Big Red, white and blue: 2 students on U.S. Olympic team

Freshman Travis Mayer lands after a jump during the moguls qualification run Jan. 20 at the Gateway Freestyle Challenge World Cup on Whiteface Wilderness trail in Wilmington, N.Y. Mayer placed second overall in the men's moguls competition. Melanie Kimbler

By Blaine P. Friedlander Jr.

Although a bumpy ride, it's all downhill from here for Hannah Hardaway and Travis Mayer, the two undergraduate students from Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences who have earned coveted spots on the U.S. Olympic ski team, in the same sport -- moguls.

There are only eight places on the U.S. moguls squad -- four for men and four for women -- so a quarter of the squad is from Cornell.

Mayer said that never in his wildest dreams -- even as late as this past Thanksgiving -- did he believe he had a chance of making the Olympic team. "I went from being on the development ski team to the Olympic ski team in one week," he said. "It's like having four bucks in your pocket, playing the lottery and then winning a million bucks. It hasn't set-in yet and it probably won't set-in until the opening ceremonies."

Mayer, 19, a freshman food science major from Buffalo, N.Y., who now lives in Steamboat Springs, Colo., finished in first place after his mogul run at the U.S. Ski Team Gold Cup competition on New Year's Eve at Deer Valley, Utah. That gave him a guaranteed spot on the men's Olympic team.

Cornell junior Hannah Hardaway opens up during the moguls qualification run Jan. 20 at the Gateway Freestyle Challenge World Cup. She placed second overall in the women's moguls competition. Melanie Kimbler

Hardaway, 23, a junior from Moultonborough, N.H., who majors in applied economics and management, confirmed her spot on the Olympic team at the Gateway Freestyle Challenge in Lake Placid, N.Y., Jan. 20, by finishing second overall in the women's moguls competition. Mayer also competed in the Gateway Freestyle Challenge, finishing second among the men.

Both students are on an academic leave from Cornell while pursuing their Olympic dreams, and both take correspondence courses to keep up with academic credits. Mayer said he plans to return to Cornell for summer sessions, but will take off the fall and spring semesters for training in Chile and France for the 2006 Olympic games in Italy.

Mayer came to Cornell in fall 2000, pursuing a bachelor's degree in food science to help in his family's juice processing business, Mayer Bros. of West Seneca, N.Y., a company established in 1852. Mayer's older brothers, Eric D. Mayer '00 and Garrett A. Mayer '98, each earned bachelor's degrees in agricultural business management and marketing at Cornell.

Debra Perosio, a Cornell lecturer in applied economics and management, is Hardaway's academic adviser. She was delighted to learn that Hardaway had made the Olympic team. When she learned that Mayer also had made the team, she was doubly excited. "That's great news for Hannah, but it really is a small world -- I taught [Travis'] brothers Eric and Garrett when they were here."

Kathryn Boor, Cornell associate professor of food science and Mayer's academic adviser, was equally enthused. "He is the most charming young man I have ever met; he keeps me up to date on his events, and I couldn't be happier for one of my students," she said.

Both skiers followed their older siblings onto the slopes. Hardaway began competing at age 12 for the Killington, Vt., freestyle squad and joined the U.S. Ski Team in 1996. A year later, she won the World Juniors title in Finland. "My brother joined the Killington team, and I wanted to be like my brother," Hardaway said.

In her freshman and sophomore years at Cornell, Hardaway was a centerfielder for the university's varsity softball team. In 1999, she was on the Ivy League championship team.

As for Mayer, he first was put on skis at age 3, competed at age 6 and, like Hardaway, followed his older brothers into the sport. He has won two of three North American skiing events, called NorAms, which are stepping-stone competitions to high-level world events. He has 12 top-10 finishes on the NorAm tour for his career, and he also won the 2000 World Junior title and the Junior Moguls Championship in 1999.

Former Cornell hockey star Joe Nieuwendyk, the center for the National Hockey League's Dallas Stars, will play on the Canadian men's hockey team. He also represented Canada at the 1998 Winter Olympics. Dana Antal, a forward who played two years on the Cornell women's hockey team, also will play for Canada in Salt Lake City.

NBC will televise the Olympic games. The network is scheduled to broadcast the women's moguls final on Feb. 9, the second day of the games, from 8 to 11:30 p.m. EST. (The event takes place earlier in the day, between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., MST.) NBC will televise the men's mogul final Tuesday, Feb. 12, from 8 to 11:30 p.m. EST. (The event takes place earlier in the day, between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., MST.)

CBS television will broadcast a tape of the Gateway Freestyle Challenge, in which Hardaway and Mayer competed, on Sunday, Feb. 10, at 2 p.m.