Bradshaw Underhill ’25 is competing in his first season on the Middlebury ski team this year, but this isn’t the first time a member of the Underhill family has competed for the Panthers. His mother and grandmother both skied for Middlebury, and from a young age, Underhill has aspired to race for the Panthers too.
Those who know Underhill won’t be surprised he made it to Middlebury — his goal-oriented approach has allowed him to achieve nearly everything he has set out to do this season.
“Brad brings a detailed and organized approach to training and racing scenarios on our team,” Stever Bartlett, head coach of the Alpine ski team, said.
Underhill aspired to podium this season, and finished second in both the Colby and Middlebury Carnivals. He had the goal of being named Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA) Rookie of the Year, and he recently took home that honor as well as EISA Skier of the Week. Underhill wanted to represent his team at the NCAA Championship as well, and he is seeded second out of the East Region in the Giant Slalom (GS) leading up to next week’s contest.
Underhill is one of the best young skiers in the NCAA — and he doesn’t plan on slowing down.
In fact, the whole Middlebury Alpine team is primed for a bright future. Teammates Justin Alkier ’22 and Lucia Bailey ’22 took home EISA All-East honors, but the talent of the Alpine team reaches beyond its senior class.
“We all try to push each other in different ways,” Underhill said of his teammates. Two of them, Ali Nulmeyer ’24 and Michel Macedo ’22.5, have even competed in the Olympics.
The teammate who influences Underhill the most, however, is fellow emerging rookie Axel Bailey ’25.
“I don’t like to let [Axel] beat me,” Underhill joked, but he recognized how their competition has pushed them both to be better skiers and teammates.
“We’ve become really close because obviously we spend so much time together,” Underhill said about Bailey. “He’ll build on what I’m good at and I’ll build on what he’s good at.”
Even as first-years, Underhill and Bailey are an integral part of the Alpine team’s success.
“Brad and Axel will play important roles this year at NCAA’s and in the future years,” Bartlett said. “Their experience qualifying and competing at NCAA’s will be of use to the younger skiers as they enter Middlebury and learn to navigate social distractions, effective training and competition, and academic demands.”
The two skiers will be competing at the NCAA Championships in Park City, Utah, this week. Of course, Underhill has his own aspirations for the competition, aiming to podium in the GS.
As for the future, Underhill has his sights on continuing his collegiate success while also emerging on the national stage.
“Outside of college racing I think it would be really sweet to be on the podium in a couple [North American Cups] and that would kind of be the next step to moving onto World Cups or back onto the [U.S.] Ski Team,” he said.
