SALT LAKE CITY – Westminster College congratulates its 18 U.S. Ski & Snowboard student-athletes who will compete for Team USA in South Korea next month. All of campus will be watching and cheering them on as they pursue their athletic dreams. 

Westminster is proud to be an Official Education Partner of U.S. Ski & Snowboard, the national governing body for competitive skiing and snowboarding. U.S. Ski & Snowboard nominated 18 Westminster students for the 2018 team last week. The athletes will represent the United States next month in events like giant slalom, moguls skiing, snowboardcross and Nordic combined. Athletes train at the Center of Excellence in Park City, Utah, while studying 30 minutes away at Westminster College in Salt Lake City.

Together, Westminster and U.S. Ski & Snowboard help national athletes achieve excellence in the classroom and on the slopes. More than 140 U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes have attended Westminster College since the partnership began in 2005. The average GPA for all Westminster U.S. Ski & Snowboard students is 3.6. While they all compete in snow sports, they’re individually earning degrees in and exploring varied passions like art, entrepreneurship, physics and biology. They balance intense training schedules and rigorous coursework with inspiring determination.

QUOTES
Megan McJames, three-time Olympian, amateur baker, Westminster junior and finance major
“I think the type of person that I am — and most athletes are — is a little type-A. We like to do our best at everything. When you’re pursuing your best in sports, those skills translate into school and vice versa.

As an athlete, school has been a great outlet for me to take a break from thinking about skiing all the time and realize there is other stuff out there. It has given me skills that translate into making me who I am.”

Abby Rinquist, ski jumper and Westminster art major
“I’m super grateful to get one-on-one time with professors who appreciate what I do. They’re all supportive of the dreams that I have as a student, and the dreams that I have as a person and an athlete.”

Faye Guilini, three-time Olympian, Grand Prix champ, Westminster junior and accounting major
“I was the kid who was in summer school a lot. It took me an extra year to graduate high school and I didn’t really see secondary education as an option. Then I made the national team and thought ‘if I can be the best at my sport, I can get through college.’ I started at Westminster and saw that these professors are willing to be there when you’re in South America or halfway around the world. That’s very beneficial. I have a 3.9 GPA, something I never thought I would have.”

2018 Team USA members from Westminster College

• Maddie Bowman (freestyle): junior, biology
• Bryce Bennett (alpine): first-year, undeclared
• Ryan Cochran-Siegle (alpine): sophomore, physics
• Alex Ferreira (freestyle): sophomore, finance
• Bryan Fletcher (Nordic): junior, health education
• Taylor Fletcher (Nordic): sophomore, marketing
• Jared Goldberg (alpine): sophomore, undeclared
• Faye Guilini (snowboard): junior, accounting
• Devin Logan (freeskiing): sophomore, communication
• Wiley Maple (alpine): sophomore, history and psychology
• Megan McJames (alpine): junior, finance
• Madison Olsen (freestyle): sophomore, business
• Abby Ringquist (ski jump): junior, art
• Morgan Schild (freestyle): first-year, undeclared
• Liz Stephen (cross-country): first-year, undeclared
• Brita Sigourney (freestyle): junior, business
• Darian Stevens (freestyle): first-year, business
• Jacqueline Wiles (alpine): first-year, undeclared

Facts about Westminster’s U.S. Ski & Snowboard Students:

• Thirty-three U.S. Ski & Snowboard alums have graduated from Westminster
• Currently, 52 student-athletes are attending Westminster
• More than 140 student-athletes have taken classes at Westminster
• Westminster students have competed in two previous Winter Olympic Games:
  • 2010 Vancouver
    • 14 students
    • One bronze
  • 2014 Sochi
    • 23 students
    • Two gold, one silver, one bronze
• U.S. Ski & Snowboard students compete in a variety of competitions throughout the year, including X Games, FIS World Cups and Grand Prix events

Visit www.westminstercollege.edu/us-ski-and-snowboard for more information.

Media Contacts:  Krista DeAngelis and Arikka Von, 801-832-2682
About U.S. & Ski Snowboard:

U.S. Ski & Snowboard is the Olympic sports organization based in Park City, Utah, providing leadership and direction for elite athletes competing at the highest level worldwide and for tens of thousands of young skiers and snowboarders in the USA, encouraging and supporting all its athletes in achieving excellence wherever they train and compete. By empowering national teams, clubs, coaches, parents, officials, volunteers and fans, U.S. Ski & Snowboard is committed to the progression of its sports, athlete success and the value of team. One of the oldest and most established sports organizations worldwide, directly tracing its roots back to 1905, U.S. Ski & Snowboard receives no direct government support, operating solely through private donations from individuals, corporations and foundations to fund athletic programs that directly assist athletes in reaching their dreams.

About Westminster:
Westminster is a private, independent and comprehensive college in Salt Lake City, Utah. Students experience the liberal arts blended with professional programs in an atmosphere dedicated to civic engagement. With the goal of enabling its graduates to live vibrant, just and successful lives, Westminster provides transformational learning experiences for both undergraduate and graduate students in a truly student-centered environment. Faculty focus on teaching, learning and developing distinctive, innovative programs, while students thrive on Westminster’s urban Sugar House campus within minutes of the Rocky Mountains. For more information, visit www.westminstercollege.edu or follow WestminsterSLC on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

The integration of technology and sport has a long, rich history. This is especially true in snowsports where equipment and technological innovations have helped increase speed, performance, pure spectacle and safety in all snowsports disciplines.

Now, in 2018, Virtual Reality is the latest technological innovation to be introduced to the sporting world, especially for U.S. Ski & Snowboard, the Olympic organization that is the governing body for ski and snowboard sports in the USA.

U.S. Ski & Snowboard, based in Park City, Utah, have been working in the VR field with STRIVR in a project funded by U.S. Ski & Snowboard partner Visa and the United State Olympic Committee. STRIVR are the California-based VR specialists whose work in VR helps to improve the performances of individuals, corporations, and sports teams. In the case of U.S. Ski & Snowboard, this work is specifically with their High Performance division, under the leadership of Troy Taylor, High Performance Director at U.S. Ski & Snowboard.

“We first started working with STRIVR around two years ago,” explains Taylor. “Since then, we have seen that the value of the work we do with STRIVR is confirmed in the feedback we have from our athletes and their coaches taking part in World Cup and Olympic events. They feel that 360 video and VR increases both the confidence and performance of the athletes in events.

U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes are using 360 videos and VR in multiple ways in competition, from inspections of the race course, helping athletes learn the lines they will race through, to helping athletes rehabilitate from injuries.

“Our athletes have very limited time and opportunities to train on race courses when they are competing in World Cup or Olympic events,” Taylor said. “The clear advantage of VR is that it is a great way to help athletes get more used to and learn specific courses, which is an obvious performance benefit. The implementation of VR is also part of a larger strategy of US Ski & Snowboard’s High Performance department to embrace the leading edge of technology and innovations to equip our athletes with the latest tools to aid their performance.

“The feedback we have from our athletes suggests that the biggest benefit of using VR is building confidence,” Taylor continued. “They feel they know the courses they will race on better, so when they come to ski on it during a race they enter the start gate with an increased confidence level. That is a big part of competition, having the confidence to attack parts of the course where you can find time, so that’s a clear benefit.”

In simple terms, through the work U.S. Ski & Snowboard is doing with STRIVR in VR, the organization now has “mental access” to each course their athletes compete on, meaning they can mentally prepare for the race they are going to ski: the positions of the gates, the terrain, the way the turns appear—all this mental preparation and visualization is crucial to this sport at the highest level. Before STRIVR, it was impossible to get these repetitions unless you just closed your eyes. Now it’s completely possible and very advantageous for athletes competing right across the U.S. Ski & Snowboard sport spectrum.