Thanks to its perfect location at the gateway to the best alpine skiing, snowboarding, and Nordic skiing in Maine, it’s not surprising the University of Maine at Farmington (UMF) boasts several successful intercollegiate Snow Sports programs: Alpine Skiing (Giant Slalom and Slalom), Freeskiing (Rail, Slopestyle, Skiercross), Nordic Skiing, and Snowboarding (Rail, Slopestyle, Snowboardcross). During the summer and fall months, UMF Snow Sports team members were putting in their dry-land training and are now out on the snow across the Northeast doing what they love.

Photo courtesy of UMaine at Farmington

Over the past several years, the University of Maine at Farmington varsity Snowsports programs have quietly become a national powerhouse. The teams are based at both Sugarloaf and at Farmington’s Titcomb Mountain.

For his efforts, Andrew Willihan, UMF Director of Snowsports and head men’s and women’s Alpine coach, was named the 2022 U.S. Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association (USCSA) National Coach of the Year. He also received the Eastern Region Coach of the Year award in 2018.

Willihan, a 2006 UMF graduate, completed his sixth season at the helm of the men’s and women’s Alpine teams. He oversees all UMF ski and snowsports programs: Men’s and Women’s Alpine, Nordic, and Snowboard / Freeski. His efforts in recent years to improve the caliber of UMF’s training and competition opportunities at Sugarloaf has positioned UMF’s teams for great achievements – now and into the future.

Last season, Farmington sent four competitors to the USCSA National Championships at Lake Placid, New York. Ryan Brueninghaus, Samuel Scheff and Carson Theriault, combined to finish sixth in the men’s Freeski team combined — UMF’s best showing in men’s Freeski at the USCSA national championships. And Women’s Nordic skier Mullein Francis finished 27th among individual competitors at the Nationals.

On the Alpine slopes, four UMF skiers Simon Spear, Abbey Landry, Zach Berliner and Jacob Roy took All-Reynolds Division honors, with Berliner finishing seventh in the Giant Slalom at the USCSA Eastern Championships at Sugarloaf.

With 1,600 students, UMF is a small college, but it has long been a powerhouse in the collegiate ski and snowboard scene, providing its student-athletes the opportunity to compete on a local, regional, and national level. For ski and snowboard minded students who want to compete at a collegiate level, the University of Maine at Farmington provides a nationally recognized college education at a competitive price, while training and racing at the best resorts in the Northeast.

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The 2023 U.S. Collegiate Ski & Snowboard National Championships will be held March 6-11 at Mammoth Mountain, California. (https://www.uscsa.org/2023nationals.html)