CCSA announces all-conference teams, Coach of the Year
Central Collegiate Ski Association
Wed, Mar 7, 2012 - By CCSA
The CCSA officially announced its all-conference teams for the 2012 season on Thursday. Alaska saw the most skiers honored, with eight Nanooks earning All-CCSA places, and Northern Michigan landed the most first-team awards, with four.
In addition, Michigan Tech’s Joe Haggenmiller was named the CCSA Women’s Coach of the Year, while Alaska Scott Jerome scooped the conference’s Men’s Coach of the Year award.
On the men’s side, Northern Michigan’s Kjell-Christian Markset and Erik Soderman, Alaska’s Tyler Kornfield and Logan Hanneman, and Michigan Tech’s Mikko Harju made up the All-CCSA first team.
Two more Alaska men (Erik Soderstrom and Ludwig Schott) earned All-CCSA second team honors, as did Saint Scholastica Jeremy Hecker, Michigan Tech’s Jesse Smith and Northern Michigan’s Chris Bowler.
Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan each contributed a pair of skiers each to the women’s All-CCSA first team, with Deedra Irwin and Lynn Duijndam earning the honors for the Huskies and Monica Markvardsen and Rosie Frankowski landing spots for the Wildcats. Alaska’s Marit Rjabov represented the Nanooks on the first team as well.
Michigan Tech’s Malin Eriksson, Northern Michigan’s Molly Burger, and Alaska’s Crystal Pitney, Raphaela Sieber and Heather Edic rounded out the All-CCSA second team for the women.
Haggenmiller, meanwhile, earned Women’s Coach of the Year honors after guiding a young Michigan Tech to second place at the CCSA Championships. The Huskies seemed to gather momentum in a dynamic second half of the season, culminating in a dominating performance at the Green Acres SuperTour stop: not only did a Michigan Tech skier claim college wins both the women’s classic and freestyle events, they also swept the top five college spots in the latter.
“I think this Coach of the Year honor is a real testament to the women on our team,” Haggenmiller said. “It reflects the job that they have been doing in training. These Coach of the Year awards are given to teams that are getting good athletes into their program and have them performing well, so I see it as an indicator that our program is going in the right direction.”
Jerome, who was honored with the Men’s Coach of the Year award, helped the Nanook men to the CCSA title, which they claimed by eight points over rivals Northern Michigan. The Alaska men, who also claimed the Hilltop Invitational team title, topped the CCSA podium five times this season, including an individual CCSA crown for Tyler Kornfield.
“I am humbled to be acknowledged by fellow coaches, and very proud, but it’s really a reflection of the hard work that the team did this year,” Jerome said. “We have a very unified and hardworking group. We travel farther and longer than any other team, and it can be very challenging, but we are all very supportive of one another.”
The All-CCSA teams are as follows:
Men’s:
First team:
- Kjell-Christian Markset, NMU
- Logan Hanneman, Alaska
- Erik Soderman, NMU
- Tyler Kornfield, Alaska
- Mikko Harju, Michigan Tech
Second team:
- Jeremy Hecker, Saint Scholastica
- Chris Bowler, NMU
- Jesse Smith, Michigan Tech
- Erik Soderstrom, Alaska
- Ludwig Schott, Alaska
Women’s:
First team:
- Monica Markvardsen, NMU
- Marit Rjabov, Alaska
- Deedra Irwin, Michigan Tech
- Lynn Duijndam, Michigan Tech
- Rosie Frankowski, NMU
Second team:
- Crystal Pitney, Alaska
- Malin Eriksson, Michigan Tech
- Molly Burger, Northern Michigan
- Raphaela Sieber, Alaska
- Heather Edic, Alaska