By Alicia Nemiccolo MacLeay '97 Full-time college students on the professional freestyle skiing circuit are rare, but one of the best is dean's list biology major Bill McCloy '03. On weekends McCloy trades the lab for moguls courses, where he routinely places first in amateur events and is a top contender in professional contests. N.H. An alpine racer at that point, he had three classmates who were on the freestyle team. Now he'll routinely place first in a field of 80 competitors in amateur moguls competitions, and he's training for a trip to nationals. Each mogul run has two five-foot jumps.
Judges score skiers on lines and turns, air and speed.
But you're limited by the fact that you still have to ski moguls when you land. And his friends back at Colby saw him on television. Although he signed up for more pro meets this year he has no aspirations to make a career of it. Since the NCAA doesn't sanction freestyle skiing, McCloy skis for the Sunday River Ski Club. Last year he started coaching the Sunday River youth freestyle team.