Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
Montana State Invitational
Skiers' Rally Falls Just Short In Montana
January 15, 2006 | Skiing
BOZEMAN, Mont. ? The University of Colorado ski team mounted a furious final day rally for the second straight meet, but fell just short here Sunday as the Buffaloes finished second in the Montana State Invitational.
The Buffs, ranked No. 2 in the Ski Racing Magazine coaches poll, trailed top-ranked Denver by 36 points entering the final four events here, and while making up an impressive 33 points due to a pair of individual wins and an impressive showing in the women's slalom, the defending NCAA champion Pioneers were able to hold off the Buffs for the second time in four days.
Denver won with 568 points, three better than CU (565); Alaska-Anchorage snared third (521), followed by Utah (476) and New Mexico (438) in the top five. The Pioneers have now won both meets this winter with CU the bridesmaid, though a total of just 13 points have separated the two rivals located just 30 miles apart. The Buffs trailed DU at one point by 42 points in the Utah Invitational before closing the final gap to just 10 points last Wednesday.
The meets have been so close, that on both occasions, meet officials informed CU head coach Richard Rokos that his team had won. He found out otherwise in transit while leaving both venues, as the Buffaloes are still looking for their first team win since claiming their own invitational early in the 2003 season, some 17 meets ago.
“It was a great effort coming back, no question about it,” Rokos said. “We've come back from way down in two straight meets, and for us, it's really just a waiting game. We have to get our Nordic guys healthy, and get Jana (Rehemaa) back. The kids are properly motivated and pumped up, so it's just a matter of time before we get on top of it. After a disastrous day like (Saturday), we were able to come back and recover. A day like that doesn't happen too often, and they put it behind us quickly and came out on a mission.”
Sophomore Lucie Zikova completed one of the most successful weeks in CU skiing history, as she won both the giant slalom (Saturday) and slalom here Sunday, giving her three collegiate wins and a runner-up finish to go with three wins in FIS competition last weekend. That adds to six victories and a second place in just a 10-day span. She won the GS by ,14 over Denver's Florence Roujas, and cruised to a second-and-a-quarter win over Alaska's Stefanie Klocker in the slalom.
Zikova had no explanation of why she was doing so well, other than she is enjoying her sophomore year. “I don't really know (why I've won six races). I'm just having fun with my team this year, and I think all of us are skiing very, very fast,” she said. “We're so close as a team to winning, but it's just a matter of time. Everything and everybody works together, and we all root for each other; that's what is making this so fun because we're all doing well and taking turns at or near the top. We've put a lot of serious effort into workouts in the fall, and it's coming back to us. We worked really, really hard and things are paying off.”
Zikova's wins paced another strong effort from the CU alpine women, as the Buffs placed four in the top six of giant slalom Saturday and had three in the top nine of the slalom Sunday. Freshman Lisa Perricone finished third in the slalom and sixth in the GS, with sophomore Rachel Roosevelt third and junior Kristin Taylor fifth in the GS, and freshman Sabrina Mocellin ninth in the slalom.
In Nordic freestyle competition, CU freshman Lenka Palanova captured the women's 10-kilometer event Sunday in a 39:20.7 time to post a nearly five-second victory. In the process she logged the first cross country win by a Buff female skier since Mari Storeng captured the individual classical crown title at the 2002 NCAA Championships. Palanova also finished fourth in Saturday's 5k classical race, in which sophomore Maria Grevsgaard led the way for the Buffs with a second place effort; Grevsgard was fourth in the freestyle (39:39.4), with sophomore Kristin Soenstegaard fifth in 40:05.1.
Zikova's three wins along with Palanova's one gives Colorado four individual titles in two meets this winter, matching the total from all of last season. Colorado had 17 skiers earn top six finishes in the eight races here, easily outdistancing Denver, which was next with 11. Alaska had nine, New Mexico five, Utah three, Whitman two and Montana State one.
On the men's side, in the 15K freestyle, senior Erling Christiansen recovered enough from being ill last weekend to finish third in a 49:03.8 time, just five seconds behind New Mexico's Dirk Grimm, who won in 48:58.9. Another CU senior, Henrik Hoye, also bounced back from illness to finish 11th in the race (50:50.4), but was seventh Saturday in the 10K classic. Sophomore Kit Richmond took second in that race in 32:04.5 (Denver's John Stene won in 31:50.7), and he also placed sixth Sunday in the freestyle in 49:19.08.
In men's alpine action, the Buffs uncharacteristically struggled in Saturday's giant slalom, with their first scorer coming in 20th, freshman Jonas Kryzl. But Kryzl led a rebound effort on Sunday, finishing sixth in the slalom in 1:49.68, with freshman Jean-Francois Ferreira 11th and sophomore Miles Cooke 15th.
The western teams will take next weekend off before returning to action in the Colorado Invitational/Laura Sharpe Flood Memorial, which will take place over two separate weekends (Jan. 27-28, Feb. 3-4) in Steamboat Springs, site of the NCAA Championships in March.
MONTANA STATE INVITATIONAL TEAM SCORES?1. Denver 568; 2. Colorado 565; 3. Alaska-Anchorage 521; 4. Utah 476; 5. New Mexico 438; 6. Nevada 344; 7. Montana State 316; 8. Western State 202; 9. Whitman 166; 10. Boise State 50; 11. Wyoming 44.
Women's 10K Freestyle?1. Lenka Palanova, CU, 39:20.7; 2. Anna-Karin Maeki, DU, 39:25.0; 3. Nicole Naef, Utah, 39:38.1; 4. Maria Grevsgaard, CU, 39:39.4; 5. Kristin Soenstegaard, CU, 40:05.1; 6. Laura Valaas, WC, 40:23.4; 7. Marit Rognmo, UNM, 40:43.3; 8. Nicole DeYong, UAA, 41:26.0; 9. Karin Nilsson, DU, 41:26.4; 10. Sara Schweiger, Utah, 41:26.7. Other CU Results: 22. Mia Gaw, 43:06.8.
Men's 15K Freestyle?1. Dirk Grimm, UNM, 48:58.9; 2. Brian Gregg, UAA, 48:59.9; 3. Erling Christiansen, CU, 49:03.8; 4. Benjamin Sonntag, UAA, 49:08.2; 5. Rene Reisshauer, DU, 49:11.1; 6. Kit Richmond, CU, 49:19.08; 7. John Stene, DU, 49:23.2; 8. Kjetil Dammen, UAA, 49:40.6; 9. Brent Knight, UAA, 50:02.1; 10. Havard Selseng, DU, 50:13.5. Other CU Results: 11. Henrik Hoye, 50:50.4; 16. Nick Sterling, 52:21.0; 17. Garrett Reid, 52:32.3; Joaquin Goodpaster, DNF.
Men's Slalom?1. Alex Mach, UNM, 1:47.96; 2. Scott Veenis, Utah, 1:48.50; 3. Francesco Ghedina, DU, 1:49.41; 4. John Buchar, DU, 1:49.48; 5. *Josh Bryan, CU, 1:49.55; 6. Jonas Kryzl, CU, 1:49.68; 7. Timothee Theaux, UAA, 1:49.77; 8. Scott Hume, UN, 1:49.87; 9. Cameron Barnes, UN, 1:50.06; 10. Will McDonald, Utah, 1:50.18. Other CU Results: 11. Jean-Francois Ferreira, 1:51.36; 15. Miles Cooke, 1:52.14; 19. Joel Adams, 1:53.77; 31. Pat Duran, 2:06.95. *?skied independently, awaiting NCAA Clearinghouse ruling; results do not count for CU.
Women's Slalom?1. Lucie Zikova, CU, 1:51.88; 2. Stefanie Klocker, UAA, 1:53.14; 3. Lisa Perricone, CU, 1:54.61; 4. Florence Roujas, DU, 1:55.25; 5. Karin Ohlin, UNM, 1:55.8; 6. Kristina Repcinova, UAA, 1:56.26; 7. Spela Bertoncelj, MSU, 1:56.29; 8. Amanda Goyne, UN, 1:56.54; 9. Sabrina Mocellin, CU, 1:56.87; 10. Jennifer Tank, DU, 1:57.27. Other CU Results: 38. Rachel Roosevelt, 2:20.54; Kristin Taylor, DNS (second run).
Women's 5K Classical?1. Anna-Karin Maeki, DU, 18:11.45; 2. Maria Grevsgaard, CU, 18:21.53; 3. Kasandra Rice, UAA, 18:50.26; 4. Lenka Palanova, CU, 18:57.45; 5. Laura Valaas, WC, 19:09.40; 6. Sara Schweiger, Utah, 19:09.92; 7. Nicole Naef, Utah, 19:10.04; 8. Ingvild Engesland, DU, 19:21.60; 9. Crystin Jaques, UNM, 19:24.20; 10. Karin Nilsson, DU, 19:32.56. Other CU Results: 15. Kristin Soenstegaard, 19:59.33; 38. Mia Gaw, 22:00.98.
Men's 10K Classical?1. John Stene, DU, 31:50.73; 2. Kit Richmond, CU, 32:04.48; 3. Rene Reisshauer, DU, 32:32.50; 4. Kjetil Dammen, UAA, 32:40.64; 5. Benjamin Sonntag, UAA, 32:53.32; 6. Brent Knight, UAA, 32:59.64; 7. Henrik Hoye, CU, 33:10.24; 8. Dirk Grimm, UNM, 33:29.26; 9. Brian Gregg, UAA, 33:49.11; 10. Havard Selseng, DU, 33:51.17. Other CU Results: 11. Erling Christiansen, 33:56.15; 13. Joaquin Goodpaster, 34:15.07; 18. Nick Sterling, 35:12.53; 27. Garrett Reid, 36:28.56.
Men's Giant Slalom?1. Petter Roering, UNM, 1:57.05; 2. Francesco Ghedina, DU, 1:57.14; 3. Timothee Theaux, UAA, 1:57.50; 4. Tor Fodnesbergene UNM, 1:57.71; 5. Todd Ligare, DU, 1:57.79; 6. *Josh Bryan, CU, 1:57.84; 7. Benjamin Thornhill, Utah, 1:58.09; 8. Lars Loeseth, UNM, 1:58.12; 9. Scott Veenis, Utah, 1:58.19; 10. Scott Hume, UN, 1:58.27. Other CU Results: 20. Jonas Kryzl, 1:59.26; 21. Joel Adams, 1:59.27; 37. Miles Cooke, 2:07.89; 41. Pat Duran, 2:16.05. *?skied independently, awaiting NCAA Clearinghouse ruling; results do not count for CU.
Women's Giant Slalom?1. Lucie Zikova, CU, 1:59.13; 2. Florence Roujas, DU, 1:59.27; 3. Rachel Roosevelt, CU, 2:00.91; 4. Spela Bertoncelj, MSU, 2:00.93; 5. Kristin Taylor, CU, 2:01.15; 6. Lisa Perricone, CU, 2:07.32; 7. Stefanie Klocker, UAA, 2:01.39; 8. Kristina Repcnova, UAA, 2:02.15; 9. Chinon Williams, MSU, 2:02.20; 10. Claire Abbe, DU, 2:02.24. Other CU Results: Sabrina Mocellin, DNF (second run).
