Men’s Alpine Leads The Way To Open RMISA Championships

Friday, February 23

Steamboat Springs, Colo.

All Day

Colorado

RMISA Championships (Slalom)

Men’s Alpine Leads The Way To Open RMISA Championships

February 23, 2018 | Skiing

RMISA Championship - Day 1 Results

Men’s team takes the win in the slalom race, Buffs stand in third place overall

By: Jason Clay, Associate SID

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. — The Colorado alpine team opened up the first day of the RMISA Championships by winning the men's slalom race, but CU stands in third place overall after 2-of-8 events as the Buffs are hosting the 69th annual championship that doubles as the NCAA Western Regional.

Friday saw the men's and women's slalom races running at Howelsen Hill, with the second runs taking place under the lights for some night racing.

Colorado's men's team carried the Buffs on the first day and placed three inside the top 10 to win the race with 88 points. The women's team finished third with just three finishers, and only one in the top 10.

"The guys definitely saved the show today and it was pretty much a standard what they have done throughout the season," head coach Richard Rokos said.

CU stands in third place overall for the meet after the first of three days. Denver leads it by a 36-point margin, as the Pioneers scored 185 points Friday. Montana State sits in second with 149 points, just one ahead of the Buffs.

Short on depth on the alpine side all season, the pressure was on for the four men and four women skiers racing Friday to finish their runs, a phenomenon that is difficult but good training for the NCAA Championships where you can only field three competitors.

CU was down to four on the men's side with Bobby Moyer out sick Friday and Andrea Arnold on the women's side, who is out for the season. It was then down to three after the first run for the women, when Isabella Fidjeland did not finish. Joey Young did not finish his run on the men's side.

WOMEN'S SLALOM RACE: The first run of the women's race was an eliminator and saw seven competitors not finish. Lighting became a problem as the clouds moved in right at the start of the run and there were some tough gates two-thirds of the way down the course that had a 141-meter drop in elevation from start to finish.

Nora Christensen was CU's top finisher, placing fourth. The top three that hit the podium, two skiers from DU and one from Montana State, were all separated by less than a tenth of a second.

Megan McGrew finished 18th for CU and Tonje Trulsrud 19th.

MEN'S SLALOM RACE: The men's side, which started second, got off to a better start with Ola Johansen having the fastest time in the field in the first run.

The team as a whole scored well with the three inside the top 10 after the second run, even with Young skiing out the second time down the hill.

Johansen ended up finishing second overall, as Vegard Busengdal edged him out to win his second-straight RMISA slalom championships.

David Ketterer finished fifth for CU and Max Luukko ninth.

NOTEWORTHY: Johansen's second place finish marks the second season in a row he placed second behind Busengdal at the RMISA Championships. Johansen has now hit the podium in four different slalom races this winter – two were wins and the other two were both second place finishes.

UP NEXT: The Nordic team takes the spotlight Saturday with the 5/10K interval classic start at Howelsen Hill. The women open it up at 9:30 a.m. followed by the men at 11. The alpine teams are racing as well, but their giant slalom races do not count for the championships, as it will be just a qualifier race used towards individual NCAA qualification points.

The giant slalom races apart of the RMISA Championships will run on Sunday.

QUOTEABLE
Head Coach Richard Rokos

On The Day Overall
"We'll see, it is the first day of two (for alpine) and actually the first day of four and we'll see how the rest of it comes together. Definietly behind right now and we'll have to do some serious damage control."

What To Look For With The Alpine Qualifier Saturday
"Tomorrow GS is sort of extra qualifier, you cannot do anything except improve your (NCAA) seeding, so for us it will serve as a tune-up for Sunday."

On GS Training At Mt. Werner (location of Saturday and Sunday's races)
"We trained there, it is good venue and the snow was actually awesome there two days ago. As long as it will stay that way it will be a fair race for everybody. Seeding throughout the whole field, Isabella (Fidjeland) is 42nd, but with her ability I believe that she can move pretty solid through the field and end up somewhere around 15th place or so or better. It is not easy from there, but on a good surface, you can do it."

2018 RMISA CHAMPIONSHIPS/NCAA WEST REGIONAL
Feb. 23, 2018 | Howelsen Hill

MEET TEAM STANDINGS (final):
1. Denver 185; 2. Montana State 149; 3. Colorado 148; 4. New Mexico 134.5; 5. Utah 89; 6. Alaska Anchorage 87.5; 7. Westminster College 79; 8. Colorado Mountain College 39

WOMEN'S SLALOM TEAM SCORES:
1. DU 104, 2. MSU 85, 3. CU 60, 4. UNM 59.5, 5. UAA 56.5, 6. UU 35, 7. WMC 20, 8. CMC 13

WOMEN'S SLALOM (22 finishers):
1. Amelia Smart, DU, 1:21.18; 2. Andrea Komsic, DU, 1:21.22; 3. Jocelyn McCarthy, MSU, 1:21.27; 4. Nora Christensen, CU, 1:21.94; 5. Stephanie Gartner, MSU, 1:22.16; 6. Tuva Norbye, DU, 1:22.32; 7. Rebecca Fiegl, UNM, 1:23.23; 8. Ann-Kathrin Breuning, UU, 1:23.29; 9. Mia Henry, MSU, 1:23.40; 10. Benedicte Lyche, MSU, 1:23.52. Other CU Finishers: 18. Megan McGrew 1:28.38; 19. Tonje Trulsrud 1:29.72. Isabella Fidjeland DNF

MEN'S SLALOM TEAM SCORES:
1. CU 88, 2. DU 81, 3. UNM 75, 4. MSU 64, 5. WMC 59, 6. UU 54, 7. UAA 31, 8. CMC 26

MEN'S SLALOM (33 finishers):
1. Vegard Busengdal, UNM, 1:26.04; 2. Ola Johansen, CU, 1:26.23; 3. Garret Driller, MSU, 1:26.29; 4. Tobias Kogler, DU, 1:26.41; 5. David Ketterer, CU, 1:26.64; 6. Nick Santanello, DU, 1:26.91; 7. Raffael Breu, WMC, 1:27.02; 8. Jett Seymour, DU, 1:27.12; 9. Max Luukko, CU, 1:27.77; 10. Huston Philp, Utah, 1:27.94. Other CU Finishers: None, Joey Young DNF.