1955 NCAA Skiing Championships

The 1955 NCAA Skiing Championships were contested in Northfield, Vermont at the second annual NCAA-sanctioned ski tournament to determine the individual and team national champions of men's collegiate alpine, cross country skiing, and ski jumping in the United States.[1][2]

1955 NCAA Skiing Championships

Tournament information
Sport	College skiing
Location	Northfield, Vermont
Dates	March 4–6, 1955
Administrator(s)	NCAA
Host(s)	Norwich University
Venue(s)	Norwich University Ski Area
Teams	13
Number of events	4 (7 titles)
Final positions
Champions	Denver (2nd title)
1st runners-up	Dartmouth
2nd runners-up	Middlebury

Northfield

Location in the United States

Northfield

Location in Vermont

Denver, coached by Willy Schaeffler, repeated as national champions, topping Dartmouth in the team standings.[3]

Highlights

• As a result of the event's location in the East, six programs participated for the first time: Dartmouth, Middlebury, New Hampshire, Norwich, Vermont, and Williams
• Two new individual titles were added to the championship: Alpine (downhill, slalom) and Nordic (cross country, jumping)
• Dartmouth's Chiharu Igaya, a Japanese national, claimed three of the individual titles: alpine, downhill, and slalom
• Denver ski jumper Willis Olson repeated as national champion in his event, the first collegiate skier to accomplish this feat

Venue

This year's championships were contested in Vermont at the Norwich University Ski Area in Northfield. The second edition, it was the first in the Eastern United States.

The NU ski area had a vertical drop of approximately 900 feet (270 m) and closed in 1992.

Team scoring

Rank	Team	Points
	Denver	567.050
	Dartmouth	558.935
	Middlebury	546.878
4	Colorado	540.926
5	New Hampshire	534.663
6	Vermont	530.284
7	Utah	516.429
8	Wyoming	512.081
9	Williams	508.282
10	Norwich (H)	410.847
11	Washington State	373.400
12	Washington	257.018
13	Western State (CO)	91.235

Source:[1]

• (H) = Hosts
• Idaho sent only two competitors; three were required for the team competition.

Individual events

Four events were held, which yielded seven individual titles.

Event	Champion
	Skier	Team	Time/Score
Alpine	Chiharu Igaya	Dartmouth	4:16.7
Cross Country	Larry Damon	Vermont	54:10.2
Downhill	Chiharu Igaya	Dartmouth	2:09.3
Jumping	Willis Olson (2)	Denver	204.9
Nordic	Eirik Berggren	Idaho	7:12.1
Skimeister	Les Streeter	Middlebury	368.2
Slalom	Chiharu Igaya	Dartmouth	2:07.4

Source:[1][2][3]

References

1. "NCAA Skiing Championships Results" (PDF). NCAA. NCAA.org. Retrieved July 3, 2016.
2. "Idaho ski ace places eighth". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). Associated Press. March 7, 1955. p. 17.
3. "Jumper leads Denver in defense of NCAA crown". Nashua Telegraph. (New Hampshire). Associated Press. March 7, 1955. p. 9.