Newry, ME – The U.S. Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association’s (USCSA) five-day annual Collegiate National Championship is now underway at Maine’s Sunday River Resort.  Athletes across all four disciplines of alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, freestyle skiing and snowboarding have convened for competitions that will determine the top collegiate teams across the nation.

The USCSA started hosting the U.S. Collegiate Skiing & Snowboarding National Championship 34 years ago where the first events included only alpine and cross-country competition. Today, collegiate athletes representing 80 universities across six regions are competing in 26 events through Friday. This championship represents the best collegiate athletes from around the country and USCSA has member schools in every geographic region of the United States, including 34 alpine teams, 12 cross-country teams, 26 snowboard teams, nine freestyle teams and nine nordic jumping teams.  Events include Giant Slalom, Slalom, Cross-Country Sprints, Cross-Country Relays, Cross-Country Distance, Halfpipe, Slopestyle, SkierCross, and Snowboard Cross. All of the events unfold over the next week at Sunday River Resort and the nearby Bethel Nordic Ski Center. Overall Team Collegiate National Champions will take their place in history on Saturday at the closing ceremony to be held at the Grand Summit Lodge at Sunday River.

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