Bates Alpine

Rogan Connell

HEAD COACH ALPINE SKIING
Rogan Connell

Rogan Connell has been the head alpine coach at Bates since the 2001-2002 season, making this his 9th full year at the helm. The program has undergone consistent changes for the better since his arrival, be it through the gaining of top recruits for each upcoming season or the further, continuous development of his present athletes. In 2005 Connell was named EISA Coach of the Year.

Before coming to Bates, Connell was the Director of Skiing at St. Michaels College for two seasons. He was also the assistant head coach at Ford Sayre Academy in Hanover, NH, where he coached Roger Brown, who was yet to both become an NCAA All-American as well as a US Ski Team member.

Before his coaching career, Connell attended the University of New Hampshire. He graduated in 1995 with a Bachelor of Arts in Earth Science, in addition to being a two time letter winner for UNH Alpine Skiing.

Email: rconnell@bates.edu

Office Phone: 207.786.6346

Dan Loman

ASSISTANT COACH ALPINE SKIING
Dan Loman

Loman begins his second season as the Assistant Alpine Ski Coach after graduating from Bates in 2008 with a Bachelor of Science in Economics. In his time as a 4 year letter winner for Bates Skiing he competed in the 2007 NCAA championships and as a senior was named captain.

This season Loman looks to aid the Bates Alpine team with a fresh eye. He hopes that by being fresh out of the system he will be able to provide valuable input in the ever-changing sport. Loman will also be skiing competitvely this year, in many cases racing alongside/against his athletes. He anticipates the added level of competition will benefit everyone involved.

Before his times at Bates, Loman attended Killington Mountain School.

Email: dloman@bates.edu

Office Phone: 207.755.6346

Lauren McAllister

STUDENT ASSISTANT / TEAM MANAGER
Lauren McAllister

McAllister begins this year in a new role. Due to some unfortunate head injuries she has been sidelined from racing, but because of her desire to remain with the team and our reluctance to lose such a strong leader and great helper, she is back with us as a student assistant/team manager.

She was also named a co-captain of the team this year and has already shown that she is prepared to guide the underclassmen both on and off the hill throughout the season.

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Thursday, January 14, 2010

Quebec trip and the start of the carnival season

We had a great trip to Quebec for three FIS races (2 GS and 1 SL) last week that served as our final warm-up for the carnival season. We had strong performances from assistant coach Dan Loman (2 wins in GS, 7th in SL), Bump Heldman (3rd in GS, 5th in SL), Alex Jones (3rd in GS), Ben Manter (6th in GS, 8th in SL), Ross Brockman (10th in GS, 10th in SL), Jeff Lathrop (9th in SL), John Canney (11th in GS), Zoe Livingston (4th and 8th in GS) and Kristin Waddle (7th in GS, 14th in SL).

Tomorrow the carnival season begins and we look to continue the strong skiing from the entire group. Watch the results as they happen on www.live-timing.com

Go Bobcats!

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Winter Break Update

It's been busy few weeks here for the Bobcats with the conclusion of Eastern Cups, holidays and our training camp. Here is what has been going on -

Eastern Cups

The men continued to battle weather at Sugarloaf and only completed one of two scheduled GS races and even that race took two days to complete. Bump Heldman continued his early season success with a 4th place.

The women had no weather issues with their races and were able to get all four races in. Here are the highlights.

SL #1

Caitlin Forbes - 8th (Started 24th)

Zoe Livingston - 14th

SL#2

Micaela Holland - 9th

GS#1

Micaela Holland - 5th (3rd second run)

Caitlin Forbes - 12th

GS#2

Caitlin Forbes - 12th (5th second run)

After a well earned week off the team returned to Sunday River to start our training camp on December 29th. Despite the challenging weather of the past week, we have had excellent training.

On the 30th we joined up with the Gould Alpine Competition Program for their first "Carnival" of the year. The GACP carnivals are a series of races they do with their J4 and J5 athletes throughout the season. For the carnivals they divide up all of their athletes into different teams named for each of the EISA schools. We then divided up our group so that that two of our skiers were on each team. Our skiers spent the afternoon skiing, inspecting and racing with their respective teams. It was a great experience for the young kids from the Gould program and our skiers had a great time working with all of them.

Tomorrow starts a busy week of racing. On Monday and Tuesday the men's NorAms are at Sunday River. Bump Heldman and Dan Loman will be racing. Then on Thursday we travel up to Quebec with the entire team to get three FIS starts in before we start classes and get ready for the first carnival of the year.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Men's Eastern Cup Slaloms - Bump Heldman Wins Twice!

The first two Eastern Cup slaloms of the year at Sugarloaf are in the books and it was a great start for the Bobcats as Bump Heldman won both races. Bump was in 4th after the first run yesterday, when the second run was postponed to this morning due to high winds. He started the day off strong by winning the second run and the race. He continued his strong day by winning the first run of the second race and held on in the second run to win his second race of the day. First-year Jeff Lathrop also turned in a strong performance today moving from a start number of 40 to 14th place (9th on the second run). Due to final exams we only had a few guys in the race, but now that exams are done we will have a full group for the GS races this weekend.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

First races of the season

This past weekend marked the start of the race season for the team. Most of the team raced in a pair of USSA slaloms at Sunday River, while Alex Jones made the trek up to Val St-Come in Quebec for a pair of FIS slaloms. Zoe Livingston '13 and assistant coach Dan Loman '08 each picked up a win this weekend. They were both joined on the podium by teammates Micaela Holland '11 and Ben Manter '11 who each finished a close second. In Quebec, Alex Jones '12 picked up a pair of top-20 results against a strong field for a solid start to his season.

At the end of this week we return to racing with the start of the Eastern Cup FIS series at Sunday River (women) and Sugarloaf (men).

Rogan Connell
Head Coach Alpine Skiing
Bates College
Lewiston, ME 04240

www.batesskiing.com
www.eisaskiing.org

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Snow!!!

We finally received our first significant snowfall here in Lewiston. It was great to wake up to 6 inches of snow this morning and actually have it feel like winter. We just finished up our third week of training this week and had hoped to be racing this weekend but the weather didn't cooperate. While there was enough snow on the race hill at Sunday River there was not enough open terrain to close it. None the less it was a great week of training and we look forward to finally getting some racing in this coming weekend.

In other news, assistant coach Dan Loman spent this past week at Beaver Creek forerunning the Birds of Prey downhill. It was a great opportunity for him to ski one of the toughest downhills in the world as well as watch the best skiers in the world. As you can see from the photo of Dan signing autographs, everyone involved in the race becomes a bit of a celebrity.

Coach Loman signing autographs -

View of Mt Washington from the top of Sunday River -

Training on T2 at Sunday River -

Rogan Connell
Head Coach Alpine Skiing
Bates College
Lewiston, ME 04240

W: 207-786-6346
C: 207-240-5374
F: 207-786-8232

www.batesskiing.com
www.eisaskiing.org

Friday, November 27, 2009

Thanksgiving Break Camp

We finished up our 5 day camp on Tuesday and despite the battle with the weather we had a very productive camp. Thanks to the great snowmaking at Sunday River we were able to get 2 days of GS free skiing and 3 days of SL training in. It was great to have the team together for 5 days with out the usual hassle of traveling out west.

I would like to thank Maryanne and Michael Forbes and Sharon McAllister for hosting the team at their respective homes and thanks again to Sharon for also cooking dinner for the team each night. This camp provided us with a great base as we continue to train at Sunday River (one of only two ski areas open in the east) through the end of the semester. It looks like snowmaking temps return this weekend so things should only get better.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.