Top college skiers, snowboarders returning to Bachelor

The U.S. Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association (USCSA) will host its five-day annual Collegiate National Championship starting Tuesday at Mt. Bachelor.

“Over 500 competitors will compete for National collegiate titles in alpine, Nordic, snowboard and freeski events in the beautiful Cascade mountain range,” the Massachusetts-based organization said in a weekend news release. The 2015 championships also were held at the Central Oregon resort.

Here’s the rest of their announcement:

USCSA is the only ski and snowboard league where colleges and universities compete and qualify for post-season competition as a team. This emphasis on team performance is a departure from the typical individual or world cup scoring format often found in skiing.

Allowing entire teams to qualify for the USCSA Collegiate National Championship also allows for a greater number of competitors to attend the event, with over 225 alpine athletes, 200 freeski and snowboard athletes, and 100 Nordic athletes competing this coming week at Mt Bachelor.

“The USCSA is excited to return to Mt. Bachelor, OR for the 2017 National Championships. We look forward to a great event, at a great venue and want to continue our focus on continuing to improve the quality of team competition and athlete experience,” said Andy Rangen, President of USCSA.

Teams began their quest to qualify for the U.S. Collegiate Skiing and Snowboarding National Championship TM in their local conference competitions, held across 11 conferences spanning the nation, this January. Top teams from each conference attend one of 6 regional championships, which decide who ultimately qualifies to participate in events at the USCSA Collegiate National Championship.

Results from all events can be found at www.uscsa.com . A full list of all athletes and teams competing at the USCSA Collegiate National Championship is at https://uscsaregistration.sportngin.com/

Beginning Tuesday, the USCSA Broadcast Network will bring audiences over 70 hours of LIVE, multi-camera HD video coverage from all three competition venues at its web portal: http://broadcast.uscsa.com . Scott “Boss” Hogg returns to lead the USCSA Broadcast Team at alpine, joined by legendary snowboard announcer Brad Jay (Olympics, X-Games, DEW Tour) at snowboard/freestyle, and 1984 Olympic cross-country skier Dan Simoneau at nordic. Visit http://broadcast.uscsa.com for more information, including live-timing, daily schedules, and on-demand archived broadcasts.

The USCSA is the sports federation for collegiate team ski racing and snowboarding in America. The USCSA believes that student-athletes of all levels and abilities should have access to quality and exciting venues of competition. USCSA athletes agree that our team orientation fosters a collaborative approach across their collegiate athletic and academic careers, and often this mentality proves indispensable in their adult lives and careers.

The organization includes 138 colleges from coast to coast, fielding over 4,400 male and female, alpine, freestyle, cross-country, snowboarding and nordic ski jumping athletes in over 300 events annually.