Colorado
Colorado Invitational
Skiers In Third After Day 1 of CU Invitational
January 14, 2009 | Skiing
ELDORA ? If the alpine skiers in the NCAA west region are tired, they haven't let on as they skied for the fifth time in seven days with a commute from Alaska to Colorado in-between as the first day of the University of Colorado Invitational/Laura Sharpe Flood Memorial ski meet was held here Wednesday.
New Mexico holds the team lead with 149 points, but it's cluttered atop the standings as just 24 points separate the top five teams. Denver is second (130), followed by Colorado (128.5), Utah (126.5) and Alaska-Anchorage (125).
The eight teams raced outside of Anchorage last Thursday through Sunday and then traveled the 2,400 miles to Boulder with either one or two layovers on Monday. Now here, they will race three straights days including Wednesday, but there was a question whether or not they'd be able to start on time as fierce winds have plagued Colorado the last two weeks.
"I was a little surprised because I came up yesterday and the lifts were closed and we couldn't even put a fence or pole up,” head coach Richard Rokos said. “I was happy we were able to get the race run, there was some wind and it wasn't perfect, but it warmed up a bit in for the afternoon runs."
In the women's giant slalom, Colorado had its best individual finish on the day with sophomore Carolina Nordh taking third in 2:08.79. Alaska's Alexandra Parker won her third race in five tries this winter, posting a two-run time of 2:07.94, with New Mexico's Estelle Pecherand-Charmet behind her in 2:08.20. Parker and Charmet switched positions after the first run, and Nordh held third; New Mexico won the race with 77 points, followed by Utah (73.5) and CU (70.5).
"It's expected that she's skiing so well,” Rokos said of Nordh, his top new alpine performer so far in 2009. “She's a good skier, so we expect her to ski well. It doesn't always happen with the transition, a new environment, going to school, but she's adapted very well. The same thing with Gabriel (Rivas, on the men's alpine team), he skies well and is capable of winning races for us."
"I am happy with how I skied today. I skied fast on the flats but I could have done better on the steeper parts,” Nordh said. “It's so much fun for me to compete as a member of a team. It's something I've never done that before. I like it a lot and love cheering for the team and that makes it a lot more fun. I am confident with my slalom skiing right now so tomorrow I am going for a victory."
Is Nordh capable of filling the shoes of Lucie Zikova, who graduated as a three-time NCAA individual champion with 14 career wins? "Lucie was very consistent,” Rokos noted. “It is my hope that she picks up most of that slack. That's what I hope in my heart for. She has the ability, but Lucie left big shoes to fill."
Another CU sophomore, Katie Hartman, was in fourth after the morning run but fell on her second run down and did not finish. Senior Lisa Perricone tied for eighth in 2:10.72, while freshman Jennifer Allen was 11th in 2:11.31 to enable the Buffaloes to join New Mexico and Utah with three finishers in the top 11. Two other Buffs made it down the hill, with junior Heidi Hillenbrand 29th (2:31.11) and sophomore Ashley Babcock 30th (2:35.19), and one other did not, as freshman Joelle Chevalier fell on her first run.
"I was happy with the girls' performance,” Rokos said. “Katie was really trying to ski hard and prove herself with an injury (bruised ribs suffered in a fall in Alaska) and I think she tweaked it again. She will have to probably take a step back for a little bit. She gave a great performance and had great effort today. "Lisa skied solid and had some of her best runs on the hill this year. And Jenny Allen is coming back very strong. It's good to see her skiing well.”
The men's GS was captured by New Mexico's Petter Brenna, who cruised to the win in a time of 2:04.60. But it was a particularly close race, with less than 10 seconds separating the two-through-31 spots, with 10 skiers within that 30-skier group separated by four one-hundredths of a second or less. Denver skiers grabbed second, third and fourth, the trio of Leif Haugen, John Buchar and Andreas Kilde just .17 of a second apart.
CU's top finisher was senior Tony Cesolini, who turned in two-run time of 2:05.43, just .03 behind Kilde and .01 ahead of Alaska's Jonathan Hverven, with New Mexico's Thomas Schwab just .01 behind Hverven. Thus only five one-hundredths of a second separated four skiers.
“I skied smart, I've skied this hill for what seems like a million times, so it made it seem like a training run,” Cesolini said. “I thought I skied well, but I didn't attack as much as I could have. I saw some people having trouble, so I made sure that I skied smart to get safely down and still post a good time.”
Junior Arman Serebrakian was CU's next best finisher, snaring 15th in 2:07.01. A run of Buffaloes were in the standings beginning in 18th, where junior Gabriel Rivas placed in 2:07.47; he was followed by juniors Drew Roberts (19th, 2:07.78) and Stefan Hughes (20th, 2:08.25) and freshman Eric Davis (22nd, 2:10.71). Freshman Taggart Spenst did not finish his second run and junior Patrick Duran did not ski Wednesday (but will return to action Thursday).
“I was a little disappointed, we all were,” Rokos said of the men. “I was hoping the guys would be able to put a little better performance together on their home hill. Although it doesn't completely feel like a home hill right now, we've only skied GS on it four or five times before today. But I have high expectations for tomorrow. We seem to be performing better in the slalom right now. That just goes in cycles and it's been that cycle for a little while now, so it's not surprising."
The meet continues Thursday with the slalom races, and the alpine teams will remain at Eldora for another set of slaloms in the RMISA Qualifier No. 1 on Friday; those are for NCAA qualification purposes and no team scores will be kept. The Nordic portion of the meet will also begin Friday in Aspen.
Colorado Invitational Team Scores (2 events)?1. New Mexico 149; 2. Denver 130; 3. Colorado 128.5; 4. Utah 126.5;
5. Alaska-Anchorage 125; 6. Montana State 97; 7. Nevada 82; 8. Whitman 50; 9. Wyoming 0.
Women's Giant Slalom?1. Alexandra Parker, UAA, 2:07.94; 2. Estelle Pecherand-Charmet, UNM, 2:08.20; 3. Carolina Nordh, CU, 2:08.79; 4. Stefanie Demetz, UNM, 2:09.61; 5. Chelsea Laswell, UU, 2:10.29; 6. Eva Huckova, UU, 2:10.53; 7.Georgia Wettlaufer, DU, 2:10.59; 8. Lisa Perricone, CU, and Mikaela Grassl, UU, 2:10.72; 10. Karin Ohlin, UNM, 2:11.15; 11. Jennifer Allen, CU, 2:11.31; 12. Amy Lattimer, MSU, 2:11.39; 13. Chirine Njeim, UU, 2:11.89; 14. Sandra MacDonald, UAA, 2:11.94; 15. Amy Harris, UN, 2:12.20; 16. Carmel McElroy, MSU, 2:12.25; 17. Kristina Palovicova, UN, 2:12.44; 18. Molly Ryan, DU, 2:13.30; 19. Erika Horst, UN, 2:13.40; 20. Alison Leighton, MSU, 2:13.41; 21. Lacy Saugstad, UAA, 2:14.95; 22. Sofia Smith, UU, 2:16.27; 23. Hannah Victory, MSU, 2:17.08; 24. Amanda Goyne, UN, 2:17.12; 25. Elizabeth Allen, WHT, 2:22.53; 26. Lexie Drechsel, WHT, 2:24.80; 27. Megan Bacharach, MSU, 2:28.73; 28. Ida Dillingoeen, DU, 2:28.77; 29. Heidi Hillenbrand, CU, 2:32.11; 30. Ashley Babcock, CU, 2:35.19; 31. Polly Evans, WHT, 2:43.20; 32. Taryn O'Flynn, UN, 2:57.50; 33. Jacqueline Hangl, UNM, 3:12.77. Did Not Finish (CU): Joelle Chevalier (1st run), Katie Hartman (2nd run).
Men's Giant Slalom?1. Petter Brenna, UNM, 2:04.60; 2. Leif Haugen, DU, 2:05.23; 3. John Buchar, DU, 2:05.31; 4. Andreas Kilde, DU, 2:05.40; 5. Tony Cesolini, CU, 2:05.43; 6. Jonathan Hverven, UAA, 2:05.44; 7. Thomas Schwab, UNM, 2:05.45; 8. Seppi Stiegler, DU, 2:05.63; 9. Scott Veenis, UU, 2:06.37; 10. Shane Collins, UN, 2:06.60; 11. Halfdan Falkum-Hansen, UAA, 2:06.64; 12. Egil Ismar, UAA, 2:06.67;13.Gregory Berger, UN, 2:06.81; 14. Nikolai Finne, UNM, 2:06.99; 15. Arman Serebrakian, CU, 2:07.01; 16. Thomas Zumbrunn, UU, 2:07.29; 17. Ian Lochhead, DU, 2:07.43; 18. Gabriel Rivas, CU, 2:07.47; 19. Drew Roberts, CU, 2:07.78; 20. Stefan Hughes, CU, 2:08.25; 21. Hermann Lager, UU, 2:09.87; 22. Eric Davis, CU, 2:10.71; 23. Torjus Krogdahl, UU, 2:10.72; 24. Chet Cook, MSU, 2:11.40; 25. Dan McKay, UAA, 2:11.84; 26. Toby Lamar, MSU, 2:12.49; 27. Zach Fretz, UN, 2:12.50; 28. Jeff Crompton, UAA,2:13.06; 29. Dylan Bryant, UN, 2:14.06; 30. Joey Nelson, MSU, 2:14.45; 31. Andrew Fischer, UAA, 2:14.48; 32. Kristopher Shampeny, MSU, 2:16.73; 33. Nathan Ord, WHT, 2:19.70; 34. Chris MacHesney WHT,2:20.29; 35. Olivier Lacaille, UNM, :20.79; 36. Eric Anderson, UN, 2:32.37; 37. Tim Bak, WHT, 2:33.96; 38. Ryan Wolosyn, UAA, 2:48.09. Did Not Finish (CU): Taggart Spenst (2nd run).
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Players Mentioned
