Skiers In Fourth In Utah

PARK CITY, Utah - The University of Colorado ski team is in fourth place after two days of competition in the Alaska-Utah Winter Games Invitational.

With the alpine events complete, New Mexico leads with a 415 team score, with Denver second (395), co-host Utah third (387) and Colorado fourth (383). Alaska-Anchorage, the other co-host, is in sixth with 228 points.

Colorado won the alpine competition with 294 points, followed by Denver (270) and New Mexico (265). But the Buffs scored only 89 points in the first nordic competition of the year here Sunday, only the sixth most scored by the nine schools competing.

"In alpine, we are pretty dominant right now, it's a matter of if we can maintain it, but we haven't peaked yet, either," CU head coach Richard Rokos said. "So I think we'll be all right on the alpine side. The big challenge now is to survive the next two weeks on the nordic side. We're short of manpower, and womanpower, over there, and unless we can bolster that pretty quick, it will be a tough road for us."

In Sunday's men's slalom, the Buffaloes placed three in the top seven, including a 1-2 finish from senior Jed Schuetze and freshman Brad Hogan. Schuetze had the fastest first run of the day in 53.93, while Hogan posted the quickest second run at 54.01. When the smoke cleared, Schuetze won in 1:49.57, with Hogan finishing in 1:50.10. Sophomore Tyler Shepherd finished seventh in 1:51.53, helping the Buffs to 83 team points in the event.

In women's slalom, junior Mia Cullman grabbed second for Colorado in a two-run time of 1:40.23, though she was in the lead after a 49.25 clocking in the morning. New Mexico's Caroline Schicht posted the fastest afternoon run by over a second to snag the win away from Cullman. CU freshman Amy Beresford nabbed sixth place in 1:41.23.

Hogan finished third in Saturday's giant slalom, with sophomore Tahir Bisic posting the first top 10 finish of his career by taking ninth. In the women's giant slalom, freshman Erika Hogan (Brad's sister) finished sixth and Cullman eighth.

In the freestyle cross country races, CU had just one top 10 finisher, as freshman Erling Christiansen was eighth in the men's 10k in a 19:55.9 time. He was 39 seconds behind New Mexico's Johan Rydquist, who won in 19:16.3. The top CU woman was sophomore Muriele Huberli, who was 15th in the women's 5k version won by Utah's Katrin Smigun in 10:35.4. Huberli skied the course in 11:25.3.

The meet concludes Monday with the classical cross country races, with the next competition the nordic portion of the Montana State Invitational later in the week.

As for the alpine skiers, there is no collegiate competition until CU's Invitational at the end of the month, as Rokos as seven Buff skiers departed Sunday night for Italy and the World University games. Beresford, Cullman, Erika Hogan and Tove Pashkowski will represent CU and are four of seven skiing for the United States, while Brad Hogan, Schuetze and Shepherd are three of the six U.S. met set to compete. After CU, Denver, Nevada and New Mexico each placed two skiers on the 13-member team.

Alaska-Utah Invitational Team Scores--1. New Mexico 415; 2. Denver 395; 3. Utah 387, 4. COLORADO 383; 5. Nevada 335; 6. Alaska-Anchorage 228; 7. Whitman 208; 8. Western State 206; 9. Montana State 82.

Women's Giant Slalom (Saturday)--1. Petra Svet, Utah, 2:12.53; 2. Caroline Schicht, UNM, 2:12.92; 3. Jennifer Delich, UNM, 2:13.49; 4. Quincy Young, UNR, 2:13.71; 5. Sophie Ormond, DU, 2:13.72; 6. Erika Hogan, CU, 2:13.97; 7. Elisha Stephens, Utah, 2:14.48; 8. Mia Cullman, CU, 2:14.54; 9. Rowena Bright, Utah, 2:15.07; 10. Kathrin Spendier, UNM, 2:15.24. Other CU Results: 12. Erin McEachren, 2:15.30; 16. Amy Beresford, 2:16,12. DNF-Tove Pashkowski (1st run), Sarah Fischer (2nd run).

Men's Giant Slalom (Saturday)--1. Dominik Schweiger, DU, 2:04.65; 2. Alexander Freberg, UNM, 2:05.00; 3. Brad Hogan, CU, 2:05.77; 4. Jernej Bukovec, Utah, 2:05.88; 5. Christopher Berg, DU, 2:06.01; 6. Aaron Bolduc, DU, 2:06.30; 7. Todd Ligare, DU, 2:06.43; 8. Andreas Neuhauser, UAA, 2:06.88; 9. Tahir Bisic, CU, 2:07.39; 10. Josh Whitham, Utah, 2:07.69. Other CU Finishers: 12. Tyler Shepherd, 2:08.49; 14. Michael Read, 2:10.77.

Women's Slalom (Sunday)--1. Caroline Schicht, UNM, 1:39.40; 2. Mia Cullman, CU, 1:40.23; 3. Quincy Young, UNR, 1:40.61; 4. Kathrin Spendier, UNM, 1:40.62; 5. Barbara Knor, DU, 1:41.13; 6. Amy Beresford, CU, 1:41.23; 7. Petra Svet, Utah, 1:41.24; 8. Jennifer Delich, UNM, 1:41.25; 9. Rowena Bright, Utah, 1:41.50; 10. Helena Woodrow, UNM, 1:42.17. Other CU Results: 14. Erin McEachren, 1:43.07; 17. Tove Pashkowski, 1:43.13. DNF-Katie Bertram, Sarah Fischer (1st run); Erika Hogan (2nd run).

Men's Slalom (Sunday)--1. Jed Schuetze, CU, 1:49.57; 2. Brad Hogan, CU, 1:50.10; 3. Ben Brown, WSC, 1:50.49; 4. Reuben Kuruvila, UNR, 1:50.66; 5. Dominik Schweiger, DU, 1:50.87; 6. Christian Jensen, UNM, 1:51.48; 7. Tyler Shepherd, CU, 1:51.53; 8. Alexander Freberg, UNM, 1:52.03; 9. Hannes Zirknitzer, WMC, 1:52.90; 10. David Lamb, DU, 1:52.98. Other CU Results: 13. Tahir Bisic, 1:53.59; 18. Fritz Ernemann, 1:54.25. DNF-Michael Read (2nd run).

Men's 10K Freestyle (Sunday)--1. Johan Rydquist, UNM, 19:16.3; 2. Ryan Quinn, Utah, 19:21.3; 3. Zack Simons, Utah, 19:21.7; 4. Tobias Schwoerer, UAA, 19:23.4; 5. Lars Krogsveen, UNM, 19:27.3; 6. Martine Bartnes, DU, 19:47.4; 7. Torin Koos, Utah, 19:48.9; 8. Erling Christiansen, CU, 19:55.9; 9. Dylan Prosser, DU, 19:56.8; 10. Amund Hansen, DU, 19:57.5. Other CU Finishers: 15. Henrik Hoye, 20:20.8; 22. Josh Smullin, 20:50.8; 26. Nick Sterling, 21:19.0. DNF-Norbert Pelc.

Women's 5K Freestyle (Sunday)--1. Katrin Smigun, Utah, 10:35.4; 2. Mandy Kaempf, UAA, 10:47.1; 3. Martina Stursova, UNM, 10:49.3; 4. Jenny Wissting, UNM, 10:58.0; 5. Barbro Hatlevik, Utah, 11:01.1; 6. Kristina Strandberg, UNM, 11:06.0; 7. Maija Saarinen, UNR, 11:09.5; 8. Abby McAllister, UNR, 11:13.5; 9. Nicole Deyong, UAA, 11:14.2; 10. Tara Hamilton, DU, 11:17.4. CU Finishers: 15. Muriele Huberli, 11:25.3; 24. Claire Critchley, 12:00.2; 34. Brooke Rygg, 12:44.1.