Cross training leads King’s Way graduate Coval to skiing nationals

o Events at United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association nationals, March 1-7 at Mount Bachlor Ski Resort near Bend, Ore., are: a 7.5-kilometer classic Tuesday, a freestyle sprint Wednesday, a 15-kilometer freestyle Friday and a classic team sprint Saturday.

o Classic events use a traditional forward movement similar to walking or running, gliding on established tracks in the snow. In freestyle skate skiing, movement is created by pushing forward with the inner edge of the ski, a motion similar to ice skating with the skis moving in a “V” pattern on a groomed trail.

Sources: uscsa.com; skinnyskis.com

Carter Coval played basketball and football at King’s Way Christian School, but it was his recreational pursuits of cycling, skiing and mountaineering that led him to Colorado Mesa University.

With its location along the banks of the Colorado River where the Rocky Mountains give way to the desert stretching west into Utah, the Grand Junction, Colo., area is well suited to those activities.

“I really like Colorado for the outdoors,” Coval said. “Obviously, the weather permits year-round cycling and a very long ski season. The school’s in kind of a medium-sized town, even though I like the big city, but it’s a good fit. They have cycling and skiing, so it’s worked out pretty well.”

It has worked out well enough that Coval is part of both the cycling and Nordic skiing programs at CMU. As “emerging sports” in a transitional period between club status and varsity programs, both are members of organizations outside the NCAA.

Members of the NCAA Division II Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in most sports, the Mavericks compete in the National Collegiate Cycling Association and the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association.

Coval is Nordic skiing for the first time this season, but his inaugural season has led to the USCSA National Championships next week at Mount Bachelor Ski Resort near Bend, Ore.

Alpine to Nordic

Coval, who began Alpine skiing at about age 7, said he hit the slopes mainly at Timberline Ski Area in Oregon while growing up in Ridgefield. He skied for fun, not part of any competitive club.

Those weekend and holiday break trips to Mount Hood became an injury concern for his parents and coaches as he got to high school. His other favorite outdoor activity during the rest of the year was less problematic.

“I did cycling a lot in the offseason to stay in shape, just because I really like it,” Coval said. “There a lot of nice, flat country roads out there and also some good hills — and low traffic, so there are great places to cycle out there, for sure.”

After arriving at campus in the fall, Coval was recruited by a cycling teammate who also competes in Nordic skiing to join that program. Cyclists often use Nordic skiing as offseason cross-training, he said.

“I talked to the coach and told him, ‘I’m on the cycling team and I’ve been Alpine skiing my whole life. I’ve never been on cross country skis, but I want to use this as cross-training,’ ” Coval said. “He told me he would work with me.”

CMU’s Nordic team trains on the nearby Grand Mesa, the largest flat-top mountain in the world that stretches about 40 miles east of Grand Junction.

“Nordic skiing is a lot different than Alpine skiing,” Coval said. “There were a lot of humbling moments in the beginning, which was a fun process, but honestly, it was a lot of fun.”

As a Nordic neophyte, “The first couple of races were pretty bad,” Coval said, but he started to get technique down and his results improved to the point that he qualified for nationals based on season results.

Nationals next

Coval said CMU’s team goal is to finish in the top five, but he does not have specific goals for his individual performance in a nationals field that includes Olympic hopefuls.

“At the end of the day, if I go out there and ski my hardest and ski to my ability, then I’ll be happy,” he said. “It’s rough to have a specific goal, because this is my first time competing at the national level.”

Meanwhile, Coval has been getting on his bicycle periodically so he will not be unprepared for the next season — which will be delayed a bit for him because it begins the weekend the ski team will be traveling back to Colorado.

And while Mount Bachelor is not particularly near Clark County, it is still the Northwest — and Coval is glad to be coming back for nationals.

“It will be nice to set foot in the Northwest again,” he said. “I love being in the Rockies. I love skiing out here and living here, but the Northwest will always be home, so it will be nice.”