The Team
The Utah ski program claimed its 12th NCAA Championship and the 13th national title in the program's storied history in 2019. The Utes have also produced 76 individual national champions and 35 Olympians.
After winning two of the last three NCAA Championships, the 2020 Utah ski team looks to defend its title behind the leadership of veteran coach Fredrik Landstedt, who is in his second season as Director of Skiing. The Utes return a strong core of skiers who understand the demands of the collegiate ski circuit. Head Nordic coach Miles Havlick and head alpine coach JJ Johnson are also in their second season at Utah with assistant coach Mary Joyce joining the alpine team.
Nordic
On the women’s side, the Utes return all five skiers from last season, led by reigning 5-km freestyle champion Julia Richter and six-time All-American Guro Jordheim. Richter, who also finished second in the 15-km classic at NCAAs last season as a freshman, was the 2019 RMISA Female Nordic Athlete of the Year. Entering her fourth season at Utah, Jordheim was the 2018 RMISA Female Nordic Athlete of the Year and has 12 career race wins. Juniors Karianne Moe and Mariah Bredal are returning All-Americans. Moe finished seventh in the 15-km classic at NCAAs last year. Bredal earned All-America honors in 2018 in the 5-km classic. Senior Leah Lange also competed at NCAAs in 2018.
For the men, junior Maximilian Bie was a two-time All-American in his first season last year, finishing third in the 20-km classic at NCAAs. Junior Ola Jordheim also earned All-America honors in his inaugural campaign, finishing fifth in the 20-km classic at NCAAs. Senior Logan Diekmann was first-team All-RMISA last year, recording six top five finishes to rank third in the league.
Sophomore Noel Keeffe, who is also on the U.S. Development Team, finished 12th in the sprint at the 2019 FIS Nordic Junior World Ski Championships. Junior Bjørn Riksaasen is a two-time second-team All-RMISA skier. Luke Jager, a member of the U.S. Development Team, was on the 4x5-kmrelay team that finished first at the 2019 FIS Junior World Ski Championships, and also placed 13th in the 30-km classic. Samuel Hendry is a member of the Canadian Senior Development Team and won the 50-km classic at the 2019 Canadian National Championships.
Alpine
Five-time All-American senior Roni Remme leads the women’s field, balancing both an NCAA and World Cup schedule. She was the NCAA runner-up in both the slalom and giant slalom last year. Remme finished seventh in the slalom in Killington earlier this season on the World Cup circuit. Senior Eirin Engeset earned All-America honors in her first year last season with an eighth-place finish in the giant slalom at NCAAs. Sophomores Katie Vesterstein and Katie Parker both had solid results in their freshman seasons. Parker placed 11th in the slalom at the RMISA Championships. Sophomore Sona Moravcikova transferred to Utah from New Mexico. She earned All-America honors after finishing 12th in the slalom and 14th in the GS at NCAAs. Freshman Mo Lebel, from Truckee, Calif., was the 2018 U.S. National Downhill Champion.
For the men, junior Joachim Lien finished in the top 15 in both races at NCAAs last year. Senior Addison Dvoracek, a 2017 All-American in the giant slalom, has seven career victories. Junior Huston Phillip earned All-America honors in the giant slalom in 2018. Junior Tomas Birkner competed at the FIS World Ski Championships. Senior Fredrik Maurstad has struggled with injuries during his Utah career. Newcomer Gustav Vøllo placed fifth in the giant slalom at the 2018 FIS Junior World Ski Championships.
Three-time NCAA Nordic champion
Team Facilities
Here's a video tour of the new state-of-the-art Spence Eccles Ski Team Building.
Veteran college ski coach Fredrik Landstedt is in his second season as the Director of Skiing at Utah. Landstedt has won NCAA Championships at three different schools (Utah 2019, New Mexico 2004, Colorado 1995) over 27 years of college ski coaching.
Landstedt led Utah to the 2019 NCAA Championship in his first season at the helm. Julia Richter won the NCAA title in the 5-km freestyle and eight skiers combined for 12 All-America honors with five podium finishes at the meet. Utah won four of five RMISA meets held during the regular season, including the NCAA Regional/RMISA Championship.
Julie Mohagen was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Division I At-Large first team, marking the 11th time Landstedt has had a student-athlete on the team with eight of those being first-team selections.
Landstedt spent the previous 21 seasons coaching at New Mexico, including 11 years as head coach (2008-18) after working 10 seasons as head Nordic coach.
Landstedt coached seven student-athletes to individual NCAA Championships. Under Landstedt, 34 Nordic skiers and 19 alpine skiers earned All-America honors at UNM since 2008. He has coached with the U.S. Ski Team at Junior and U-23 World Championships events.
Landstedt competed at New Mexico from 1987-89, finishing fourth in men's cross country in 1987 and helping UNM finish third in the men's cross country relay. He finished 11th in cross country in 1988 and was 12th in the 20-km freestyle in 1989. Landstedt began his collegiate coaching career as a Nordic assistant coach at New Mexico while finishing his degree from 1990-91. He also coached the West Valley High School ski team in Fairbanks, Alaska, to two state titles in three seasons (1991-94). While in Alaska, he won the Tour of Anchorage 50-km ski race twice (1993-94). Landstedt was the head Nordic ski coach at Colorado for three years (1995-97).
Landstedt was a top national skier and placed in the top 10 at the U.S. National Championships eight times from 1991-93. Originally from Sollefteå, Sweden, Landstedt and his wife, Brenda, have three sons, Gabriel, Adrian and Andreas, and a daughter, Zara.
Coaches
Miles Havlick
Head Nordic Coach
miles.havlick@utah.edu
Two-time NCAA champion skier Miles Havlick is the head Nordic coach at his alma mater. In his first season in 2019, Havlick developed Julia Richter, who was the NCAA champion in the women's freestyle.
Havlick claimed the 2013 20-km freestyle and the 2012 20-km classical titles with the Utes. He was a seven-time All-American during his four-year career, a three-time Ski Racing Magazine Nordic Collegiate Skier of the Year and the two-time RMISA Men's Nordic MVP.
Following his Utah career, Havlick raced professionally with the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation Gold Team. He finished in the top 10 several times at the U.S. National Championships and competed regularly on the U.S. Super Tour and Alpen Cup. Havlick won a World Loppet 42-km freestyle marathon in Australia in 2017.
Havlick recently coached with the Birkebeiner Nordic Ski Club and Victorian Junior cross country ski team in Australia in 2017. He worked as an assistant coach and wax technician for the Australian Junior National Team at the World Junior Championships and was a wax technician for the Australian National Team in China in 2018.
The Boulder, Colo., naive periodically volunteered with the Utah ski team, recently as an assistant coach at the 2018 NCAA Championships.
JJ Johnson
Head Alpine Coach
jjohnson@huntsman.utah.edu
JJ Johnson, the 2019 RMISA Alpine Coach of the Year, is in his second season as Utah’s head alpine coach. He previously coached with the U.S. Ski Team.
Johnson coached three skiers to All-America honors last year, led by Roni Remme, who finished second at NCAA’s in both the women’s giant slalom and slalom. Utah was the top scoring team in the women’s giant slalom at NCAAs.
Before joining the Utes, Johnson coached with the U.S. Ski Team. He was an assistant coach with the men's development team (2014-16) before spending two years as head development coach (2016-18). He helped six athletes finish on the podium at the FIS Junior World Ski Championships with Sam Morse (2017) and Erick Arvidsson (2016) both winning world downhill titles.
He first joined the U.S. Ski Team in 2013 as the Western Region Youth Coordinator. Johnson began his coaching career with the Park City Ski Team as an assistant coach from 2010-12, coaching with its FIS and U14 skiers. He did private coaching from 2012-13.
Johnson was a member of the U.S. Ski Team from 1997-99 and 2004-07. He spent three seasons competing on the World Cup circuit (2004-07) and regularly finished in the top 10 at the National Championships, including a third-place finish in the downhill in 2006. Johnson was the 1996 Ski Racing U.S. Junior Alpine Skier of the Year. He competed in ski cross from 2008-10.
Johnson, who is originally from Park City, lives in Wanship, Utah with his wife, Jana.
Mary Joyce
Assistant Alpine Coach
mjoyce@huntsman.utah.edu
Mary Joyce is in her first season at Utah as the assistant alpine coach.
Joyce coached the past three seasons at Rowmark Ski Academy as the women’s assistant alpine U19-21 coach. Several of her athletes have moved on to the U.S. Ski Team and joined NCAA programs. Among the roles in which she has served include academic coordinator, sports psychology coordinator and assistant conditioning coach. Joyce has also assisted with accounting, marketing, fundraising, travel, social media and videography. Joyce recently spent time coaching at U.S. Ski and Snowboard development camp at Mammoth.
Joyce skied at Saint Michael’s College from 2013-16, competing in the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA). She was a team captain in 2015. Joyce spent three years on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, including serving as chair for a 5K run to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation. She was also a member of the Purple Knight Leadership Academy as a senior, a program that promoted professional and personal leadership development.
1981 NCAA Champions
Tradition
Over the past 11 years, Utah skiing has claimed the 2019 and 2017 national titles, three second-place finishes and two third-place finishes at the NCAA Championships.
Utah's 12 NCAA championships rank third all-time. The Utes also won an AIAW title in 1978, bringing their total of national titles to 13.
Utah has won at least one individual title in the last 10 NCAA meets, bringing its total to 76 to rank third all-time.
Utah owns the NCAA record for the most individual championships by one school in a season with four Utes combining to win five titles in 1995.
Christl Hager
Utah's Greatest
Julia Richter won the NCAA title in the women's 5-km freestyle as a freshman in 2019.
Martin Bergström won three NCAA championships over a two-year period, capturing the 10-km classic and 20-km freestyle in 2017 and repeating in the classic in 2018, to become the most decorated Nordic skier in school history.
Seven Utes have won multiple NCAA championships in the last 14 years: Martin Bergström (10-km classic twice and 20-km freestyle), Miles Havlick (20-km classical and 20-km freestyle), Maria Graefnings (5-km freestyle), Henning Dybendal (10-km free and 20-km classic), Katrin Smigun (5-km freestyle and 15-km classic) and Ben Thornhill (giant slalom).
Two NCAA men's giant slalom champions in the last five years: Endre Bjertness (2016) and Mark Engel (2014).
Two women's alpine national champions this decade: Julie Mohagen (2016 giant slalom) and Eva Huckova (2010 giant slalom).
Nick Cohee finished third in the giant slalom at the 2015 U.S. Alpine Championships.
Mark Engel, the 2014 NCAA giant slalom champion, was selected to the U.S. Ski team.
Veronika Mayerhofer was the 2015 NCAA Champion in the 5-km freestyle. Utah has had five women combine for eight Nordic national titles in its history.
Torin Koos is a four-time U.S. Olympian in cross country skiing (2002, '06, '10, '14). Other recent Olympians include biathlete Annelies Cook (United States – 2014), alpine skiers Chirine Njeim (Lebanon – 2002, '06, '10) and Dominic Demschar (Australia – 2014), and Nordic skier Veronika Mayerhofer (Austria – 2014).
Kathy Kreiner won an Olympic gold medal in the giant slalom for Canada in 1976.
Christl Hager is the only athlete to win the same event three times in Utah history, which also ties the national record. She won the giant slalom in 1994, '95 and '97.
A two-time Olympian, Luke Bodensteiner (1992, '94) currently serves as the Executive Vice President for Athletics for the United States Ski Association.
Marvin Melville won three individual titles in 1959 (downhill, slalom and alpine) tying for the most in one year in NCAA history.
National Champions | Men
10-Kilometer Freestyle
| Year | Name |
|---|---|
| 1995 | Havard Solbakken |
| 1999 | Rune Kollerud |
| 2004 | Henning Dybendel |
20-Kilometer Freestyle
| Year | Name |
|---|---|
| 2013 | Miles Havlick |
| 2017 | Martin Bergström |
10-Kilometer Classical
| Year | Name |
|---|---|
| 1989 | Hans Sjulstad |
| 1990 | Luke Bodensteiner |
| 1993 | Luke Bodensteiner |
| 1994 | Havard Solbakken |
| 2017 | Martin Bergström |
| 2018 | Martin Bergström |
20-Kilometer Classical
| Year | Name |
|---|---|
| 1995 | Thomas Weman |
| 2004 | Henning Dybendal |
| 2007 | Snorri Einarsson |
| 2012 | Miles Havlick |
Slalom
| Year | Name |
|---|---|
| 1959 | Marvin Melville |
| 1962 | Jim Gaddis |
| 1979 | Per Nicolaysen |
| 1981 | Scott Hoffman |
| 1985 | Jeff Durtschi |
| 1993 | Mark Bonnell |
| 1994 | L.-Francois Gagnon |
| 2001 | Jernej Bukovec |
Giant Slalom
| Year | Name |
|---|---|
| 1996 | Andrew Hare |
| 2003 | Ben Thornhill |
| 2004 | Ben Thornhill |
| 2006 | Scott Veenis |
| 2014 | Mark Engel |
| 2016 | Endre Bjertness |
Alpine
| Year | Name |
|---|---|
| 1959 | Marvin Melville |
| 1960 | Jim Gaddis |
| 1962 | Jim Gaddis |
Nordic
| Year | Name |
|---|---|
| 1965 | Matz Jenssen |
| 1966 | Frithjof Prydz |
| 1967 | Matz Jenssen |
Cross Country
| Year | Name |
|---|---|
| 1979 | Svein Arne Osen |
| 1981 | Bernt Lund |
| 1984 | John Aalberg |
| 1985 | John Aalberg |
| 1986 | H.-Martin Sjulstad |
| 1987 | Asmund Drivenes |
Cross Country Relay
| Year | Name |
|---|---|
| 1984 | Utah |
| 1986 | Utah |
| 1987 | Utah |
Downhill
| Year | Name |
|---|---|
| 1959 | Marvin Melville |
Jumping
| Year | Name |
|---|---|
| 1964 | Frithjof Prydz |
| 1966 | Frithjof Prydz |
| 1967 | Bjorn Loken |
| 1976 | Kip Sundgaard |
| 1977 | Ron Steele |
Skimeister
| Year | Name |
|---|---|
| 1967 | Matz Jenssen |
Jim Gaddis
National Champions | Women
5-Kilometer Freestyle
| Year | Name |
|---|---|
| 1995 | Heidi Selnes |
| 2003 | Katrin Smigun |
| 2011 | Maria Graefnings |
| 2012 | Maria Graefnings |
| 2015 | Veronika Mayerhofer |
| 2019 | Julia Richter |
15-Kilometer Classical
| Year | Name |
|---|---|
| 1992 | Kristin Vestgren |
| 1995 | Heidi Selnes |
| 2003 | Katrin Smigun |
Slalom
| Year | Name |
|---|---|
| 1984 | Bente Dahlum |
| 1990 | Anke Friedrich |
| 1992 | Katja Lesjak |
| 2001 | Petra Svet |
| 2003 | Lina Johansson |
| 2016 | Julie Mohagen |
Giant Slalom
| Year | Name |
|---|---|
| 1983 | Kathy Kreiner |
| 1984 | Bente Dahlum |
| 1987 | Vibeke Hoff |
| 1989 | Anke Friedrich |
| 1990 | Anke Friedrich |
| 1993 | Karianne Eriksen |
| 1994 | Christl Hager |
| 1995 | Christl Hager |
| 1997 | Christl Hager |
| 2010 | Eva Huckova |
Bente Dahlum
Olympians
United States
| Name | Years |
|---|---|
| John Aalberg | 1992, '94 |
| Luke Bodensteiner | 1992, '94 |
| Annelies Cook | 2014 |
| Corey Engen | 1948 |
| Jon Steven Engen | 1988, '92, '94 |
| John Farra | 1992 |
| Dev Jennings | 1948 |
| Kristina Joder | 2002 |
| Peter Karns | 1972, '76 (Coach) |
| Terry Kern | 1976 |
| Torin Koos | 2002, '06, '10, '14 |
| Margo Walters McDonald | 1964 |
| Marvin Melville | 1956, '60, '64 (Asst. Coach) |
| Dick Mitchell | 1956 |
| Dick Movitz | 1948 |
| Jim Murphy | 1952 |
| Marcus Nash | 1994, '98 |
| William Allen Spencer | 1964, '68; '72 and '84 (Team Leader) |
| Ron Steele | 1972 |
| Kip G. Sundgaard | 1976 |
| Sandra Van Ert | 1998, 2002 |
| Scott Veenis | 2014 (Asst. Coach) |
| Justin Wadsworth | 1994, '98, '02 |
| Ralph Wakley | 1968 |
| Anne Jeanette Winn | 1948 |
International
| Name | Years |
|---|---|
| Rowena Bright (Australia) | 2002 |
| Dominic Demschar (Australia) | 2014 |
| Toril Forland (Norway) | 1972 |
| Eva Huckova (Slovakia) | 2006 |
| Kathy Kreiner (Canada) | 1972, '76 (Gold in GS), '80 |
| Veronika Mayerhofer (Austria) | 2014 |
| Chirine Njeim (Lebanon) | 2002, '06, '10 |
| Fritjof Prydz (Norway) | 1972 |
Ron Steele
National Team Finishes
| Year | Combined |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 1st |
| 2018 | 4th |
| 2017 | 1st |
| 2016 | 3rd |
| 2015 | 3rd |
| 2014 | 5th |
| 2013 | 2nd |
| 2012 | 2nd |
| 2011 | 2nd |
| 2010 | 4th |
| 2009 | 6th |
| 2008 | 3rd |
| 2007 | 4th |
| 2006 | 8th |
| 2005 | 3rd |
| 2004 | 2nd |
| 2003 | 1st |
| 2002 | 3rd |
| 2001 | 4th |
| 2000 | 4th |
| 1999 | 4th |
| 1998 | 2nd |
| 1997 | 1st |
| 1996 | 1st |
| 1995 | 2nd |
| 1994 | 2nd |
| 1993 | 1st |
| 1992 | 3rd |
| 1991 | 3rd |
| 1990 | 2nd |
| 1989 | 2nd |
| 1988 | 1st |
| 1987 | 1st |
| 1986 | 1st |
| 1985 | 2nd |
| 1984 | 1st |
| 1983 | 1st |
| Year | Mens | Women |
|---|---|---|
| 1982 | 3rd | 3rd |
| 1981 | 1st | 4th |
| 1980 | 2nd | 4th |
| 1979 | 2nd | 2nd |
| 1978 | 5th | 1st |
| 1977 | 5th | 2nd |
| 1976 | 5th | 2nd |
| 1975 | 6th | - |
| 1974 | 12th | - |
| 1972 | 16th | |
| 1971 | 8th | - |
| 1967 | 4th | - |
| 1966 | 5th | - |
| 1965 | 2nd | - |
| 1959 | 4th | - |
| 1957 | 6th | - |
| 1956 | 7th | - |
| 1955 | 7th | - |
| 1954 | 6th | - |
* The NCAA began sponsoring a combined championship in 1983 following the discontinuation of the AIAW.