An Article in the Defender

For those of you who don't know, the Saint Michael's College on-campus paper is called The Defender.
The whole paper can be viewed HERE. This article on the alpine ski team ran in this week's issue. It was written by staff writer, Colin Ellis.


There have been some major changes to the St. Michael’s alpine ski team since last season ended.

The first big change made was declaring a new head coach. Gus Macleod, ‘02, was the assistant coach during last year’s season, but assumed the position of head coach when Warren Palmer stepped down after six years.


Macleod comes from a long history of skiing, including three years coaching the Mt. Mansfield Ski Team and four years coaching the U.S. Ski Team. Macleod also spent two years skiing and training with World Cup Men’s Speed Team. Macleod’s cousin, Molly Macleod, was also named the new assistant coach for the team.

“I am looking forward to the challenge of leading the St. Michael’s alpine ski program to the next level,” Macleod said. “It’s a program that I highly value, and that I believe can do great things in the Eastern Intercollegiate Skiing Association (EISA).”


Macleod said the team will be a better team than previous years.



“This year we have a stronger team overall,” Macleod said. “It’s tough to compete against the bigger schools, but we can get in there and mix it up for a few of them.”

One goal is to improve the team’s standings to be in the top four for competitors at the races, known as carnivals, Macleod said.



New captain for the women
This year, sophomore Gabbi Hall was named captain of the women’s team. Hall says her personal goal as captain is to bring everyone together early on in the season.


“It’s an individual sport,” Hall said. “But in college it needs to be like a team sport.”


Having been on the snow since she was three years old and racing since she was eight, Hall is excited about the potential of this season, she said.

“[Last season] was an up and down season,” Hall said. “The team had solid finishes, but there was room for improvement.”

Hall said there were only five girls racing for the team last season, even though each team is allowed six. The downside is that according to the Federation of International Skiing rules, in order for the race to count, the team needs at least three racers to finish.

“There were a few carnivals last year where our third person didn’t finish,” Macleod said.

Junior Ashley Langlands also has high hopes for the new season and new coach.


“The girls’ team struggled last year,” Langlands said. “We’re a smaller school and we struggled to finish. But this year looks good.”





Severed ties with Smuggler's Notch

In the past the team used Smuggler’s Notch as its only facility. This year the team is no longer directly tied with Smuggler’s Notch, and will travel to Stowe more often.
Seth Cole, sports information director at St. Michael’s, said that Macleod comes from a long history of prior experience that qualifies him to coach the team.
“Our team has pretty consistently finished in the top 10 of the East, usually 8th, 9th or 10th place,” Cole said.

Cole says it will be hard to predict how this season will turn out so early on, but the overall feel on Macleod’s promotion is positive.

“Continuity helps,” Cole said. “They’ll at least perform at the same level as last year.”

“I’m excited about Gus,” Hall said. “He’s a great guy. He’s not afraid to tell you if you had a bad run.”

Macleod’s youth and experience will be beneficial to the team, Langlands said.
“He has experience and it’s easier for us to talk to him and for him to connect with us,” she said.

Macleod said that his attitude can help the athletes this season.
“I’m more communicative with the athletes, a little more aggressive and in your face,” Macleod said.

Last season the team only had eight men and seven women skiing for the team, Macleod said.

This year’s team currently stands at ten men and ten women. Each will have to cut one racer so the roster will be nine a piece. The team will be traveling to Sunday River over Thanksgiving break, and will have the roster finalized shortly after that.
The season officially begins in January.