The University of Denver Club Ski Team looks to a high placing at regionals, to be held three weekends from now in Montana.

The Club Ski Team and eight other schools from both Colorado and Wyoming compete against each other every year as part the United States Collegiate Skiing Association.

Denver competes in four major competitions a year, two weekends of Slalom and two weekends of Giant Slalom.

Currently this year, the team has already competed in three competitions, one weekend of slalom in Beaver Creek, one weekend of giant slalom in Winter Park and a weekend of giant slalom in Telluride.

Their final competition before regionals is a weekend of slalom, Feb. 7-8 at Loveland.

“It’s very competitive,” said MacKenzie Landers, president of the club sport.

The Club Ski teams at CU-Boulder and DU are the larger clubs in the region, CU with 40 members and DU with 25. The rest of the teams which compete are varsity teams from that school.

Also, as opposed to the smaller number of competitive athletes who compete for Denver every year, this year the team has 23 serious racers.

Club skiing consists of primarily Divisions II and III skiers. DU’s team has diverse interests, with some beginning skiers as well as some highly experienced, competitive racers. There is, however, always competition for everyone.

Every team ranked in USCSA’s top-five is invited to go to regionals, a main goal for this year’s team.

Over the past four years, the women’s team has gone to regionals, so getting both men and the women’s teams to qualify for regionals is strongly pushed.

“Getting both our men and women’s teams to regionals would be great for us,” said Landers. “It’s always our goal.”

As both the men and women are currently ranked second, this shouldn’t be a problem.

The DU team trains every Wednesday and Thursday night in Keystone, attributing this fact to becoming one of the best club ski teams in the league.

“CU and DU are now two of the dominant forces in the Rockies,” said Landers.

The club not only races, but takes advantage of the great skiing areas in Colorado, and so any students interested in skiing are always encouraged to get involved.

Visit http://www.recreation.du.edu/students/clubSkiing.asp for more details on the DU Club Ski Team.