North Michigan News

The Northern Michigan University (NMU) Alpine ski team concluded their season at the 2025 USCSA National Championships held in Marquette, Michigan. The competition took place from March 11 to March 12, with a schedule change due to adverse weather conditions. Originally planned for four days, the event was cut short after heavy snow and poor visibility were forecasted.

"I am extremely proud of this team," said head coach Erik Lundteigen. "We have established ourselves as one of the 'big dogs' in the room at nationals. We had some really good skiing from our athletes over the week, and I really liked the way our teams got after it on race day."

The NMU men's team secured third place overall, finishing third in both the giant slalom (GS) and slalom (SL) events. Their combined time in the GS was 6:31.83, while they posted a time of 4:19.50 in the SL. Kyan Hopke led his team with a fifth-place finish in the GS and sixth in the SL, earning First Team All-America honors for GS and Second Team for SL.

Aaron Grzelak also performed well, finishing seventh overall and claiming a bronze medal in SL with a time of 1:24.37. Reed Heathman finished 22nd among competitors with strong performances throughout the week.

On the women's side, NMU finished 11th overall despite initial setbacks during day one when multiple spills occurred during their GS run. They rebounded on day two to secure second place in SL with a combined time of 4:49.02.

Ainsley Kirk was pivotal for NMU's women's team, securing Second Team All-America awards by finishing 11th in GS and ninth in SL. Reagan Olli achieved a bronze medal in SL with her performance just narrowly missing second place by 0.06 seconds.

Overall, NMU's showing at the national championships included three First Team All-Americans, five Second Team All-Americans, and two bronze medals across both teams.