Rokos Thrilled with UNM Ski Team Reinstatement

BOULDER — Major news in the intercollegiate skiing world came out of Albuquerque Thursday where the University of New Mexico has overturned the decision to eliminate the Lobo ski team.

After an outcry of support for the UNM program, which won a national championship in 2004 and has captured 17 individual NCAA titles in program history, the team will be reinstated for the 2017-18 season.

This is big news for not only the Lobo community, but for CU, the RMISA and the health of intercollegiate skiing in general.

"Losing New Mexico could have a snowball effect to take us all out," said Richard Rokos, who has been Colorado's head ski coach for the past 27 years and is as knowledgeable on the sport of intercollegiate skiing as anyone.

"I think this one sent a pretty clear message that if we stay together, we will fight it together and support each other and that's what helped us here."

The reasons New Mexico cited to reinstate the program were simple, UNM skiers excel athletically and academically. The Lobo ski team boasts the highest cumulative team GPA in the department at 3.92 for the women's team and 3.60 for the men's.

The same holds true at Colorado where its women's team has held the highest grade point average in the department four years in a row and 12 times overall (was 3.51 this year). CU has won 20 national champions in its illustrious history.

"The (ski) programs, they are actually assets to athletic departments and the whole school in general," Rokos said.

Rokos is quick to add his fast facts to support his claim in the value ski programs bring to universities.

Ski programs are traditionally carrying the departmental flag for academic excellence.
The same applies for athlete achievements.
Skiing is the most obvious example of perfect gender equity.
Ski programs produce role model contributors and assets to society.
Skiing is the last true outdoor sport dealing with all the elements of nature.

To his third point, skiing is just one of three NCAA sanctioned sports that compete coed with both genders combined into one team (along with fencing and rifle).

Rokos is hopeful Thursday's reinstatement of the Lobo program, and the reinstatement of the Alaska programs a year ago, can help spur growth in the sport.

"One thing I am hoping for the future is this will help us create a little momentum with schools who abandoned programs and promised to reinstate them like Western State College, Nevada, Boise State," Rokos said. "This will hopefully help us to do a little more recruiting on that side (to bring back other extinct programs)."

To learn more about New Mexico's reinstatement and how you can help, visit its support website www.saveunmskiteam.com.

Colorado University Athletics

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