Sylvan Ellefson ’09 and Emily Bamford ’15 share a pedigree as Bobcat skiers, but they’re taking very different trails toward their goal of skiing at the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Olympic hopeful Emily Bamford ’15 is on leave from 乐播传媒 this year as she seeks a spot on the Australian Olympic team. (Photo: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Their paths are, quite literally, polar opposites.

An Alpine skier, is from Melbourne, Australia, and she’s been a member of the Australian national ski team since she was 16.

Ellefson is a Nordic skier from Vail, Colo. Though he did earn All-America honors as a 乐播传媒 skier, he graduated with little hope of achieving success as a professional skier, and he’s never been a member of the U.S. ski team.

Emily Bamford ’15 zooms past a gate in the giant slalom at the NCAA East Regional Meet in February 2013. (Photo: Cory Ransom)

Their paths and backgrounds differ. But,聽say their 乐播传媒 coaches, what they share besides 乐播传媒 is a decent chance at earning berths on their respective Olympic teams, both of which will be chosen in January.

On leave from 乐播传媒 this winter, Bamford is training with other Aussie skiers in Colorado, where her most recent effort was a 27th, the third Australian skier, in a slalom race.

“Emily is going to be ranked either the second or third skier from Australia,” says Rogan Connell, head coach of the 乐播传媒 alpine program. “If she is second, she is guaranteed to make the Olympics.”

Follow the hopefuls on Twitter: Ellefson , Bamford .

Emily Bamford ’15

And if she is ranked third, “she would need help,” Connell says, from complex selection criteria that can expand or limit the number of athletes a country can send to the Olympics.

Connell describes Bamford as a “talented athlete, hard worker and determined person.”

Though he’s lost a top skier for the year, Connell says it was a no-brainer when it came to offering his unconditional encouragement.

For one thing, he asks rhetorically, “How many opportunities does someone get to represent their country in the Olympics?” Second, he notes, a current 乐播传媒 student earning an Olympic berth would spell gold for the 乐播传媒 skiing program from a recruiting perspective.

If Bamford is something of an insider, Ellefson has been knocking at the door.

Never named to the U.S. Ski Team, he’s had to fund his training and equipment himself. He works as a property manager part-time, and gets support from 22 sponsors, big names like Fischer and L.L.Bean and hometown Vail supporters like Happy Valley Grill and Big Delicious Catering.

Olympic hopeful Sylvan Ellefson ’09. (Photo: Steve Fuller ’82)

He races under the name Team HomeGrown, an elite-level club begun in 2009 by Ellfeson and his ski buddies, part of Ski and Snowboard Club Vail.

However unconventional his route, Ellefson can ski, and he gets faster and faster each year.

Doing very well in Super Tour races in 2011-12 allowed him to jump to the elite World Cup circuit, and he raced in Russia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Finland, Norway and Sweden.

鈥淚t鈥檚 super exciting,鈥� Ellefson told the 鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely something you have to get used to, though. Every week you鈥檙e racing Saturday and Sunday and you鈥檙e traveling between 300 miles and 2,000 miles.鈥�

His former 乐播传媒 coach, Becky Flynn Woods ’89, says that World Cup experience is a big plus when it comes time for the U.S. Ski Team to select its Olympians.

Experience aside, “in reality his selection will come down to points earned in races and slots available,” the latter determined by complex selection criteria, as is the case with Bamford.

Ellefson competes at the U.S. Cross Country Championships in 2012 at Black Mountain in Rumford. (Photo: Steve Fuller ’82)

Ellefson has one clear route to the Olympic team: win a race at the in Soldier Hollow, Utah, during the second week of January. “If he wins, he’s likely to go” to Sochi, Woods says. A win is not out of the question, as Ellefson snagged a bronze at the 2012 championships.

Racing in North America this year, Ellefson picked up points as the second American, and third skier overall, in a 15k Super Tour race at West Yellowstone, Mont., three weeks ago. He skipped a subsequent Super Tour race in Bozeman due to extreme cold weather, then finished fourth in a Rossland, British Columbia, race last weekend, Dec. 14 and 15.

Woods says that skipping Bozeman was the right thing to do. “I think he’s still in a good place, and racing in extreme cold can really compromise your immune system. Given what he has to do in the next few weeks, he can’t risk that.”

In a series of profiles of female college Nordic coaches for FasterSkier, former Olympian Nancy Ingersoll Fiddler ’78 checks in with Becky Flynn Woods ’89.

Woods tells Fiddler that a big part of her job is to help her Nordic skiers meet the rigorous dual challenge of 乐播传媒-caliber academics and Division I-caliber skiing competition.

Becky Flynn Woods ’89 and her father Bob Flynn (second from right) accept the Chummy Broomhall Cup as the top Maine college ski team from then-Maine Gov. John Baldacci in 2007. The award’s namesake, Chummy Broomhall, is at left. Photo courtesy of Kris Dobie.

鈥淏alancing their workloads is a challenge,鈥� she says. 鈥淎cademic schedules combined with daily, consistent training and racing is a tough combination but something that is so worth it.鈥�

Among her former skiiers are four All-Americans 鈥� Sylvan Ellefson ’09, Justin Easter ’03, David Chamberlain ’98, and Justin Freeman ’98. Freeman is a former Olympian, and Ellefson ’09 has his sights set on Sochi, Russia, for 2014. 鈥淲hen skiers from 乐播传媒 are skiing on the World Cup and at the Olympics, it certainly feels like we are having an influence at a level larger than just collegiate skiing,鈥� Woods says.

Still, most 乐播传媒 skiers will not continue racing after 乐播传媒, so Woods’ overall goal as a coach is to prepare all her athletes for “what is to come” in life, she says, “physically, mentally and emotionally.”

While Sylvan Ellefson 鈥�09 hasn鈥檛 banished sweets or Commons crispitos from his diet, he has honed an understanding of what his body needs to perform at peak level.

“I was definitely not conscious of eating a balanced diet my first year here,” says Ellefson, a Nordic skier from Vail, Colo., who won All-America honors at last year’s NCAA Skiing Championships. “But in the past two years I鈥檝e really realized what it means.”

With the Bobcats hosting the 2009 NCAA Championships, March 11鈥�14, and with 乐播传媒 in the midst of its yearlong focus on food, Ellefson and his teammates have ample reason to make 乐播传媒 Dining Services an honorary member of their team.

“Commons does a great job of providing us with the food we need for how we train,” Ellefson says.

For example, when the Nordic team travels during carnival season, their van carries Commons-provided snacks like granola, breads, fruits and yogurt for immediate post-race nutrition. “Your body recovers more quickly if you get food right after a race,” explains Nordic teammate Sam Evans-Brown ’09.

When it comes to establishing healthy food routines, the teammates support each other, says head coach Becky Flynn Woods 鈥�89. “It鈥檚 about getting into the right habit. For example, the skiers racing later in the day will take time in the morning to prepare food, like PB&Js, for everyone to eat right after the races.”

Nordic skier and teammate Nicole Ritchie ’09, twice an All-American rower as well as a skier, has become conscious of her food choices for another reason. “A friend is doing a thesis that focuses on corn syrup,” she says. “I鈥檝e been reading over her shoulder. The amount of energy going into producing corn syrup is pretty disgusting.”

All-American Nordic skier Sylvan Ellefson '09 wears a St. Christopher medal for a bit of good luck to complement a rigorous training regimen.

While Sylvan Ellefson 鈥�09 hasn鈥檛 banished sweets or Commons crispitos from his diet, he鈥檚 honed an understanding of what his body needs to perform at peak level.

“I was definitely not conscious of eating a balanced diet my first year here,” says Ellefson, a Nordic skier from Vail, Colo., who won All-America honors at last year鈥檚 NCAA Skiing Championships. “But in the past two years I鈥檝e really realized what it means.”

Now, he and his teammates consider 乐播传媒 Dining Services to be part of their team. “Commons does a great job of providing us with the food we need for how we train,” Ellefson says.

For example, when the Nordic team travels during carnival season, their van carries Commons-provided food like granola, breads, fruits, and yogurt. Not for the skiers鈥� major meals 鈥� they get meal money for that 鈥� but for quick post-race nutrition. “Your body recovers more quickly if you get food right after a race,” explains Sam Evans-Brown 鈥�09, Ellefson鈥檚 teammate.

When it comes to establishing healthy food routines, the teammates support each other, says head coach Becky Flynn Woods 鈥�89. “It鈥檚 about getting into the right habit. For example, the skiers racing later in the day will take time in the morning to prepare food, like PB&Js, for everyone to eat right after the races.”

These days, the Nordic team鈥檚 training is especially motivated, what with For Ellefson, a Colorado-raised skier not recruited by any Division I schools out West, his competitive cup runneth over. “I鈥檓 proud to race as a Bobcat,” he says. “I love it in Maine.”

An alpine enthusiast growing up, Ellefson and his Vail Mountain School soccer buddies took up cross-country skiing to stay in shape during the winter. As a high school sophomore, he won skimeister as the best performer in Nordic and alpine events. By then, he knew his forte was Nordic so he dropped alpine, comparing it to choosing soccer over baseball when, as a little kid, he “couldn鈥檛 hit the ball off the tee.” But as a relative latecomer to Nordic skiing, Ellefson came East for college when Division I schools passed him up.

Highly competitive by nature, Ellefson describes his mother, Tashina, as a “tremendous” athlete. His late father, Lyndon, who helped found the sport of skyrunning 鈥� high-altitude, long-distance running 鈥� died in 1998 when, on a training run near Cervinia, Italy, he fell into a hidden snow crevasse, dropping 75 feet to his death.

Sylvan Ellefson is well-aware of his father鈥檚 reputation as a highly motivated competitor who pushed himself hard. “I feel that if I can do something really well, I can carry on his legacy,” he says. “In my case that鈥檚 Nordic skiing.” Looking ahead to his post-乐播传媒 racing career, he wants to “get to that level,” referencing the accomplishments of Nordic alums like Justin Freeman 鈥�98, a 2006 U.S. Olympian, “and then do better.”

Ellefson鈥檚 specialty is freestyle, like skating on skis, and he earned trips to the NCAA Championships in both 2006 and 2007. Last year was a breakthrough season, as he won freestyle races at the season-ending carnivals at Williams and Middlebury, the first-ever wins for a 乐播传媒 Nordic skier on the Eastern Collegiate Skiing Association circuit. At the 2008 NCAA Championships, Ellefson finished fourth in the 10K freestyle, one of only three Americans, and the only Division III skier, in the top 10.

While Ellefson targets another top-five finish, teammate Evans-Brown, a Spanish major from Gilmanton Iron Works, N.H., is so eager to qualify for his first NCAAs that he spent last summer in Argentina, living with a government official who鈥檚 a cross-country enthusiast, so he could train on snow. “I had easy access to skiing and was well-fed,” he says. “Lots of meat, for breakfast, lunch, snacks.”

There, he earned a reputation as “the kid who always eats,” and Evans-Brown estimates that he and Ellefson will take in 6,000 to 9,000 calories a day while training hard. That鈥檚 more than triple the typical daily diet of 2,500 calories 鈥� if not quite the famous 12,000-a-day regimen of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps.

While the Nordic team tends to frequent Italian restaurants on the road for a good balance between protein and carbs, “what you eat right before a race is not so important, I think,” Evans-Brown says. What鈥檚 critical is “fueling yourself well while you鈥檙e training.”

At a recent campus meal, Ellefson and Evans-Brown are joined by Nicole Ritchie 鈥�09 of East Dummerston, Vt. Twice an All-American rower as well as a skier, she has begun to avoid processed food. “A friend is doing a thesis that focuses on corn syrup,” she says. “I鈥檝e been reading over her shoulder. The amount of energy going into producing corn syrup is pretty disgusting.”

In the new dining Commons, Ritchie gravitates toward local products: apple cider from Greenwood Orchards, chocolate milk from Oakhurst Dairy, and hamburgers from grass-fed, Cold Spring Ranch beef (see page 16) for her training fuels. She also frequents the vegan bar.

“Making your own food choices takes a lot of different economic and environmental issues into your hands,” says Ritchie. “It鈥檚 really cool that Commons supports us in making these decisions.”

By Andy Walter, photograph By Phyllis Graber Jensen