The University of Utah is hosting to the 2014 NCAA Ski Championships, beginning Wednesday at Park City Mountain Resort and Soldier Hollow.
The Utes are hosting the event for the first time since 2000.
Utah is coming off its 17th RMISA title. The Utes also won the Pat Miller Invitational to start the season, hosting at the two NCAA venues.
"We are a well-balanced team," Utah Director of Skiing Kevin Sweeney said in a statement. "That bodes well for us in this style of championship event. Everyone is adjusting a bit due to the very erratic weather we have been having. The race surface is constantly changing. This requires the athletes to adjust strategy. I think this could be an area where our level of experience is a real positive."
Utah is one of eight teams that qualified a full team of 12 skiers, including Alaska-Anchorage, Colorado, Dartmouth, Denver, Montana State, New Mexico and Vermont.
The alpine races will be held at Park City Mountain Resort, kicking off with the giant slalom on Wednesday and the slalom on Friday. On the nordic side, the women's 5-km and men's 10-km classical races will be held at Soldier Hollow Resort on Thursday with the women's 15-km and men's 20-km freestyle races on Saturday.
"Other teams are starting to show up and the championship feeling is in the air at SoHo," Utah head nordic coach Abi Holt said. "After a weekend away from racing, I think the main sentiment on the nordic team is that we are ready to get this championship series underway. We're ready to go!"
"We are very excited for this week of racing!" Utah assistant alpine coach Luke Patterson said. "This is the most fun event of the year, as we will be pitting some of the best athletes on the continent in a very small field. Our alpine team is primed and ready to rock."
tah has finished second at NCAA's the last three years. The Utes have won 11 national titles (10 NCAA, 1 AIAW) in their history.
The races will be webcast at http://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule.