PRESQUE ISLE – Kris Cheney Seymour has four months to prepare his cross country skiing team for top-level college competition.

The former Maine Winter Sports Center coach has taken on responsibilities as a lecturer and coach at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, where he will work with the university’s 2-year-old cross country skiing program.

According to Cheney Seymour, the program is one of only three at public universities in New England – and the only one in Maine – to compete in NCAA skiing.

The universities of Vermont and New Hampshire are the other two. Maine private colleges Colby, Bates and Bowdoin also have programs, he said.

“This is an opportunity for kids coming out of high school to receive a quality education while competing at the highest level of collegiate skiing through a fully funded and supported program at the university,” Cheney Seymour said.

The new coach has about 10 skiers on the men’s team and three on the women’s team training for the first competition in mid-January. While the UMPI athletes should be competing at the NCAA Division III level, there are no cross country ski programs offered at similar schools. Instead, the UMPI students will compete against Division I schools.

“It’s very competitive, for sure,” Cheney Seymour said. “It’s a big step with a young team to go from no program [two years ago] to NCAA Division I competition.”

But the coach said he is looking forward to the challenge.

“It also will help us accomplish our team goals in what, I think, is one of the most supportive communities for cross country skiing in the country,” he said.

Cheney Seymour, 34, of Caribou has 12 years of teaching and coaching experience. He has taught at the National Sports Academy, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York and the University of Vermont.

The coach has worked with skiers who have gone on to compete in World Cup and Olympic events. He also has served as head coach with the U.S. Ski Association Mid-Atlantic Division for numerous Junior Olympic championships and as an assistant coach with the U.S. Biathlon Association.

In 1999, he was named the U.S. Olympic Committee Biathlon Development Coach of the Year.

Cheney Seymour said his goals in the next year are to increase the size of his teams and to focus on training for the winter competition.

“We’ll be recruiting for the program and getting the word out that we exist and we’re the real deal here,” he said.