When his cell phone rang Monday night and James Southam saw that the caller was the coach of the U.S. Ski Team, a stressful week of waiting and wondering ended.

Southam is going back to the Winter Olympics.

"A big sort of wave of calmness came over me," he said Tuesday after the news was made public.

Southam will join Kikkan Randall on the U.S. Olympic cross-country ski team, giving Alaska -- and the Alaska Pacific University nordic program -- two spots on the four-man, four-woman team.

U.S. officials hope an additional spot will become available at the end of the month. APU officials hope that if it does, it goes to another Anchorage skier. Holly Brooks, an APU coach and racer, is the fifth-ranked woman on the overall national points list, just 1.63 points out of third place.

Laura Valaas, another Olympic hopeful from APU, ranks eighth.

Southam skied his way onto the team at the U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships earlier this month at Kincaid Park. A victory in the 30-kilometer classic and third place in the 15-K freestyle helped vault him to No. 4 on the men's points list and earn him a return trip to the biggest stage in sports. Southam made his Olympic debut in 2006 at Turin, Italy.

"I told the team coach after '06, this one's for experience; the next one's for real," he said. "I think both of us are going in with some high expectations."

That seems to be a sentiment shared by the entire team, which is arguably the most successful in U.S. history. Randall owns a World Cup victory and last season became the first American woman to win a medal at the World Championships. Her Olympic teammaates Andy Newell of Shaftsbury, Vt., and Torin Koos of Leavenworth, Wash., both boast World Cup podium finishes and Kris Freeman of Andover, N.H., has twice placed fourth in World Cup races this season.

"You can just look at our results," said Freeman, who will be making his third Olympic appearance. "Kikkan has been kicking ass. I've had some of the best results of my career. The discipline and overall attitude around the team is better than any time I've been around it."

Added Randall, a member of the 2006 and 2002 Olympic teams: "We plan to show up not just as participants but as real contenders."

Randall, 27, and Southam, 31, spoke Tuesday at a press conference at APU. It was a fitting setting, not only because both train at APU, but because the school has a rich history in Olympic skiing. Back in the 1970s when the school was known as Alaska Methodist University, the Jim Mahaffey-coached team sent a number of athletes to the Olympics.

Besides a room full of cameras, the press conference attracted members of each skier's family. Decked out in hot-pink attire -- the signature color of the ever-growing Kikkan Fan Klub -- parents Ronn and Deb Randall and brother Tanner showed up with a bouquet of pink roses and a gallon of chocolate milk. Southam's dad Dean didn't come empty-handed either -- he carried Southam's daughter, 14-month-old Hazel.

Southam started ski racing in high school, when he failed to make the Service High basketball team. He's a three-time member of the U.S. World Championship team, a five-time national champion and the reigning Tour of Anchorage champion. He was a varsity skier in high school, but no star. He'd been in the sport for almost 10 years before winning his first domestic Super Tour series race in 2002, which is about when he started blossoming.

Randall, meanwhile, was pretty much born on skis and bred to succeed. She was turning heads by the time she was in middle school and was just 19 when she made her Olympic debut. Her aunt, Betsy Haines, was a member of the 1980 Olympic team and her uncle, Chris Haines, was on the 1976 team.

Randall clinched her third Olympic berth prior to the national championships at Kincaid, thanks to her top-30 status in World Cup rankings. She swept all four gold medals at Kincaid, where Brooks and Valaas each claimed a silver medal in their effort to make Team USA -- Brooks in the 20-K classic and Valaas in the classic sprint. Brooks added a fourth-place finish in the classic sprint, giving her top-four finishes in two of the four races.

But that wasn't enough to put either on the Olympic team. It was a close call for Brooks, who ranks fifth on the national points list with 49.40, just 1.63 points out of third place. Valaas is eighth with 62.12 points.

There's still some hope for Brooks. A new quota system in place this season bases team size on World Cup performance; the more skiers a country has in the top 300 of the world rankings, the more skiers they can take to the Olympics. Not all countries are expected to fill their quotas though, so other countries could pick up some extra spots when the final quotas are announced Jan. 27.

During a teleconference Tuesday afternoon, U.S. Ski Team nordic director John Farra didn't want to speculate about potential team expansion.

"I would say we've tried to avoid looking into the crystal ball. If reallocation becomes a possibility, we'll deal with it then," he said.

Head cross-country coach Pete Vordenberg said he spoke with athletes who just missed making the team and emphasized to them that they should keep preparing for the Olympics in case new spots become available.

Though the U.S. Ski Team didn't name alternates to the cross-country team, APU coach Erik Flora said he thinks the leading contenders for that designation are Brooks and Garrott Kuzzy of Minneapolis, the fifth-ranked man on the national points list.

He also thinks only one of those two will make it to Vancouver.

"I think it's quite reasonable for (the United States) to get one more spot. Two is a bit of a stretch," Flora said. "I think right now it would come down to Holly or Garrott."

Going into the national championships at Kincaid, an Olympic berth looked tantalizing close for Brooks, 27, who in one year's time made a stunning and sudden emergence as a national-class ski racer.

She's a coach at APU, a job that kept her out of racing until last season. After losing a photo-finish in the American Birkebeiner in February and winning her second straight Tour of Anchorage in March, Brooks decided to enter the distance national championships in Fairbanks late last season. The coach came home with a bronze medal in the 15-K pursuit.

Brooks went on to win four out of six Super Tour races early this season in Montana and Canada and came up with two solid races at the national championships, including her silver-medal finish in the 20-K classic.

"It's wonderful what Holly's done," Flora said. "She's skiing really well right now. I hope she makes it."

Five Alaska athletes are certain of a flight to Vancouver: Randall, Southam, biathletes Jay Hakkinen of Kasilof and Jeremy Teela of Anchorage, and women's hockey player Kerry Weiland of Palmer. Besides Brooks, one other Alaskan is clinging to hope -- snowboarder Callan Sifsof-Chythlook of Girdwood, who gets one final chance later this week to earn a spot on the boardercross team.

Flora will also be part of Team USA as a member of the cross-country coaching staff. He said he expects to work primarily with Randall and Southam.