4.0 skier makes the podium for UAA and USA

On March 8, sophomore skier Hailey Swirbul finished third at the NCAA national championship in classic skiing. Even more impressive? Two days later, she finished second at the national 15-kilometer freestyle event, with her parents, her brother and even her dog cheering from the sidelines.

Even more impressive, she holds a 4.0 in civil engineering, all while traveling the world representing UAA and the USA.

Hailey hails from El Jebel, Colorado, where her parents pushed her onto Nordic ski trails as a kid. She didn't enjoy the sport, though, until she joined the Aspen Valley Ski Club in fifth grade. As a student on a club team, Hailey was well accustomed to missing days of school to get to weekend races. The difference now, of course, is the distance. In Colorado, meets were often in the neighboring state. From Alaska, they may require weeks out of town.

"It's incredibly busy being a student-athlete," she said of her time at UAA. This semester, she estimates she's been away from campus more than she's been in class, due in part to her extracurricular involvement on Team USA's under-20 team. She traveled to the Junior World Ski Championships in Switzerland in February, finishing second in the 5k classic and third in skiathalon in the world. It was her third world juniors, and she ended her under-20 ski career as the most decorated U.S. junior in team history.

"I was really fortunate to be able to make that team and to be over there representing the USA this year," she said.

To make that opportunity work with her college schedule, she had to prepare well in advance. Hailey took extra courses in the fall so she could have a better balance in the spring skiing season. For her, school and skiing are equally important, and she wants to excel in both.

"I think for me it's really important to have a balance and have more structure in my life," she said. "I like to have something else ... When you do have a bad race, you always know there are other things that are important in your life as well."

Ever the optimist, she sees the long-term benefits to her short-term schedule. "It's been a challenge keeping up with schoolwork and learning material on your own, but I think it teaches you a lot about time management and figuring things out when you need to, which is a blessing in disguise."

One of her strategies is emailing professors before the semester, just to explain herself and make sure her schedule will work with the class.

All her professors, she said, "have been super understanding and flexible, allowing me to make up work and posting things online for me to see. They're all cheering me on."

Her professors, she added, understand the demands on her and other student-athletes. "That's a really good thing about UAA," she said.

Though she's found a great fit here, UAA was completely off her college radar. After racing in Fairbanks in 2012 during the deep, dark winter, "I swore I would never come back to Alaska after that," she said with a laugh. UAA coach Andrew Kastning asked her to consider coming up North to compete, and she decided to at least fly up for a campus visit.

"I definitely loved it right when I got off the plane," she recalled. "The mountains were glowing pink with the sunset and it was a beautiful day." Now, she gets to experience that view all year long, roller skiing down campus bike paths in summer, taking long mountain runs through the front range in the fall, even doing strength training with a snowy forest outside the gym windows in winters.

Kastning is glad she made the choice. "Hailey takes the talents she has and applies them to all aspects of her life," he said. "Work ethic, focus, and long-term goals play great in a ski racing season, but even better in the classroom. She has all that, with the added ability to squeeze that extra little bit out of herself in the season's biggest races."

Hailey has found support throughout the school, from her teammates who help motivate her on challenging days to her teaching assistants who open the engineering labs so she can make up work. One time, she had to complete three labs back-to-back-to-back, but the TAs made it possible.

She's quick to thank her network of coaches, trainers, teachers and teammates, but Kastning has kind words for her in return. She's an inspiration to those around her, he said. That affects both her teammates on the trails and her classmates in the lab.

"UAA is lucky to have someone like Hailey on campus," he said.