If getting a spot on the 2002 U.S. Cross Country Ski Team was based solely on achievement, Torin Koos would be a lock for the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.
In a sport where athletes usually don’t peak until they are into their 30s, the 21 year-old’s resum reads like one of Olympic caliber.
Koos, a junior majoring in pre architecture, was an All American as a sophomore, turning in a seventh-place finish at the NCAA Championships last year.
He was a first alternate for the 2000 Winter Goodwill Games, and he qualified and finished 29th at the 2001 World Nordic Skiing Championships in Lahti, Finland. The pace was the second highest for any American.
After a ninth place finish in his first World Cup race, held in Utah at Soldier Hollow, Koos was named to the U.S. Ski Team.
He shined there as well.
Koos took first place in the freestyle race for the United States at the Continental Cup held in Fairbanks, Alaska, Nov. 3. Koos added a third place finish in the same race 20 days later.
Most recently, Koos returned from a European trip with the team, a trip in which he competed in three World Cup races. Koos recorded a 29th place finish in the classic competition in Asiago, Italy and he crossed the finish line 33rd in the freestyle at Salzburg, Austria. However, his best finish came Dec. 27. Koos, the only American racing, glided to a 20th place finish in the freestyle sprint race at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, the site of the 1936 Winter Olympics.
“He’s the top sprinter that our country has. It’s very favorable he will be chosen,” said Koos’s coach at the U, Kevin Sweeney.
Even Koos is a little tickled with his rapid progress. “I didn’t know I would be at this level so soon,” he said.
Not bad for the guy who came to the University of Utah from Leavenworth, Wash., on a track/cross country running scholarship.
Koos walked-on to the U ski team, complete with a guarantee he had a spot on the team.
“I didn’t want to go somewhere that wouldn’t let me ski,” Koos said.
So Koos competes at both, although skiing seems to be the weapon of choice with his recent success.
It is something cross country head coach/track distance coach Brian Appell is willing to accept.
“He raced early in the cross country season, but I don’t want [running] to detract in any way from his skiing,” Appell said. Koos redshirted the 1999 running season and is only a sophomore in regards to his cross country/track career.
As far as the Ute ski team goes, Sweeney is patient with one of his top cross country skiers in Koos’ quest for a spot on the Olympic team.
“He will prepare for the Olympic Games and participate in them, and hopefully he’ll be back with us at regionals and nationals,” Sweeney said.
The Utes’ Regional Championships are underway Feb. 27-28 in Anchorage, Alaska, and the NCAA Championships take place March 6-9 at the same site.
Sweeney and the Utah ski team open up competition Jan. 9-10 at the Montana Invitational. Koos will be in Bozeman, Mt. at the same time for the U.S. Cross Country Championships Jan. 5 13. Sweeney is still unsure if he will use Koos in the meet, or if he will hold him from the racing to concentrate on his Olympic trials and to prohibit injury.
If Koos races for the U at the Montana Invitational, he would miss three of Utah’s six ski competitions to pursue his Olympic dream. Koos won’t be present for the Nevada Invitational from Jan. 13-14, the Denver Invitational from Jan. 25-26 or the New Mexico Invitational from Feb. 8-9.
But the junior is eager to pursue his shot at the Olympics. “The Olympics is something I’ve thought about since I was eight. It would be great?a dream come true, everything everyone talks about. All that stuff,” he said.
Koos said making the team would be a bonus because he could turn in a good time at the U’s home course, the 2002 Olympic venue at Soldier Hollow.
“I really like the course because it fits the way I ski. The way the hills are, with the climbs and then the recovery. I can recover in sections because my speed compared with anybody,” said Koos, who is aiming for a top 10 finish at the Games. “The course is up there with any place in Europe. And here they put on races as good as any place in Europe.”
Koos is all but a lock for the Olympic Games when they come to the U’s backyard. Even though he came to the U as a runner, Torin Koos is going places on skis.