Buffs Comeback Bid Falls Just Short At Utah Invite

WEST YELLOWSTONE, Mont. — The University of Colorado Nordic team could not quite complete the comeback for the Buffalo ski program at the Utah Invitational, where CU finished as runner up in its second team meet of the season.

The Buffs recorded podium finishes from Hedda Baangman and Petter Reistad (both placed third) on Friday in the 15/20K freestyle races that were held at the Rendezvous Ski Trails.

Colorado, which trailed meet winner Denver by 56 points entering the Nordic portion of the Invite, had closed to within six points on Thursday, but the Pioneers edged the Buffs in both the men's and freestyle races Friday to claim a 14-point win over CU. DU finished with 650 points to Colorado's 636 and host Utah finished in third with 599½ points.

It was the 22nd regular season meet victory for Denver since skiing merged to a coed sport in 1983 and the Pioneers denied CU of overtaking the overall West Region lead. Utah has won 59½ regular season meets since 1983, sharing the 1985 Wyoming Invitational Title with UW, and has the slight edge on the Buffs (59 wins).

MEN'S 20K FREESTYLE RACE: It was a tight race down the finish in the men's race with the first three all crossing he finish line within 2.8 seconds of each other. Utah's Hakon Hjelstuen won the 20K race with a time of 54:01.1. Then Denver's Dag Frode Trolleboe was able to beat out CU's Reistad at the finish line by 1.1 seconds for second. The podium finish for Reistad, a four-time All-American for the Buffs, was the 11th of his career.

The other two scorers for the Buffs on Friday were Alvar Alev in seventh to earn 25 points and Sondre Bollum in ninth, picking up 22 points. Utah won the men's race with 98 points and DU earned 84 points to top the Buffs for second by three.

Other CU finishers were Andrew Potyk in 18th place and Ian Boucher in 19th.

WOMEN'S 15K FREESTYLE RACE: CU got more solid performances from freshman Hedda Baangman and sophomore Anne Siri Lervik, who came in third and fourth place. Baangman's podium finish follows up her win in the 5K classic on Thursday and for Lervik, she matched her finish from Thursday, the two finishes in fourth being her best results of the young season that now has six complete races (four from the two meets and the two qualifiers from up at the U.S. Cross Country Championships held in Anchorage, Alaska right after the New Year).

Petra Hyncicova was the third scorer for CU's women's team. She finished 12th to earn 20 points for the Buffs.

Freshman Quinn Lehmkuhl placed 25th Friday, following up her 21st finish on Thursday which was her top result of the season.

Colorado tied for second in the women's race with Utah, both schools earing 85 points. Denver won the women's race with 89 points behind its second-, sixth- and seventh-place finishers.

NEXT UP: The Buffaloes are off until the first weekend of February when the New Mexico Invitational runs. The alpine events, two slalom races, are taking place at the Enchanted Forest Ski Area while the Nordic races will take place at Crested Butte, Colo. The races will run Feb. 3-4.

RESULTS
Utah Invitational
West Yellowstone, Mont. (Rendezvous Ski Trails)

MEET TEAM STANDINGS (FINAL):
1. Denver 650; 2. Colorado 636; 3. Utah 599½; 4. Montana State 527½; 5. New Mexico 396; 6. Alaska Anchorage 333; 7. Westminster College 224; 8. Alaska Fairbanks 223; 9. Colorado Mountain College 71.

WOMEN'S 15K FREESTYLE (31 finishers)
1. Guro Jordheim, Utah, 45:42.3; 2. Linn Eriksen, DU, 45:43.9; 3. Hedda Baangman, CU, 46:25.3; 4. Anne Siri Lervik, CU, 47:46.5; 5. Emma Tarbath, MSU, 47:49.6; 6. Taeler McCrerey, DU, 47:57.4; 7. Aja Starkey, DU, 48:00.4; 8. Jasmi Joensuu, DU, 48:40.9; 9. Leah Lange, Utah, 48:50.4; 10. Mariah Bredal, Utah, 49:14.4. Other CU Finishers: 12. Petra Hyncicova 49:46.4; 21. Quinn Lehmkuhl 53:28.0; Christina Rolandsen, DNS;

WOMEN'S 15K FREESTYLE TEAM SCORES
1. Denver 89; T-2. Colorado 85; T-2. Utah 85; 4. Montana State 69; 5. Alaska Fairbanks 51; 6. New Mexico 40; 7. Alaska Anchorage 35.

MEN'S 15K FREESTYLE (34 finishers)
1. Hakon Hjelstuen, Utah, 54:01.0; 2. Dag Frode Trollebode, DU, 54:02.7; 3. Petter Reistad, CU, 54:03.9; 4. Martin Bergstroem, Utah, 54:09.8; 5. Evind Kvaale, DU, 54:19.8; 6. Bjorn Riksaasen, Utah, 55:31.6; 7. Alvar Alev, CU, 55:41.8; 8. Arnaud Guyon, UAF, 55:58.8; 9. Sondre Bollum, CU, 56:31.0; 10. Logan Diekmann, Utah, 56:33.7; Other CU Finishers: 18. Andrew Potyk 58:23.2; 19. Ian Boucher 58:34.8.

MEN'S 15K FREESTYLE TEAM SCORES
1. Utah 98; 2. Denver 84; 3. Colorado 81; 4. Alaska Fairbanks 64; 5. Montana State 48; 6. Alaska Anchorage 39; 7. New Mexico 30

Colorado University Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Alvar Alev

Hedda Baangman

Sondre Bollum

Ian Boucher

Petra Hyncicova

Quinn Lehmkuhl

Anne Siri Lervik

Andrew Potyk

Petter Reistad

Christina Rolandsen

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