FARMINGTON, Maine – Andrew Willihan, the University of Maine at Farmington's interim director of Snowsports and head men's and women's Alpine coach, has been named the 2022 United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association (USCSA) National Coach of the Year.
The announcement was made during the USCSA's recent summer conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Willihan, who recently completed his sixth season at the helm of the men's and women's Alpine teams, oversaw all six UMaine-Farmington ski and snowsports programs – men's and women's Alpine, Nordic, and snowboard/freeski – in 2021-22 on an interim basis.
"This is a tremendous honor for Coach Willihan and, by extension, UMaine-Farmington Athletics," said Jamie Beaudoin, UMaine-Farmington's director of Athletics. "Andrew has brought stability and tremendous success to our ski and snowsports programs, and his efforts in recent years to improve the caliber of UMF's training and competition opportunities at Sugarloaf will ensure our teams are well-positioned for greater achievements in the future."
This past season, UMaine-Farmington sent four competitors to the USCSA National Championships in Lake Placid, New York.
Ryan Brueninghaus, Samuel Scheff, and Carson Theriault, combined to finish sixth in the men's Freeski team combined, UMaine-Farmington's best showing in men's Freeski at the USCSA national championships. Included in that combined score was a second-place showing in the rail jam, also a team-best performance at USCSA nationals by the Beavers.
Women's Nordic skier Mullein Francis also qualified for the USCSA National Championships, finishing 27th among individual competitors.
On the Alpine slopes, four UMaine-Farmington competitors – Simon Spear, Abbey Landry, Zach Berliner, and Jacob Roy – achieved All-Reynolds Division honors. Berliner went on to finish seventh in the GS at the USCSA Eastern Championships at Sugarloaf.
