Years before February 2002 and the Olympic Winter Games, the prospect of the Games was drawing potential skiers to the U.
Former Ute skier and current exercise and sport science/ environmental studies major Pat Casey was one such athlete.
“Having the Olympics factored into my decision to come to the U,” he said.
“I wanted to stay West, and the U was the only viable option. I was looking to ski somewhere with a developed NCAA program. It turned out to be a perfect fit,” said Casey, a Sun Valley, Idaho, native, who came to the Wasatch Front as a six-time U.S. Junior Nationals champion.
As a Ute, he did not disappoint.
Casey earned All-American status as a freshman and again as a senior, and he qualified for the NCAAs in three of his four years of eligibility. In his final two years with the Utes, he won the team’s Alf Engen Outstanding Sportsmanship Award.
Were his accolades all just preparation for the Olympic Games?
Apparently not.
“This Olympics is not the pinnacle [of his cross country skiing career]. My goal in cross- country is not just to be named to the team,” he said. “And I have other races to go to if I do not make the team.”
That’s not to say Casey wouldn’t feel a sense of accomplishment if he won the right to represent the U.S. in February.
“The Olympics has been a general goal since high school. I have had other goals year-to year, but the Olympics has been an overall goal since probably 11th grade,” Casey said.
Currently, Casey is placed 15th on the Olympic cut, and only eight skiers make the team. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the fifth year assistant won’t make it.
“The way things are looking, I could get on with a sprinting position on a discretion,” Casey said. “It’s determined on a joint point process between the U.S. Olympic Committee and the U.S. Ski Team, but the sprint races aren’t pulling in the points.”
The sprint race is new to the 2002 Olympic Games. It will be a 1.5 km freestyle sprint, and will be raced in a series of elimination rounds instead of timed trials.
The only problem is that the races are less frequent.
“He’s been racing strong and he’s healthy, but he didn’t have an opportunity for the Gold Cup,” said Casey’s former coach, Kevin Sweeney. The U.S. Ski Team Gold Cup was held Dec. 28-31 at Soldier Hollow, the Olympic venue for 2002, but without any sprint events.
“I won’t race [in Salt Lake City] again until the Olympics,” said Casey, if indeed he makes the cut.
His next race comes at the U.S. Cross Country Championships in Bozeman, Mt. Races began Jan. 5 and will continue until Jan. 13.
Still, the Olympic trials formula is hardly clear-cut. In fact, it’s down-right confusing, explained Casey. “It depends on who races at the Olympic trials?who’s there and how well they ski. It depends on me and how I do, but other factors contribute as well.”
If his efforts are enough to get on the team, Casey is shooting for a Top 20 finish at the Games. He said he expects a finish in the Top 20 because of a lack of international experience. He placed in the Top 30 at the World Cup last year, but has little international experience beyond that.
Yet, if Casey doesn’t make the Salt Lake 2002 team, he won’t sweat it. The 24-year old said there is plenty of time for him to earn a spot on future Olympic squads.
“Cross-country skiers usually don’t hit their peak until they are 30 years old.”
Casey’s family bought tickets to the Games in case he made the Olympic team, so if Casey doesn’t achieve his goal he will go watch the event.
However, his former coach feels Casey is climaxing at the right time.
“He’s racing well enough and seems to be peaking, I’m confident he’ll make the team. If he keeps skiing like he has, he’ll do it,” said Sweeney, who believes Casey is the second or third fastest cross country sprinter in the U.S.
It may not be the ultimate goal, but a spot on the U.S. Olympic roster will do.