Thorson is ranked 89th in the world in the slalom.

May 12, 2008

SALT LAKE CITY - Utah men's alpine skier Tague Thorson has been nominated for inclusion on the 2009 U.S. Ski Team, it was announced Friday by the United States Ski and Snowboard Association.

Although the team will not be officially announced until this summer, Thorson has told Utah's coaching staff that he will accept the nomination.

"We are disappointed to lose Tague but this is a victory for him, reaching his lifetime goals," Director of Skiing Eli Brown said. "It's also a victory for our program, to send an athlete on to the next level. We're proud of the program we have put together and hopefully we can do this again in the future.

"Our group is here for the same reason - they want to get better and continue to develop. This is a definite statement to what we want to do - develop athletes. With the Olympics coming up in 2012, we have several individuals who are strong contenders for their sport and their country and we want to make that happen for them."

The U.S. Ski Team is nominated each year based on a number of criteria, generally though International Ski Federation (FIS) rankings and results in international competitions. Thorson is one of just a handful of alpine skiers (men or women) to reach the U.S. Ski Team as a collegiate skier in the past 30 years. He was the only collegiate skier nominated this year.

"It's still kind of sinking in," Thorson said. "This is something I've worked towards for a long time. The school gave me a chance to keep competing at the level I wanted to compete at. It's an opportunity a lot of schools don't give college skiers. It was good."

In order to ski enough international races to make the U.S. team, Thorson took summer classes at Utah last year before taking the fall semester off to race and train in New Zealand. He won the giant slalom title at the 2007 Australia-New Zealand Cup in September. During the spring semester he continued to compete in FIS and North American (NorAm) Cup races, in addition to the races on the Utah skiing schedule.

One of the reasons it is difficult for college skiers to make the U.S. Ski Team is because of the challenges balancing collegiate and national races with the demands of school.

"Tague really proved it can be done," head alpine coach Jaka Korencan said. "His goals were high and his commitment was 100 percent with both his academics and athletics. Tague's time management skills are amazing. He took care of his schoolwork first so that he had time to go to FIS races and train more.

"We are so excited and so proud of him. He is a great person and a hard worker. We gave him an opportunity and he put the commitment into it. It shows everyone in collegiate skiing that it's still possible to improve in college and grow as an athlete."

In addition to his success on the ski slope, Thorson has one of the highest grade point averages on the team.

During the 2008 college season, Thorson was the top overall men's alpine NCAA Championships qualifier, finishing first in the slalom standings. He had two slalom wins during the year, at Western State and New Mexico. Although Thorson had the best overall time in the slalom at the NCAA Championships, he was disqualified after hooking a gate.

Thorson had two slalom wins in 2008 for the Utes.

"Skiing in college really gave me a chance to keep improving with training," Thorson said. "It gave me more time to mature as a skier. Consistency in college is important, rather than an all-or-nothing attitude all the time.

"I'll miss school. I enjoy school. I like a lot of my classes. I'll miss my friends. I'll still hang out with them - I'm not disappearing. I plan to come back to school and finish my degree. There's no question about that whatsoever."