Of 148 total collegiate skiers selected for the 2024 NCAA Skiing Championships, four have ties to Steamboat Springs and the winter sports club. 

The championships are hosted by the University of Colorado and will take place in Steamboat Springs March 6-9, beginning with a giant slalom event on Mount Werner. Trey Seymour, Bode Flanigan, Elsie Halvorsen and Hannah Soria who were all once members of the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club will be in attendance competing in the Alpine events. 

In total, 74 men and 74 women are selected to compete on a regional basis. Qualification is based on a formula determined by the skiing committee and no more than 12 students, three per gender and discipline, could be selected from any one institution. 

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Seymour, a senior at the University of Denver, is all too familiar with the selection process. He qualified for the national championships in his first two collegiate seasons but this week will be his first time competing in one as his coaches selected him among five DU Alpine men that qualified to represent the Pioneers. 

Having recorded eight top-15 finishes this season with five in the top-10, Seymour has posted the best season of his career at DU. He took a career-high second in giant slalom during the Colorado Invitational on Feb. 2 in Steamboat. 

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“It’s super special to be doing it in Steamboat,” Seymour said. “In 2018 my older brother had NCAA champs three and I got to forerun. Just being there forerunning was a pretty incredible experience so now racing it myself and knowing my coaches trust me and believe in me enough to put me on the team is exciting.”

Joining Seymour in the men’s Alpine races is Flanigan, a sophomore at Boston College. Flanigan grew up in Steamboat Springs and is the lone Eagle to qualify for the national championships, ending the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA) season ranked 13th overall. His best run of the season came at the Harvard Carnival where he took third in the men’s giant slalom race. 

Halvorsen, a Denver native who spent her winters skiing in Steamboat, will also make her NCAA Skiing Championships debut as a Harvard senior. In her EISA season, she posted eight top-20 finishes including one push into the top-10. She ranks 18th overall in the association’s rankings and will be one of 17 women from the Alpine Eastern Region to compete this week. 

Soria, a Colby College junior, graduated from Steamboat Mountain School and spent time with the winter sports club while injured during high school. She is one of two Alpine women from Colby to be selected to the NCAA Championships.

Championship week begins Tuesday with opening ceremonies at 3:30 p.m. in the Steamboat Resort base area. Competition starts Wednesday with giant slalom races beginning at 9:30 a.m. on All Out at Steamboat Resort. 

Nordic skiers will get their first go on Thursday at the Howelsen Hill Ski Area near the rodeo grounds. The men’s 7.5-kilometer freestyle race begins at 10 a.m. with the women to follow at noon. 

Friday’s night slalom races at Howelsen Hill are the marquee event of the week which includes a fireworks show between the first and second runs of the night. The women’s first slalom run starts at 6:40 p.m.

The championships wrap up Saturday afternoon at Howelsen with the Women’s 20k Classic at 10 a.m. and the men’s race at noon. The team award ceremony is scheduled for 2 p.m. 

“When Steamboat does any event, it does an incredible job putting it on,” Seymour said. “There’s going to be fireworks before the night slalom on Friday and there might not be any other place in the U.S. where you can have a night slalom like that. The whole town comes and it is such an incredible atmosphere.”