STANDISH—St. Joseph’s College has begun the process of further expanding its repertoire of men’s and women’s sports. The school will add alpine skiing as a club squad for the coming winter, then kick the program up a notch – to varsity level – for the 2019-2020 season.

Brian Curtin is the Director of Athletics for St. Joe’s, which has developed into a powerhouse in a number of sports, including men’s soccer and women’s basketball. The school attracts a good many top-caliber athletes from across Maine and New England; the addition of alpine skiing to its offerings will no doubt only pique the interest of still more standout competitors.

“We continually strive to find opportunities that advance our athletics department and this is certainly one of the more exciting ways,” Curtin said via press release. “After extensive research and the support of President (James) Dlugos, we felt strongly that adding men’s and women’s Alpine Ski makes a lot of sense and fits in so well with our goals and our surrounding resources.”

St. Joe’s last grew its list of varsity sports in 2012-2013, when it introduced men’s and women’s indoor track and field for the winter and outdoor track and field for the spring. The addition of alpine skiing to the school’s athletics mix will increase the total number of teams to 21 (10 men’s, 11 women’s).

St. Joe’s is currently conducting a nation-wide search for a head coach to lead the new program. The school is online at https://www.sjcme.edu/, while the athletics department has its homepage at https://www.gomonks.com/landing/index.

Adam Birt can be reached at abirt@keepmecurrent.com. Follow him on Twitter: @CurrentSportsME.