Cohee to ski for University of Utah

Nick Cohee, a graduate of Douglas High School and a member of the Kirkwood Elite FIS Ski Team for the past five years, will ski for the University of Utah, one of the nation's top NCAA Division I ski teams, beginning the 2008-09 winter season.

One of the country's most highly recruited alpine ski racers, Cohee selected Utah over the University of Colorado, University of Denver and the University of Nevada.

"We are tremendously excited to have landed in our minds the top recruit in the nation for the coming racing season," said Jaka Korencan, head alpine coach for Utah. "We are very confident Nick will help us achieve our goal of winning more NCAA Division I Ski Championships over his four year racing career."

Cohee began racing at the age of nine with the Kirkwood Ski Education Foundation in 1997, and quickly became one of the top juniors in the region. By age 16 he was ranked among the top three in the nation in giant slalom, and was the 2005 J2 National Silver medalist in that event.

He continued to train with one of the world's premier coaches, Guenther Birgmann of the Austrian National Ski Team, and this past season earned his highest ranking ever, 29th in the world among juniors.

At a United States Ski Team Invitational this past February in Park City, Utah he finished among the top five overall, featuring over a dozen members of the U.S. Ski Team.

"I'm excited to be moving to another chapter in my ski racing career by joining one of the top collegiate ski teams in the country," said Cohee, who is recovering from patella tendon surgery and is expected to be ready for pre-season training this fall. "While the other three schools I was considering all have good programs, Utah offered the best overall combination: it has the best training site (Park City), it's easy to get to from Northern Nevada, the airport is great and flights are cheap, the coaching is top shelf, it's a great school and Park City is home to the U.S. Ski Team. Even though I'm heading to college, I'm hoping to keep my dream of making the U.S. Ski Team alive while I compete for Utah."

Cohee's younger brother, Troy, 14, is one of the top 10 ski racers in the Far West Region.