SKIERS FALL TO SEVENTH AT NCAA'S

Friday, March 12

Donner Summit, Truckee, Calif.

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Colorado

NCAA Championships

Buffs Finish Second At NCAA Ski Championships

Saturday, March 14

Buffs Back In Lead At NCAA Ski Championships

Friday, March 13

Ski Buffs In Second Place At NCAA Championships

Thursday, March 12

Buffs In Lead After Opening Day Of NCAA Championships

Wednesday, March 11

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NCAA Championships

Mar 13 (Sat)

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March 12, 2004 | Skiing

By: David Plati, Assistant AD/Sports Information

DONNER SUMMIT, Calif. - The University of Colorado ski team, short one skier and greedy for every point it could muster, had a frustrating day in the slalom races Friday as the Buffaloes slipped for fifth to seventh place at the three-fourths point of the 51st Annual NCAA Championships.

New Mexico vaulted into the lead with 488 points, as the Lobos used five top 10 finishes to wrestle the lead away from Denver, which dropped to third with 455 as defending NCAA champion Utah is now in second with 457.5. Vermont is in fourth with 423, while Colorado is in the seventh position with 357.5, it's gross and net total through six events.

UNM is bidding for its first national championship, as the Lobos best finish ever was second place back in 1992. The Lobos also lead the net point standings with a 451 total, ahead of DU (437), Utah (425), Vermont (416), Middlebury (380.5) and then the Buffaloes.

(Teams can only count a maximum 21 scores, schools with full 12-person rosters must drop their lowest three scores and those with 11 have to drop one. CU and UVM qualified 11 for the meet, the others aforementioned full 12-man squads.)

CU senior Erin McEachren went out in style, as she finished sixth in the women's slalom in a two-run time of 1:25.10, her best finish of the season as well as her best career slalom effort, along with matching the best finish of her career overall. She earned second-team All-America honors in the process, just missing out on first-team honors by three one-hundredths of a second.

Sophomore Erika Hogan wasn't as lucky, as she originally finished fourth in 1:24.31, but video replays afterwards showed she straddled a gate and was thus disqualified. Freshman Kristin Taylor finished 23rd in a 1:28.14 clocking in the race, won by Denver's Pia Rivelsrud in convincing fashion, as her 1:22.80 was six-tenths ahead of runner-up Courtney Carlisle of Dartmouth.

"It was a tough day," CU head coach Richard Rokos. "Having our top skier disqualified really hurt our chances. It's a shame, because Erika was skiing well" really well. She straddled a gate, something you could be barely see with the naked eye. But in slow motion, it showed she that she straddled, which is basically when one of your legs and tips of your skis don't cross the imaginary line between gates. We had to go to the camera to look at it, and it turned out to be about an inch difference at a speed of 60 miles per hour. So we had to DQ her.

"But Erin had an incredible race," Rokos continued. "She had some good things going on the last two weeks, and coming from 28th place to sixth after her first run and then holding it was a great way to end her collegiate career. She skied with some incredible baggage, as she's scheduled for surgery in five days, so it was really the crowning achievement for her to accomplish what she did."

Dartmouth's Paul McDonald won the men's slalom in 1:14.09, edging Nevada's Michal Rajcan (1:14.29) and New Mexico's Lars Loeseth (1:14.29). Colorado's two skiers (the Buff men were the unit one short here) had low seeds in the race, but still managed to move up. Freshman Cody Jenick moved from the 34th starting position to finish 24th in 1:20.48, while junior Tahir Bisic placed 25th in 1:20.74, three spots ahead of where he started the day.

"The guys skied conservative and finished in a secure zone, but when you only have two guys in the race, that's the strategy," Rokos said. "The hill was icy, but it was the best course we've skied all year. It's why Erin was able to move up so much because the course was in such good shape and starting further back wasn't as much as a hindrance as usual."

luck.

"Well, I knew starting from the back that I had nothing to lose, so I tried not to get so nervous and just went for it," McEachren said. "It was the last race in my career, so I wasn't going to hold anything back. I'm really pleased personally, but I was hoping Erika didn't get disqualified. It was just one of those days for the team, I had the good luck but she had the bad Richie and Sylvan (Kaufman, assistant alpine coach) did a great job coaching us all year," she added. "There'll be a few changes, but our Nordic team is really amazing, so I see good things to come for our team next year."

"We still have something to shoot for," Rokos concluded. "We're a point-and-a-half up on Utah in the cross country standings, so we have a chance to finish as the best Nordic team in the nation which we have never done before. The conditions tomorrow will make it a very difficult race; it'll be icy early, which will make it very demanding physically, so we're hopeful that we can get the benefits of everything we've invested in training."

Colorado has finished second in cross country points seven times in the NCAA meet, the last time in 2002, but the Buffs have never been the point leader in the nordic standings since the sport went coed in 1983.

The championships conclude Saturday with the classical cross country races at the Auburn Ski Club in Truckee, with the men's 20K at 10 a.m. (mountain) and the women's 15K at Noon.

NCAA Championship Team Scores (Gross)-1. New Mexico 488; 2. Utah 457.5; 3. Denver 455; 4. Vermont 423.0; 5. Middlebury 396.5; 6. Dartmouth 363; 7. COLORADO 357.5; 8. Alaska-Anchorage 319; 9. Nevada 258; 10. Colby 210.5; 11. Williams 164; 12. Alaska-Fairbanks 132; 13. New Hampshire 130; 14. Montana State 95; 15. Western State 83; 16. Northern Michigan 77; 17. Boise State 67; 18. Whitman 62; 19. St. Lawrence 24; 20. Bates 18; 21. Harvard 17; 22. Michigan Tech 2; 23. Wisconsin-Green Bay 1. (Note: only a maximum 21 of 24 skiers will score for those five schools that qualified full-squads; Colorado and Vermont qualified one short, so 21 of their 22 will count.)

Team Leaders (Net)-1. New Mexico 451; 2. Denver 437; 3. Utah 425; 4. Vermont 416; 5. Middlebury 380.5; 6. COLORADO 357.5; 7. Dartmouth 346; 8. Alaska-Anchorage 319; 9. Nevada 258; 10. Colby 210.5.

Men's Slalom-1. Paul McDonald, Dart., 1:14.09; 2. Michael Rajcan, UNR, 1:14.22; 3. Lars Loeseth, UNM, 1:14.29; 4. Roger Brown, Dart., 1:14.51; 5. Luke Patterson, WSC, 1:14.63; 6. Benjamin Thornhill, Utah, 1:15.99; 7. Petter Roering, UNM, 1:16.11; 8. Matthew Knittle, UVM, 1:16.21; 9. Christian Jensen, UNM, 1:16.46; 10. Hannes Zirknitzer, Whit., 1:16.73. CU & Other Area Finishers: 24. Cody Jenick, CU, 1:20.48; 25. Tahir Bisic, CU, 1:20.74; 30. Lars Ola Kjos, DU, 1:27.80; 32. Dominik Schweiger, DU, 1:43.50; David Lamb, DU (disqualified, first run).

Women's Slalom-1. Pia Rivelsrud, DU, 1:22.80; 2. Courtney Carlisle, Dart., 1:23.40; 3. Barbara Knor, DU, 1:24.01; 4. Jessica Smith, Midd., 1:24.81; 5. Hilary McCloy, UVM, 1:25.07; 6. Erin McEachren, CU, 1:25.10; 7. Jamie Kingsbury, UVM, 1:25.23; 8. April Mancuso, Utah, 1:25.38; 9. Helena Woodrow, UNM, 1:25.47; 10. Kathrin Spendier, UNM, 1:25.57. Other CU & Area Finishers: 12. Sophie Ormond, DU, 1:25.95; 23. Kristin Taylor, CU, 1:28.14; Erika Hogan, CU (1:24.31, disqualified, second run).