New Program Director!

Welcome to Maria Stuber who is the new program director for the SMST2 Team!

Maria was hired in August of 2016 as St. Scholastica’s second-ever men’s and women’s Nordic ski coach. In her first two seasons with the Saints, she coached three athletes to NCAA Championship appearances. She also coached Mia Zutter, who competed at the 2018 PyeongChang Paralympic Games. In 2019, Stuber guided Emil Book Bratbak to a National appearance, becoming the first freshman skier to qualify for the NCAA Championships. Stuber continued success into the 2021 season with five skiers qualifying for nationals, the second All-American in program history, and the women’s team having the maximum number of skiers qualifying for the NCAA Championships. 

In 2022, Stuber coached Emma Stertz to the top finish for an American, 17th place at the Biathlon World Junior Championship. During the 2023 season, under Stuber’s leadership, the Nordic ski team raced a record-breaking season. The team obtained multiple Central Collegiate Ski Association team wins, Victoria Dybwad and Zachary Jayne skied to individual NCAA Central Region Champions, the men’s team won the NCAA Central Region Championship, and, for the first in program history, the maximum number of men qualified for the NCAA championships. Stuber also coached Max Nelson who qualified for the Para World Cup and earned a spot on the National Team. In 2023, Stuber was named the Central Collegiate Ski Association Women’s Team Coach of the Year, the Tucker Center Women Coaches Symposium College Coach of the Year and the US Ski and Snowboard Adaptive Domestic Coach of the Year.    

Stuber is a graduate of NCAA Women Coaches Academy 1.0 and 2.0. She has been a WSF VanDerveer Mentor twice and her first mentee, Kristen Bourne, recently took on a coaching position for the US Ski Team. Outside of coaching, Stuber started a nonprofit organization in 2018 called the Women Ski Coaches Association (WSCA) to develop, retain, and advance women in ski coaching leadership and to provide a platform for women coaches to have a voice in skiing. The WSCA is a fast-growing organization with international membership. Their mission is to develop, retain and advance women in ski coaching leadership.

Stuber earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Northern Michigan University (NMU) in Biology/Physiology in 2007 and then went on to earn her Master’s in Exercise Science from NMU in 2010.  Stuber was a two-time First Team All-CCSA (Central Collegiate Ski Association) selection and was a three-year team captain, including the 2007 season where she captained the only Nordic ski team in NCAA history to sweep the podium in both events at the NCAA Championships.

We are very excited to have Maria join us in Stratton, she has been with the T2 team in Bend for the first training camp of the year and plans on joining the team in Stratton in July!