Some rankled by rankings

“It’s impossible to argue that EISA [Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association] has the same depth as RMISA, but we have to add that UVM skiers have already gone up against the west’s best in non-NCAA action on a bunch of occasions this year,’’ Hubner said. “You’ll find Catamounts like Kate Ryley and Jonathan Nordbotten trading blows with the same alpiners who rule RMISA – and in some cases badly beating North American national team skiers.

“RMISA is deeper and has more contenders than EISA,’’ he said, “but based on what we’ve seen so far, UVM continues to earn top honors.’’

Denver has captured the last three championships, with Dartmouth winning in 2007.

ESIA skiing continues this weekend at the Middlebury Carnival, then wraps up its regular season the following weekend at Bates College. The national championships take place March 9-12 in Vermont, with the Alpine events at Stowe and the Nordic at Trapp Family Lodge.

Americans bounced Despite a high ranking, the US team was ousted yesterday from the Nations’ Team event at the Alpine World Championships in Garmische-Partenkirchen, Germany.

The event, which pits teams together in a March Madness-style ladder, skiing parallel courses, was won by France, with Austria second and Sweden taking the bronze. The US squad, led by Bode Miller, Ted Ligety, Julia Mancuso, and Sarah Schleper, had a bye in the first round because of its high seed.

But in the semifinals, only Miller won his heat against Cristian Deville as Italy eliminated the US before losing to Sweden. “It’s a cool event and I like the format,’’ said Ligety. “It’s fun to watch and fun to race, but our scheduling in ski racing is so tight that throwing this in the middle of a championship is always hard.’’