St. Cloud State Huskies
Location: St. Cloud, Minn.
Head coach: Mike Schroden
Assistant coach: Mike Sharp
Website: www.scsuhuskies.com
2014 CCSA Championships: Women – 8th
2014 NCAA Central Region: Women – 8th
The St. Cloud State University women’s Nordic team is ready to make a statement this winter. They retain their top three skiers from last season, and have added three freshmen to their team.
Senior Katie Banken leads the St. Cloud Huskies this winter. The program’s top skier from 2014, Banken made big improvements last winter and Coach Jeremy Frost hopes to see her make another big jump in the results again this season. Kiersten Haaversen, a sophomore, and Halle Weisman, a senior, return to ski for St. Cloud. The trio were St. Cloud’s top three at most of the races last season, and Frost is excited to have them back and motivated for a strong 2015 season.
St. Cloud will be without the services of graduated skiers Ari Benoit and Molly Manske whom Frost says were “highly valued for their leadership and dedication throughout their four years at SCSU.”
In their place St. Cloud welcomes three freshmen to their squad: Maria Hauer, Haley Bock, and Sarah Howe. Maria Hauer placed in the top 15 at the Minnesota State Meet the past two years and Frost believes that Hauer’s participation at Junior Nationals “brings a level of experience that will benefit everyone on the team.”
Frost is looking forward to the mix of returning skiers and incoming freshman this year to help create “healthy competition on the team and lead to higher individual and team results in the always highly competitive CCSA qualifiers.” He envisions freshmen Hauer and Bock to challenge Banken, Haaversen, and Weisman for the team’s top three.
Individually, Frost aims to place his skiers higher on the Final CCSA points list than the previous year and, ultimately, to qualify for the NCAA Championships and place in the top five as a team at the CCSA Champs and NCAA Central Regionals. Frost is excited for his seniors to finish off their collegiate skiing careers on a high note, and says, “The great snow conditions for training in November have us excited for the upcoming season!”