University of Vermont Athletics

Laurie Baker Wertz 1983 - Skiing

The first UVM female skier to be named All-American for four years (1980 to 1983), Laurie Baker Wertz was a superb downhill skier for the Catamounts in the early 1980s and later inducted into the UVM Hall of Fame in 1993.

Although she never won an individual national championship, Baker Wertz was the East's top ranked alpine racer each of her four years at Vermont. She finished third at the AIAW National Championships at Stowe in 1982 and was fifth at two other national championship meets. Baker Wertz earned All-American honors in both the giant slalom and slalom, an indication of her versatility in both disciplines. She was the team's alpine captain her junior and senior years and was a key member of UVM's first AIAW national title winning team in 1981 in Bozeman, Mont.

Not only was Baker Wertz an exceptional athlete, she was the 1983 winner of the University's Wasson Athletic Prize, presented annually to the senior male and female student athletes who have maintained the highest standard of academic scholarship and athletic attainment.