Tor Hanson said the theme for the St. Olaf College ski team this year is growth. There’s a good reason: the Oles enter 2024-2025 with their largest ski team ever.

“Our teams have a strong foundation of upperclassmen but we’ve added an abundant and eager incoming class of quick first years as well, which is very exciting,” the first-year head coach said earlier this off-season. “Our team has a lot of potential that we’re honing now to tap into for the upcoming season.”

The Oles have experienced pretty significant recent successes, too. The women won the Midwest Collegiate Ski Association’s Collegiate Cup and ran away from the 14-team field at the national championships last March in Lake Placid, scoring 58 points — well clear of runner-up Wisconsin (104) and third-place Paul Smith’s College (117). Lily Hubanks won the 7.5-kilometer freestyle interval start and snagged a silver in the 15-kilometer classic mass start, finishing behind teammate Amaeli Kam-Magruder. Both return from a roster whose only significant graduation is Julia Everest, whom Hanson described as a “strong skier and quiet leader throughout her career.”

Some strong local recruits have arrived on top of the hill in Northfield as well. Watch out for Stillwater’s Lily Ward and Annika Fuhrmann and Duluth East’s Liesl Cope-Schaeffer. Cope-Schaeffer was a member of the sprint relay state championship team in 2022 and 2023 at competed at Canadian Junior Nationals in 2023. Fuhrmann captained the Ponies and was part of the second-place state team as a junior. The Oles also bring back another Duluth East product in junior Grace Chandler (26th overall at nationals) and Fairbanks’ Hjelle Personius, who notched a 15th-place finish in the sprint at Mt. Van Hoevenberg.

On the men’s side, Hanson is excited to see how Lance Hastings and Daniel Gladkov perform coming off “a solid foundation of training during high school and this past summer.”

Gladkov was part of three conference championship teams and a state championship team at Wayzata while Hastings was a two-time all-state skier at Brainerd. They’ll join a team that sent four athletes (Wesley Sumner, 10th overall, Tait Myers, 17th overall, Trey Bosworth, 33rd overall and Felix Taracena, 38th overall) to nationals en route to a fifth-place team finish. All four national qualifiers return to the roster this year.

St. Olaf 2024-2025 schedule

• Jan. 2-7 – U.S. Nationals – Anchorage, AL
• Jan. 12 – Pre-Loppet – Minneapolis, MN
• Jan. 18-19 – CCSA Invite – Brillion, WI
• Jan. 25-26 – Minneapolis JNQ – Minneapolis, MN
• Jan. 25 – Half Noquemanon – Ishpeming, MI
• Feb. 1-2 – CCSA Invite – Duluth, MN
• Feb. 1 – Mt. Ashwabay Skiathlon – Bayfield, WI
• Feb. 8 – Vasaloppet and Dala – Mora, MN
• Feb. 15-16 – USCSA Regionals – Rhinelander, WI
• Mar. 10-15 – USCSA Nationals – Bend, OR

MCSA Collegiate Cup Standings (2024)

**The final two events — the Mora Vasaloppet and the American Birkebeiner — did not figure into the team scores

Women

• St. Olaf – 366
• University of Minnesota – 297
• University of Wisconsin – 248
• University of Minnesota-Duluth – 194
• University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire – 123
• Northland College – 14
• Northern Michigan
• Carleton College – 10

Men

• University of Minnesota-Duluth – 306
• St. Olaf College – 285
• University of Minnesota – 243
• University of Wisconsin – 243
• Michigant Tech – 180
• Northland College – 21
• Northern Michigan – 19
• University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire – 2
• Carleton College – 2

Taking over for a legend

Hanson took over for longtime coach Kevin Brochman — a member of the 1984 and 1988 U.S. Olympic teams — after working as his assistant last year.

“I’m thrilled to be in this new position of opportunity and I’m working hard to uphold a high standard of comprehensive coaching for the athletes this season,” said Hanson, who himself skied for St. Olaf and had past coaching stints with the Minneapolis Ski Club and Armstrong High School. As he steps into a new role, Hanson’s goals for athletes are mostly process-focused.

“I want the athletes to focus on showing up and being intentional with their time during practices, lifts, and supplemental learning so that they are continuously evolving as athletes,” he stated. “With this in mind and the proper support, I believe that both teams will make upward progress in the CCSA (Central Collegiate Ski Association) standings despite their relative youth.”

St. Olaf’s impressive performances last year season came in spite of a rough winter — if one can even call it that — in the Midwest last year.

“Training and races were difficult with limited access to trails and snow,” the coach said. “Despite the weather conditions, our team performed admirably over the year and kept their spirits up.”

While the 2024-2025 campaign officially started Oct. 7, athletes have been holding rollerski and run workouts since before Labor Day, Hanson said.

“I’ve been very impressed by the enthusiasm and dedication I’m seeing already,” he said of the 16 women and 14 men that make up the team. “This year with quality summer training, timely workout plans, and a fantastic team environment, they will blow the season out of the water.”

“I’m incredibly proud of the team being built at St. Olaf,” he continued. “They strive not only to excel as athletes but they are encouraged to find balance and value in their academics and student work as well. St. Olaf is a college and community of great holistic value and they’re adding to it fantastically.”