University of Vermont Athletic Hall of Fame
Selma Lie 1991 - Skiing
Selma Lie, a 2003 UVM Hall of Fame inductee, was a four-time, first team all-American who finished in the top five in all seven NCAA individual nordic races in which she competed.
A native of Oslo, Norway, Lie won two individual carnival (Dartmouth and Williams) races as a freshman. She placed third at the Eastern Championships in Middlebury and then was the NCAA runner-up, behind teammate Brenda White at the NCAA Championships. She was a member of the Catamount women's relay team that ran the table in each meet, winning seven races including the NCAAs in the last season the relay was run at the nationals. She was the only UVM skier to run in all seven relay races.
Her sophomore year she won one carnival while finishing near the top in her four other races. Also, for the second straight year, she was a member of the unbeaten relay team. Fifth in the Eastern Championships, she nearly won the NCAA 15-K Freestyle, finishing just four tenths of a second behind teammate, and winner, Sari Argillander, as the Cats swept the top four places. She also came in fourth in the 5-K Classical event as Vermont won the team championship.
In 1990, Lie won one carnival event and finished second in four others while always in the top four. At the NCAA's, she was the runner-up (to teammate Laura Wilson) in the 15-K Freestyle and third in the 5-K Classical as the Cats repeated as national champs.
It was more of the same in her senior year as she won two carnivals in 1991, Bates and UNH, while always in the top four. She capped her collegiate career as the runner-up again in the NCAA 15-K and a fifth place finish in the 5-K.
Selma and her husband, Felix McGrath, the former world-class alpine skier and former head alpine coach at UVM, and their family now live in Norway.
