a silver at the U23 World Championships in February and made her World Cup debut in Minneapolis a few weeks ago — was second in both the 7.5-kilometer freestyle individual start last Thursday and the 20-kilometer classic mass start on Saturday.

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University of Utah senior Sydney Palmer-Leger won the 7.5k, covering the Howelsen Hill course in 22 minutes, 8.2 seconds, just ahead of Brewster (22:29.3) and Jasmine Drolet of Dartmouth (22:30.7). The 20k podium was identical, albeit a different order. Drolet (1:02:38.2) took the three-second win over Brewster (1:02:41.5), who rode the inside line past Palmer-Leger (1:02:41.8). Fellow SSCV alumna Emma Reeder (23:50) placed 20th and 13th in the two races.

Because of the altitude, Brewster said she conservatively paced the individual start, wherein athletes set out solo in 30-second increments to race against the clock.

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“I was really focused on that and kind of ignoring the splits I was getting the first lap or so,” she said. “By the time I was actually paying attention to where I was, it was maybe a bit too late to close any gaps.”

“I think it’s always hard to change your mindset in the middle of a race and start really going for it,” she said. “So, I think that was definitely something that is hard once you come to altitude.”

The mass start went out hard. A lead group of nine athletes formed by the end of the first of four laps and dwindled to eight and seven with 5k to go. Palmer-Leger and CU’s Hanna Abrahamsson strung out the pack slightly in the final kilometers. But Drolet, who was out with mono last season, had the fastest skis in the field.

“Once the downhill hit, she was gone,” Brewster said. “I’m not really surprised that she was able to win. (two years ago), she would win everything by, like, minutes.”  

Brewster’s overarching takeaway from NCAA’s mirrors her lasting impression from each of the progressively bigger stages she’s performed on this season.

“It really makes a difference the people watching you and you’re racing with I think,” the double first-team All-American said.

Racing with her college buddies in her home state was the highlight. Having her parents in the crowd was the cherry on top. The same could be said of Feb. 17-18, Brewster’s debut in Minneapolis. Roughly 30,000 American fans lined Theodore Wirth Park’s ribbon of man-made snow.

“It was so cool … definitely overwhelming,” Brewster said of being a participant in the first World Cup on U.S. soil in 23 years.

“There were a lot of people that I know pretty well that were out there.”

In the 10-kilometer individual freestyle, Brewster started in-between Minnesota-native and Olympic gold medalist Jessie Diggins — the most decorated American skier of all-time — and Norwegian Heidi Weng, who has 111 podiums to her name.

“I was pretty focused on who I was racing with more than that I was racing,” Brewster said. “I could hear where Jessie was on course the entire time because the noise would follow her.”  

Despite an admittedly adrenaline-filled start, Brewster settled in and finished an impressive 25th, earning a second set of three starts this weekend in Falun, Sweden. She said the feeling of urgency to capitalize on key stepping-stone opportunities is something she relishes.

“To me I guess it definitely feels like I kind of have to take advantage of what I’ve been given,” she said on a phone call from Falun, where she is roommates with Palmer-Leger for the final World Cup weekend.

“I think after every race there’s always something that you can look back on and pick apart a little bit. But mainly, (I) was just trying to be happy with (Minneapolis) being my first World Cup; and having there not be any expectations was kind of cool. But, there’s definitely things to work on and look forward to here.”

Brewster said she’ll spend April recharging her batteries before signing on with a pro group this fall. As she’s done in the past, however, she’s intentionally going to train by herself for the first few weeks.

“It’s kind of nice,” she said. “At the beginning, to just kind of remember why you’re skiing and spending so much time doing it.”