Saturday, February 24
Steamboat Springs, Colo.
All Day
Colorado
vs
RMISA Alpine Qualifier (Giant Slalom)
Buffs Pull Into Second at Halfway Point of RMISA Championships
February 24, 2018 | Skiing
Even moving up from third to second, Buffs drop back further from leader DU, now trailing by 44 points
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. — The Colorado ski team moved into second place Saturday at the halfway point of the RMISA Championships that doubles as the NCAA Western Regional, but saw meet leader Denver University widen its lead after the completion of 4-of-8 events.
Saturday kicked off the Nordic racing – women's 5K classic and men's 10K classic at Howelsen Hill - with Colorado's women's team finishing in second place and the men in third.
The Buffs did move ahead of Montana State, who held a one-point edge in the standings on CU after the first day, but day-one leader DU was able to increase its lead by another eight points on Saturday.
DU has 350 points at the midway point to Colorado's 306. Utah, who's 192 total Nordic points Saturday was the highest in the field, sits in third with 281 points. Montana State fell from second to fourth, now with 263 points overall.
WOMEN'S 5K CLASSIC RACE: Colorado finished second in the race with its three scorers finishing third, sixth and ninth.
Sophomore Anne Siri Lervik repeated her third-place performance from last season's RMISA Championships, finishing her 5K in a time of 18:19.9. It is her third podium finish of the season and fourth overall.
Junior Christina Rolandsen was sixth for the Buffs and Ane Johnsen ninth to round out the scoring. CU totaled 83 points, which was 19 off of race winner Utah who had the top two individual finishers plus another Ute finishing in seventh.
Johnsen has now put together four straight races finishing in the top 10.
MEN'S 10K CLASSIC RACE: Denver won the race with 97 points thanks to Dag Frode Trolleboe and Eivind Kvaale finishing one-two.
CU's top finishers were fifth and sixth, with junior Petter Reistad recording the top time by a Buff at 33:09.8. Freshman Alvar Alev was right behind in sixth and Sondre Bollum placed 13th, securing 19 points as CU's final scorer.
Colorado totaled 75 points in the men's race, 15 behind second place Utah and 22 behind the Pioneers.
RMISA ALPINE QUALIFIER: Also running on Saturday was the second of two RMISA Alpine Qualifier races for the season. These are used only for NCAA individual qualification points and do not count for team scores. The qualifier Saturday was a giant slalom race at Mt. Werner.
Top finishers for the Buffs were Ola Johansen on the men's side, placing fifth, and Tonje Trulsrud on the women's side, also in the fifth spot.
NOTEWORTHY: Colorado or Utah have won the last eight RMISA Championships, but Denver is looking for its first regional title since 2007.
In the regular season, both the CU men and women scored the most points in the RMISA in freestyle races. However, on the alpine side, the giant slalom races are not the strongest of the two disciplines for the Buffs. The men's team did rank second in GS points won during the regular season while the women were third.
CU INVITATIONAL/SPENCER JAMES NELSON MEMORIAL: As Colorado is hosting the 69th annual championships, the meet also serves as the CU Invitational/Spencer James Nelson Memorial. It is in honor of the former Buffalo skier who lost his life just prior to his sophomore season at CU in August 2011.
UP NEXT: Sunday will see the final four events of the championships run – the two giant slalom races for alpine at Mt. Werner and the 15/20K freestyle mass start for Nordic at Howelsen Hill.
QUOTEABLE
Head Nordic Coach Bruce Cranmer
On The Women's Race
"It was kind of mixed. I felt like for Anne Siri that was a really good race, she was very close to second place and for her I think that was a really good race. I think that everyone else was kind of in the hunt, obviously we are always hoping to be where we were earlier (in the season) going 1-2-4 or things like that. Hopefully we can regroup and step it up. I know Hedda has been struggling with her body a bit, so that battle continues for her and I'm not really sure what is going on there. All in all it wasn't as good as we were hoping, but it was okay."
On The Men's Race
"More or less with the men it was kind of the same. I think Sondre fell off a little bit there at the end maybe, he started pretty fast but just couldn't stick with it. The boys felt like they were a little bit tired, I know they've been kind of focusing more towards NCAAs than this weekend, but still it would have been nice to have been a little higher up. Obviously some other teams did really well, Utah women and DU men. Hopefully we can step it up in about 10 days (at the NCAA Championships)."
Looking Ahead To Sunday's Freestyle Races
"Skating is different, a mass start is different, longer race and a little different too, but hopefully we'll be up closer and maybe in front of where we were today. That would be my hope for sure. I think that they are doing okay, but not great, especially after Alvar winning both races (at the DU Invite) I was hoping he would be back up there, but we'll see how tomorrow goes. It is always a little bit different in these mass starts and I think it is supposed to be a fraction warmer. I don't know if that helps or hurts, but I think most of them enjoy racing when it is a little warmer. Hopefully we'll step it up a notch for tomorrow."
2018 RMISA CHAMPIONSHIPS/NCAA WEST REGIONAL
Feb. 24, 2018 | Howelsen Hill
MEET TEAM STANDINGS (final):
1. Denver 350; 2. Colorado 306; 3. Utah 281; 4. Montana State 263; 5. New Mexico 224.5; 6. Alaska Anchorage 182.5; 7. Alaska Fairbanks 94; 8. Westminster College 79; 9. Colorado Mountain College 39
WOMEN'S 5K CLASSIC TEAM SCORES:
1. UU 102, 2. CU 83, 3. DU 68, 4. UAA 60, 5. MSU 58, 6. UAF 48, 7. UNM 35
WOMEN'S CLASSIC (31 finishers):
1. Gury Jordheim, UU, 17:46.8; 2. Leah Lange, UU, 18:02.9; 3. Anne Siri Lervik, CU, 18:19.9; 4. Jasmi Joensuu, DU, 18:22.3; 5. Hailey Swirbul, UAA, 18:27.0; 6. Christina Rolandsen, CU, 18:30.2; 7. Karianne Moe, UU, 18:44.9; 8. Linn Eriksen, DU, 18:46.2; 9. Ane Johnsen, CU, 18:56.4; 10. Anna Fake, MSU, 18:57.5. Other CU Finishers: 15. Hedda Baangman 19:15.1; 31. Quinn Lehmkuhl 20:38.7.
MEN'S 10K CLASSIC TEAM SCORES:
1. DU 97, 2. UU 90, 3. CU 75, 4. MSU 56, 5. UNM 55, 6. UAF 46, 7. UAA 35
MEN'S SLALOM (35 finishers):
1. Dag Frode Trolleboe, DU, 32:28.0; 2. Eivind Kvaale, DU, 32:30.3; 3. Martin Bergstroem, UU, 32:43.7; 4. Bjorn Riksaasen, UU, 33:04.2; 5. Petter Reistad, CU, 33:09.8; 6. Alvar Alev, CU, 33:16.4; 7. Hakon Hjelstuen, UU, 33:19.5; 8. Logan Diekmann, UU, 33:20.9; 9. Erik Axelsson, MSU, 33:43.4; 10. Erlend Nydal, UNM, 33:45.2. Other CU Finishers: 13. Sondre Bollum 33:59.0; 19. Andrew Potyk 34:40.5; 32. Tyler Terranova 36:40.1; 34. Ian Boucher 37:53.4.
Saturday kicked off the Nordic racing – women's 5K classic and men's 10K classic at Howelsen Hill - with Colorado's women's team finishing in second place and the men in third.
The Buffs did move ahead of Montana State, who held a one-point edge in the standings on CU after the first day, but day-one leader DU was able to increase its lead by another eight points on Saturday.
DU has 350 points at the midway point to Colorado's 306. Utah, who's 192 total Nordic points Saturday was the highest in the field, sits in third with 281 points. Montana State fell from second to fourth, now with 263 points overall.
WOMEN'S 5K CLASSIC RACE: Colorado finished second in the race with its three scorers finishing third, sixth and ninth.
Sophomore Anne Siri Lervik repeated her third-place performance from last season's RMISA Championships, finishing her 5K in a time of 18:19.9. It is her third podium finish of the season and fourth overall.
Junior Christina Rolandsen was sixth for the Buffs and Ane Johnsen ninth to round out the scoring. CU totaled 83 points, which was 19 off of race winner Utah who had the top two individual finishers plus another Ute finishing in seventh.
Johnsen has now put together four straight races finishing in the top 10.
MEN'S 10K CLASSIC RACE: Denver won the race with 97 points thanks to Dag Frode Trolleboe and Eivind Kvaale finishing one-two.
CU's top finishers were fifth and sixth, with junior Petter Reistad recording the top time by a Buff at 33:09.8. Freshman Alvar Alev was right behind in sixth and Sondre Bollum placed 13th, securing 19 points as CU's final scorer.
Colorado totaled 75 points in the men's race, 15 behind second place Utah and 22 behind the Pioneers.
RMISA ALPINE QUALIFIER: Also running on Saturday was the second of two RMISA Alpine Qualifier races for the season. These are used only for NCAA individual qualification points and do not count for team scores. The qualifier Saturday was a giant slalom race at Mt. Werner.
Top finishers for the Buffs were Ola Johansen on the men's side, placing fifth, and Tonje Trulsrud on the women's side, also in the fifth spot.
NOTEWORTHY: Colorado or Utah have won the last eight RMISA Championships, but Denver is looking for its first regional title since 2007.
In the regular season, both the CU men and women scored the most points in the RMISA in freestyle races. However, on the alpine side, the giant slalom races are not the strongest of the two disciplines for the Buffs. The men's team did rank second in GS points won during the regular season while the women were third.
CU INVITATIONAL/SPENCER JAMES NELSON MEMORIAL: As Colorado is hosting the 69th annual championships, the meet also serves as the CU Invitational/Spencer James Nelson Memorial. It is in honor of the former Buffalo skier who lost his life just prior to his sophomore season at CU in August 2011.
UP NEXT: Sunday will see the final four events of the championships run – the two giant slalom races for alpine at Mt. Werner and the 15/20K freestyle mass start for Nordic at Howelsen Hill.
QUOTEABLE
Head Nordic Coach Bruce Cranmer
On The Women's Race
"It was kind of mixed. I felt like for Anne Siri that was a really good race, she was very close to second place and for her I think that was a really good race. I think that everyone else was kind of in the hunt, obviously we are always hoping to be where we were earlier (in the season) going 1-2-4 or things like that. Hopefully we can regroup and step it up. I know Hedda has been struggling with her body a bit, so that battle continues for her and I'm not really sure what is going on there. All in all it wasn't as good as we were hoping, but it was okay."
On The Men's Race
"More or less with the men it was kind of the same. I think Sondre fell off a little bit there at the end maybe, he started pretty fast but just couldn't stick with it. The boys felt like they were a little bit tired, I know they've been kind of focusing more towards NCAAs than this weekend, but still it would have been nice to have been a little higher up. Obviously some other teams did really well, Utah women and DU men. Hopefully we can step it up in about 10 days (at the NCAA Championships)."
Looking Ahead To Sunday's Freestyle Races
"Skating is different, a mass start is different, longer race and a little different too, but hopefully we'll be up closer and maybe in front of where we were today. That would be my hope for sure. I think that they are doing okay, but not great, especially after Alvar winning both races (at the DU Invite) I was hoping he would be back up there, but we'll see how tomorrow goes. It is always a little bit different in these mass starts and I think it is supposed to be a fraction warmer. I don't know if that helps or hurts, but I think most of them enjoy racing when it is a little warmer. Hopefully we'll step it up a notch for tomorrow."
2018 RMISA CHAMPIONSHIPS/NCAA WEST REGIONAL
Feb. 24, 2018 | Howelsen Hill
MEET TEAM STANDINGS (final):
1. Denver 350; 2. Colorado 306; 3. Utah 281; 4. Montana State 263; 5. New Mexico 224.5; 6. Alaska Anchorage 182.5; 7. Alaska Fairbanks 94; 8. Westminster College 79; 9. Colorado Mountain College 39
WOMEN'S 5K CLASSIC TEAM SCORES:
1. UU 102, 2. CU 83, 3. DU 68, 4. UAA 60, 5. MSU 58, 6. UAF 48, 7. UNM 35
WOMEN'S CLASSIC (31 finishers):
1. Gury Jordheim, UU, 17:46.8; 2. Leah Lange, UU, 18:02.9; 3. Anne Siri Lervik, CU, 18:19.9; 4. Jasmi Joensuu, DU, 18:22.3; 5. Hailey Swirbul, UAA, 18:27.0; 6. Christina Rolandsen, CU, 18:30.2; 7. Karianne Moe, UU, 18:44.9; 8. Linn Eriksen, DU, 18:46.2; 9. Ane Johnsen, CU, 18:56.4; 10. Anna Fake, MSU, 18:57.5. Other CU Finishers: 15. Hedda Baangman 19:15.1; 31. Quinn Lehmkuhl 20:38.7.
MEN'S 10K CLASSIC TEAM SCORES:
1. DU 97, 2. UU 90, 3. CU 75, 4. MSU 56, 5. UNM 55, 6. UAF 46, 7. UAA 35
MEN'S SLALOM (35 finishers):
1. Dag Frode Trolleboe, DU, 32:28.0; 2. Eivind Kvaale, DU, 32:30.3; 3. Martin Bergstroem, UU, 32:43.7; 4. Bjorn Riksaasen, UU, 33:04.2; 5. Petter Reistad, CU, 33:09.8; 6. Alvar Alev, CU, 33:16.4; 7. Hakon Hjelstuen, UU, 33:19.5; 8. Logan Diekmann, UU, 33:20.9; 9. Erik Axelsson, MSU, 33:43.4; 10. Erlend Nydal, UNM, 33:45.2. Other CU Finishers: 13. Sondre Bollum 33:59.0; 19. Andrew Potyk 34:40.5; 32. Tyler Terranova 36:40.1; 34. Ian Boucher 37:53.4.
Players Mentioned
NORDIC
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NORDIC
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NORDIC
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NORDIC
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ALPINE
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NORDIC
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NORDIC
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NORDIC
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NORDIC
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NORDIC
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NORDIC
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NORDIC
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ALPINE
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