Chandra Daw is the first Gustavus Nordic skier to qualify for the NCAA Skiing Championships.
Daw swept the classic and freestyle races at the NCAA Qualifier in Collegeville.
The Gusties finished third at the CCSA Championships for the second straight year.
Gustavus Adolphus Nordic ski senior Chandra Daw (Duluth, Minn.) has qualified for the 2006 NCAA National Collegiate Skiing Championships after finishing seventh on the final Central Collegiate Ski Association (CCSA) Qualification Points List. Daw is the first Gustavus Nordic skier, male or female, to qualify for the NCAA Championships, which will be held March 8-11 in Steamboat Springs, Colo.
Daw finished with a final point average of 142.46, the best total posted by a Division III skier in the region. Daw is also the first Division III women’s skier to qualify for the NCAAs from the CCSA since 2002 when St. Olaf’s Sonja Bostrom qualified. Also qualifying for the NCAA Championships from the CCSA are Johanna Turunen and Pavla Havlova of Alaska-Fairbanks, Tami Kochen and Lindsey Weier of Northern Michigan, Kristina Owen of Michigan Tech and Johanna Winters of UW-Green Bay.
Daw competed in all ten CCSA qualifying races this season (five classic, five freestyle), leading the Gusties to a third-place regional finish, which ties last year’s result as the best in team history. She also posted a pair of individual wins at the CCSA Qualifer at Saint John’s on February 10-11.
Sophomore Laura Edlund (Forest Lake, Minn.) finished 12th on the final CCSA Qualification Points List, while sophomores Kathleen DeWahl (St. Paul, Minn.) and Sarah Wills (Willmar, Minn.) finished 16th and 17th, respectively. Edlund would be the third alternate from the CCSA to this year’s NCAA Championships.
2004 Gustavus graduate Ingrid Olson narrowly missed qualifying for the NCAAs two seasons ago. Olson was the first alternate to the 2004 NCAA National Skiing Championships from the CCSA, and the best NCAA Division III skier in the central region that season. She missed her bid to NCAA nationals in a tie-breaker with Michigan Tech senior Toni McKnight. McKnight posted better marks at the 2004 CCSA Championships.