Colorado University Athletics
Skiing In Second At MSU
January 02, 2003 | Skiing
Big Sky, Mont. - With a strong showing by the men's alpine team including Brad Hogan's runner-up finish, the University of Colorado ski team christened the 2003 campaign here Friday and are just a mere 16.5 points behind Utah after the men's and women's giant slalom races.
The second place showing is a huge improvement over last year's fifth-place effort after this event a year ago when the Buffs failed to have a finisher among the top 10 in either race.
Utah, which placed three skiers among the top 10 finishers in each race, leads the team challenge with 156.5 points, just 16.5 ahead of Colorado (140) which is an even slimmer five points ahead of three-time defending national champion Denver (135) which has New Mexico (120) and Nevada (102.5) on its heels.
Utah's Pierre Olsson, last season's NCAA GS runner-up, won today's race in 1:43.20, edging CU newcomer and seven-year national team veteran Brad Hogan (1:43.30) who is wasting little time making an immediate impression as his runner-up finish is the best-ever finish in the GS in this meet for a Buff. Jed Schuetze (1:44.27) and Tyler Shepherd (1:44.65) turned in CU's only other top-10 efforts, finishing sixth and eighth, respectively, although both were incredible improvements from their 2001 runs as Schuetze finished 31st and Shepherd DQ'd a year ago. With Fritz Ernemann finishing 14th, the Buffs won the men's portion of the GS with 77 points, just a pair ahead of Utah's 75.
Caroline Schicht of New Mexico improved one spot from her '01 finish in this meet to share her win in the women's GS with Utah's Lina Johansson as both skiers' combined time was 1:49.67. While the Buffs failed to have a skier among the top-10 finishers, the Buffs came in with a 9 through 11 punch, paced by freshman Erika Hogan (1:52.90), Mia Cullman (1:52.88) and Tove Pashkowski (1:53.00) with Cullman and Pashkowski each inching up one position from their finish in this race last year. Head coach Richard Rokos raced three more women in this race than the men's as Erin McEachren finished 17th (1:53.99) and freshman Sarah Fischer (1:56.31) and Amy Beresford (2:00.13) placed 21st and 31st, respectively. The CU women tied Denver with 63 points as both teams finished third behind Utah (81.5) and New Mexico (72.5) in the women's race.
The alpine portion of the four-day Invitational concludes Saturday with the slalom while the nordic events will be contested Jan. 17-18 at Bohart Ranch, Mont.
Montana State Invitational Team Scores-1. Utah, 156.5; 2. Colorado, 140; 3. Denver, 135; 4. New Mexico, 120; 5. Nevada, 102.5; 6. Western State, 84; 7. Whitman, 65; 8. Montana State, 40; 9. Alaska-Anchorage, 38.
Men's Giant Slalom-1. Pierre Olsson, Utah, 1:43.21; 2. Brad Hogan, CU, 1:43.30; 3. Dominik Schweiger, DU, 1:43.9; 4. Jernej Bukovec, Utah, 1:43.72; 5. David Lamb, DU, 1:43.98. CU Finishers: 6. Jed Schuetze, 1:44.27; 8. Tyler Shepherd, 1:44.65; 14. Fritz Ernemann, 1:45.75.
Women's Giant Slalom-1. Caroline Schicht, UNM, 1:49.67; 1. Lina Johansson, Utah, 1:49.67; 3. Petra Svet, Utah, 1:49.77; 4. Sophie Ormond, DU, 1:50.22; 5. Jennifer Delich, UNM, 1:50.65. CU Finishers: 9. Erika Hogan, 1:52.60; 10. Mia Cullman, 1:52.88; 11. Tove Pashkowski, 1:53.00; 17. Erin McEachren, 1:53.99; 21. Sarah Fishcher, 1:56.31; 31. Amy Beresford, 2:00.13
