SKIING FINISHES SECOND AT UTAH

Thursday, January 6

Park City/Soldier Hollow, Utah

All Day

Colorado

Utah Invitational (SL/CL)

Photo by: CUBuffs.com

January 06, 2005 | Skiing

By: CUBuffs.com

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PARK CITY AND SOLDIER HOLLOW, Utah - Paced by junior Erling Christiansen's runner-up finish in the men's 10k freestyle, the University of Colorado ski teams had five top-10 finishers in the men's skate and women's giant slalom and combined for 145 much-needed points in the two disciplines as the Buffs clawed their way from third place at the halfway mark of the Utah Invitational to finish second by a slim two-point margin here Thursday.

Taking the team title in three of the eight events, Denver won the season's opening meet with 568 points, a convincing 80 points ahead of Colorado (488), which finished just two ahead of host Utah (486). Alaska Anchorage (452) finished fourth, and defending national champion New Mexico (421), fifth in the 10-team meet.

In one of the closest races in recent memory, a slim two points and fewer than 4 seconds separated the top three schools in Thursday's women's giant slalom as Denver (77-points), Utah (76) and Colorado (75) each had three skiers score among the top-10 in the race. The Pioneers swept the top two places with Florence Roujas winning in 2:10.48, followed by teammate Pia Rivelsrud, whose two-run time was five-tenths of a second shy of the win.

With two, top-five finishing runs, freshman Rachel Roosevelt matched her slalom finish Wednesday, coming in fourth in 2:12.20 in today's GS. Lucie Zikova, who was the slalom runner-up yesterday, finished sixth here today with a two-run effort of 2:12.73. After being eliminated from the equation on Wednesday after not finishing her first slalom run, junior Erika Hogan rebounded with the afternoon's sixth fastest second run to finish ninth overall and score as eighth, in 2:13.77. Sophomore Kristin Taylor (2:15.59) turned in the Buffs' fourth top-20 finish.

Christiansen's 27:12.0 effort in the skate was just five-tenths of a second short of his first collegiate win, as Utah's Daniel Sonntag took the race in 27:11.5, but the junior's runner-up finish is still a career best in any discipline. After a fourth-place finish in yesterday's classic, Tor Erik Schjellerud fell as many places to finish eighth here today in 27:45.0. Henrik Hoye scored as the Buff's third skier, crossing the finish in 13th in 28:27.5. It was an all top-20 effort on the day for the men's team as Tim Damrow and Nick Sterling finished 19th and 20th, respectively.

Western State's Timothee Theaux won the men's slalom in 1:40.12, leading the Mountaineers to their strongest showing so far in the carnival, finishing second in the event to Alaska-Anchorage which 5-8-9 for 76 points to WSC's 66. After finishing fourth in the GS on Wednesday, the CU men went without a top-10 finish, struggling to a fifth-place team showing here Thursday.

Senior Tahir Bisic led the Buffs in a two-run time of 1:42.39 to finish 15th, his best career finish on the Park City hill. Freshman Joel Adams turned in his second straight top-20 finish of the meet, finishing 18^th here today in 1:43.06. Senior Fritz Ernemann (1:47.45) scored as CU's third finisher, 24th, a career finish in his final collegiate meet in Utah. Miles Cooke DNF'd on his second run, as did Brad Hogan, who suffered a similar fate in Wednesday's GS morning run.

The women's cross country team was led for a second straight day by senior transfer Jess Gray who turned in her second consecutive 11th place finish, covering the 5k loop in 17:05.2, 1:52 off the winning pace of UAA's Mandy Kaempf who took her second title of the meet. After not completing this race a year ago, Brooke Rygg finished 20th here Thursday in 17:44.4. Newcomer Maria Malmin was the Buffs final score in the event, finishing 29th while Mia Gaw finished 36th.

Following the conclusion of Thursday's meet, the Buffs were driving straight to Jackson Hole, Wyo., to ski in the remote Alaska-Anchorage Invitational next week.

TEAM STANDINGS: 1. Denver, 568-points; 2. COLORADO, 488; 3. Utah, 486; 4. Alaska-Anchorage, 452; 5. New Mexico, 421; 6. Montana State, 373; 7. Nevada, 329; 8. Western State, 242; 9. Whitman, 191; Boise State, 66.

MEN'S SLALOM: 1. Timothee Theaux, WSC, 1:40.12; 2. Carl H. Rixon Jr., West, 1:40.40; 3. Dominik Schweiger, DU, 1:41.22; 4. Luke Patterson, UN, 1:41.44; 5. Einar-Marius Elvrum, UAA, 1:41.59; 6. John Teller, West, 1:41.63; 7. Don Brockett, MSU, 1:41.80; 8. Christian Ringvold, UAA, 1:41.86; 9. David Duncan, UAA, 1:41.98; 10. Arman Serebrakian, West, 1:42.01. CU Finishers: 15. Tahir Bisic, 1:42.39; 18. Joel Adams, 1:43.06; 24. Fritz Ernemann, 1:47.45; Brad Hogan, DNF2; Miles Cooke, DNF2.

WOMEN'S GIANT SLALOM: 1. Florence Roujas, DU, 2:10.48; 2. Pia Rivelsrud, DU, 2:10.53; 3. April Mancuso, UU, 2:11.15; 4. Rachel Roosevelt, CU, 2:12.20; 5. Lina Johansson, UU, 2:12.51; 6. Lucie Zikova, CU, 2:12.73; 7. Smaranda Munteanu, MSU, 2:13.26; 8. Lea Lozar, SNC, 2:13.56; 9. Erika Hogan, CU, 2:13.77; 10. Kimberly Stephens, UU, 2:14.34. Other CU Finishers: 16. Kristin Taylor, 2:15.59; 42. Catherine Brown, 2:22.71; Janicke Brusletto, DNF2.

MEN'S 10K FREESTYLE: 1. Daniel Sonntag, UU, 27:11.5; 2. Erling Christiansen, CU, 27:12.0; 3. Zachary Violett, UAA, 27:13.0; 4. John Stene, DU, 27:14.6; 5. Rene Reisshauer, DU, 27:25.5; 6. Inge Kristoffersen, UNM, 27:27.9; 7. Kjetil Dammen, UAA, 27:33.7; 8. Tor Erik Schjellerud, CU, 27:45.0; 9. Havard Selseng, DU, 27:45.7; 10. Benjamin Sonntag, UAA, 28:09.7. Other CU Finishers: 13. Henrik Hoye, 28:27.5; 19. Tim Damrow, 29:26.8; 20. Nick Sterling, 29:27.8.

WOMEN'S 5K FREESTYLE: 1. Mandy Kaempf, UAA, 15:13.1; 2. Trine Lundamo, UNM, 16:08.3; 3. Sandra Gredig, UU, 16:14.4; 4. Tara Hamilton, DU, 16:27.0; 5. Ashley McQueen, UU, 16:28.6; 6. Andrea Roberts, UNM, 16:34.4; 7. Barbro Hatlevik, UU, 16:35.2; 8. Bodil Ryste, DU, 16:36.2; 9. Julia Swieder, DU, 16:50.0; 10. Emily Robins, MSU, 16:55.1. CU Finishers: 11. Jess Gray, 17:05.2; 20. Brooke Rygg, 17:44.4; 29. Maria Malmin, 19:06.8; 36. Mia Gaw, 20:26.7; Muriele Huberli, DNS.