Courtesy of Colby College Sports Information

WATERVILLE, Maine - Colby College recently announced that Silas Gill will serve as interim head coach of its nordic ski team during the 2012-13 season. Gill was part of the first full team of Mules at an NCAA Skiing Championship.

Colby head coach Tracey Cote will be on sabbatical for the upcoming season. Cote was Gill's coach during the banner 2008 season for the men's nordic team. Gill joined Nick Kline and Wyatt Fereday to form the first-ever full Colby ski team to compete at the NCAA meet. He spent last year as the assistant nordic coach under Cote.

"I am extremely excited and fortunate to have Silas returning to Colby as he begins his coaching career," Cote said. "As an athlete, Silas helped raise our program to a new level and was a key contributor to a team that reached historical highs. He is an extremely talented skier, and he brings an excellent base of knowledge for both training and waxing. Our skiers will benefit greatly from his high-level racing experience and incredible enthusiasm for the sport."

Gill came on strong at the end of the 2008 season, finishing with the best times of the three Colby skiers in both races at the NCAA meet. He was 18th in the 10-kilometer freestyle race to help the Mules finish sixth as a team in the event. Gill also finished 24th in the 20K classical race.

Gill started his solid skiing with two top-10 finishes at the Eastern Championships. He was fifth overall and first among Colby skiers in the 15K classical, as the Mules finished third in the event. Gill also took ninth place in the 10K freestyle, helping the Mules win the event and earn a fourth Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA) victory on the season. The Mules had never won an EISA event heading into 2008.

"I'm confident that Silas will do a terrific job as interim head coach," said Marcella Zalot, Colby's Harold Alfond Director of Athletics. "He did a great job as an assistant under Tracey last year, he's an experienced skier who has had success, and he understands what it takes to be a student-athlete here at Colby."

Gill, a 2009 graduate of Colby, worked as an English teacher at the Inlingua Language School in Verona, Italy, from September 2009 to December 2010. He worked in Park City, Utah, at the White Pine Touring Nordic Center as a ski instructor and The Winter Sports School as a history teacher in 2011.