Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
RMISA Alpine Qualifier
Skiers Remain In Second In CU Invitational
January 16, 2009 | Skiing
ASPEN & ELDORA, Colo. ? The University of Colorado ski team had both winners and five top 10 finishers overall in Friday's Nordic events in Aspen as the Buffaloes head into the final day just a point-and-a-half out of the lead in the 15th Annual CU Invitational/Laura Sharpe Flood Memorial ski meet.
Denver took over a slim lead through six events, as the Pioneers have 415 points; host Colorado is right there with 413.5 and New Mexico is in striking distance at 395. Utah (368.5) and Alaska-Anchorage (341) round out the top five.
For the first time, the cross country portion of the meet is being held in conjunction with several races in the Aspen area this weekend.
In the men's 10-kilometer classical race, CU freshman Vegard Kjoelhamar continued his early season dominance as he defeated the entire 200-plus skier field that included present and former Olympians. In topping the field in a 27:24.1 time, he won his second race of the winter to go with three runner-up finishes. He captured the 10k freestyle in last week's UAA meet.
Junior Matt Gelso was the runner-up in 27:53.1; his fourth top three placing in a row gave CU two finishers in the top three for all five races in 2009. Sophomore Jesper Ostensen, who also has two wins this year, was fifth in 28:51.6. Senior Josh Smith was a fourth Buffalo in the top 10, as his ninth place effort in 29:14.4 was his collegiate best finish in the classical discipline.
“Our team overall today was very strong,” Kjoelhamar said. “I never expected to be one of the best. I was never first in any workouts and races before Christmas. I thought it was hard to do well with skiing and school but I have started to feel a lot better now that it's race season. I was very tired after Alaska and today was the first day that I have felt good since then.”
“It's really nice to know that everyone is doing so well,” he added. “It makes a big difference having such a strong team because we have better training and races when there is always someone pushing you.”
“It feels really good to be back up where I was my freshman year in the top three or five,” Gelso said. “It's nice to feel strong again and it feels so good to have such a strong team. It gives us all a lot of confidence because as one person moves up, everyone tends to move up. It's a good atmosphere for everyone to get better and excel.”
“Vegard winning his first Classic was good,” CU Nordic coordinator Bruce Cranmer said. “He struggled early on in the season when we were in Montana training with finding the right pace at altitude, but I think that as soon as he got into race mode he felt a lot better and on form.”
Rounding out the action for the Colorado men were sophomore Patrick Neel, who placed 22nd in 30:00.1 and junior Karl Nygren (27th, 30:37.3). Nygren actually was doing much better but had some trouble with the bindings on his skis over the last few kilometers that likely dropped him out of the top 20, if not higher.
In the women's 5k race, senior Maria Grevsgaard added to her school record win total as she captured her 21st career race in 15:40.7. It was her second win this season and fourth top five finish as she appears to be completely back from a stomach flu-like virus that hampered her a bit in Alaska last week.
“I felt really good today. I was really relaxed and I was having a good time when I was warming up,” Grevsgaard said. “I was very excited to race and things all around just felt really good today. I am excited about the rest of the season but I try not to think about the past and future races. I just want to go out every race and do the best that I can and keep having fun.”
Sophomore Alex Turzian, still in the near-completion stage of her rehabilitation following hip surgery last year, finished 11th in 16:59.0. The next Buff didn't appear until the 31st slot in the standings, where freshman Katie Stege placed in 18:55.4. Senior Megan Wilder was 42nd in 22:02.1; Stege and Wilder were racing for the first time this winter as they did not travel to Alaska.
“Maria is looking more like her old self,” Cranmer said. “Warm weather certainly agrees with her and she has always skied very strong at altitude. She seems happy and is feeling confident and that all goes together well for her.”
“We aren't even half way through the race season and I am confident that our women's side has plenty of time to get stronger,” Cranmer added. “Alexa is still struggling to get back to being able to ski relaxed with strength. Her hip can sometimes be tight as she's still doing a little rehab which can affect her technique at times, but I'm not worried about her getting back in full race mode. She'll be right up there tomorrow.”
“Having a strong men's team helps everyone,” he continued. “It takes pressure off guys to perform because so many of them are good enough to be in the top spots at any given time. If someone would have had a bad day today, Josh would have been right in there to pick it up and fill in. I think that's extremely helpful for the team.”
While the alpine competition in the CU Invitational was completed Thursday, the skiers remained at Eldora Friday for the first Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association (RMISA) Alpine Qualifier and ran a second consecutive slalom. The LaBelle Trail run at Eldora has always made for a tough slalom, and with the snow conditions kind of shaky, it was a challenging day for the teams and coaches. Of the 86 collegians who raced Friday, 26 did not finish either their first or second run with two others opting not to start the second run, six were disqualified, and of the 52 skiers who did finish, 27 had to hike back up in some fashion at one point or another.
Alaska assumed the lead in the RMISA event with 136 points, topping the host Buffaloes (129); Denver (124), New Mexico (112) and Montana State (102) round out the top five. The giant slalom portion of the Alpine-only meet will take place at Winter Park on February 7 after two days of racing in the Denver Invitational. These additional alpine races will be used for qualification purposes for the NCAA Championships in March.
New Mexico's Petter Brenna won the men's slalom in a two-run time of 1:40.80, edging teammate Nikolai Finne (1:41.34) as the Lobos won the race with 82 points. CU juniors Stefan Hughes and Drew Roberts finished fourth (1:42.97) and sixth (1:43.84), respectively, with freshman Taggart Spenst eighth (1:44.16) as the Buffaloes joined UNM with three skiers in the top 10.
Someone who thought it was great day who embraced the conditions was Hughes. “It was a beautiful day, the best day I've ever had at Eldora,” Hughes said. “It was better snow than yesterday. It was a little hard, better for competition but I though that overall, it was just a great day.”
Junior Arman Serebrakian was the only other Buffalo out of eight who started that finished, as he took 20th (2:10.65); he was 12th after the first run but had to hike during his second attempt. Freshman Eric Davis was disqualified for straddling a gate in the first run, with senior Tony Cesolini unable to finish his first run and juniors Gabriel Rivas and Patrick Duran doing the same on their second runs.
In the women's slalom, sophomore Carolina Nordh posted CU's top finish, grabbing fourth in 1:41.02. New Mexico's Estelle Pecherand-Charmet won in a two-run time of 1:38.33, but unlike the Lobo men's squad, couldn't capitalize on the gold performance. All four other UNM skiers did not finish and left the door open for Alaska to win the race with 73 points, with Nevada second with 67 followed by CU (64).
"I had a good first run but made a big mistake,” Nordh said. “It's not as easy to start further back for the second run, but I had a good one. The course was better today than yesterday, not perfect but it's the same for everybody."
Nordh also likely echoed the sentiments of her colleagues, as the Friday's race was the seventh in nine days with a 2,400-mile trip from Alaska to Colorado in the middle. “It has been very tough, especially considering I just left Sweden two days before we went to Alaska,” she said. “So I'm pretty exhausted. I'm ready for a few days off now."
Sophomore Ashley Babcock, who started in the 34th position, was able to move all the way up to eighth in the final standings, posting a 1:44.24 time; that included a 50.57 clocking the second time down, the fourth fastest in the field.
Senior Lisa Perricone had some trouble on her first run but hung in there and finished 18th in 1:49.52; junior Heidi Hillenbrand was right behind her in 19th (1:49.90). Rounding out the CU women's finishers were freshmen Joelle Chevalier and (24th, 2:09.99) and Jennifer Allen (25th, 2:17.80). Sophomore Katie Hartman skied her first run, but Rokos decided to hold her out of the second. “She's a little beat up right now,” Rokos said of her nursing bruised ribs. “She's skiing really fast but needs to be more consistent. It's 50-50 if she'll finish and if she was more consistent, it would really benefit her."
"It was a tough day for almost everybody,” head coach Richard Rokos said. “For Stefan and Drew, they had very respectable days finishing in the top six. Considering the conditions up here, the snow was not really race ready but it was the same for everybody. New Mexico had a fantastic day on the guy's side. We still had the second most points on the men's side, so I'm glad our guys handled it as good as or better than other teams did."
"Carolina hung in there and battled, and I do want to complement Ashley Babcock for finishing eighth after starting way back,” Rokos continued. “Those were valuable points for us. I'm a little surprised we're only seven points down. With these conditions, it makes me feel good. A lot of good skiers didn't finish at all or up to their potential today for a lot of teams, so we're in decent shape."
The Nordic teams wrap up the CU Invitational Saturday in Aspen with a 21K freestyle race as part of the annual Owl Creek Chase at Snowmass.
Colorado Invitational Team Scores (6 events)?1. Denver 415; 2. Colorado 413.5; 3. New Mexico 395; 4. Utah 368?;
5. Alaska-Anchorage 341; 6. Nevada 323; 7. Montana State 256; 8. Whitman 128; 9. Wyoming 48.
Women's 5K Classical? 1. Maria Grevsgaard, CU, 15:40.7; 2. Antje Maempel, DU, 16:09.6; 3. Chelsea Holmes, UN, 16:28.6; 4. Annelies Cook, UU, 16:32.1; 5. Kaelin Kiesel, MSU, 16:36.9; 6. Kate Dolan, DU, 16:40.1; 7. Sara Schweiger, UU, 16:41.9; 8. Kristin Ronnestrand, UN, 16:43.9; 9. Polina Ermoshina, UNM, 16:46.8; 10. Annelise Bailly, DU, 16:58.7; 11. Alexa Turzian, CU, 16:59.0; 12. Zoe Roy, UU, 17:00.6; 13. Devon Spika, UU, 17:05.7; 14. Melanie Zemp, UNM, 17:18.6; 15. Karlie Moore, DU, 17:21.4; 16. Jaime Bronga, UAA, 17:24.0; 17. Claire Rennie, MSU, 17:31.3; 18. Laura Rombach, UAA, 17:34.9; 19. Stephanie Hiemer,UAA, 17:36.2; 20. Stefanie Wunderle, DU, 17:37.3; 21. Ingrid Leask, UNM, 17:41.8; 22. Melina Park, MSU, 17:42.8; 23. Casey Kutz, MSU, 17:48.0; 24. Amy Glen, UAA, 17:51.0; 25. Ase Carlson, UN, 18:03.7; 26. Ingvild Flatland, UU, 18:05.9; 27. Jamie Devin, MSU, 18:18.8; 28. Eloise Zimbelman, WC, 18:22.2; 29. Svenja Niemeier, UNM, 18:40.6; 30. Gwynn Barrows, WYO, 18:52.2; 31. Katie Stege, CU, 18:55.4; 32. Rachelle Kanady, UAA, 18:56.8; 33. Corrine Malcolm, MSU, 18:59.7; 34. Kari Boroff, WYO, 19:08.3; 35. Morgan Cropsey, WYO, 19:26.1; 36. Gracey Lewis, WYO, 19:34.6; 37. Paige Devlin, WC, 19:53.3; 38. Lindsay Records,WC, 19:53.4; 39. Kira Peterson, WC, 20:18.4; 40. Angela Raso, WC, 20:56.8; 41. Marie Cartwright, WYO, 21:03.1; 42. Megan Wilder, CU, 22:02.1.
Men's 10K Classical?1. Vegard Kjoelhamar, CU, 27:24.1; 2. Matt Gelso, CU, 27:53.1; 3. Mike Hinckley, DU, 28:15.3; 4. Jonathan Pluvinet, UN, 28:34.3; 5. Jesper Ostensen, CU, 28:51.6; 6. Didrik Smith, UU, 28:52.2; 7. Martin Kaas, UNM, 28:53.6; 8. Daniel Clark, DU, 28:56.2; 9. Josh Smith, CU, 29:14.4; 10. Harald Loevenskiold, DU, 29:16.0; 11. Luke Preussler, UN, 29:16.5; 12. Raphael Wunderle, UAA, 29:17.1; 13. Simon Reissmann, UNM, 29:21.0; 14. Tom Smith, UU, 29:21.4; 15. Christoffer Callesen, UNM, 29:28.2; 16. Rolf Figi, UU, 29:32.8; 17. Ben Fick, UU, 29:34.2; 18. Max Treinen, UAA, 29:43.1; 19. Tor-Hakon Hellebostad, UNM, 29:43.8; 20. Nils Sandtroen, UAA, 29:55.1; 21. Gunnar Kristiansen, MSU, 29:56.9; 22. Patrick Neel, CU, 30:00.1; 23. Vincent Caccamo, UN, 30:00.9; 24. Evgeniy Panzhinskiy, WYO, 30:10.3; 25. Bernhard Roenning, MSU, 30:17.3; 26. Ryan Scott, MSU, 30:21.6; 27. Karl Nygren, CU, 30:37.3; 28. Ian Havlick, UU, 31:04.3; 29. Casey Dyck, UNM, 31:29.6; 30. Peter Landl, UNM, 32:01.4; 31. Eliah Peterson, WYO, 32:02.8; 32. Hans Nygren, MSU, 32:04.6; 33. Daniel Lewis, WYO, 32:08.1; 34. Karl Schauer, UAA, 32:09.0; 35. Joe Howdyshell, WYO, 32:31.2; 36. Sam Newcomer, UN, 32:47.1; 37. Bailey Arend, WC, 33:03.8; 38. Gustavo Johnson, UN, 33:18.8; 39. John Kirlin, WYO, 33:29.0; 40. Charlie Smith, UN, 33:30.2; 41. August Brautigam, UN, 33:37.3; 42. Tyler Abery, WC, 33:58.6; T43. Zachary Slater, DU, 34:09.0; T43. Warren McDermot, WC, 34:09.0; 45. Grigory Kolesov, WYO, 34:58.2; 46. Jack Straus, WC, 35:19.6; 47. Michael Fitzgerald, WYO, 37:17.3; 48. Willie Via, WYO, 37:54.0.
RMISA Alpine Qualifier No. 1 Team Scores (2 events)?1. Alaska 136; 2. Colorado 129; 3. Denver 124; 4. New Mexico
112; 5. Montana State 102; 6. Utah 96; 7. Nevada 92; 8. Whitman 58.
Men's Slalom?1. Petter Brenna, UNM, 1:40.80; 2. Nikolai Finne, UNM, 1:41.34; 3. Seppi Stiegler, DU, 1:42.76; 4. Stefan Hughes, CU, 1:42.97; 5. Leif Haugen, DU, 1:43.48; 6. Drew Roberts, CU, 1:43.84; 7. Halfdan Falkum-Hansen, UAA, 1:43.86; 8. Taggart Spenst, CU, 1:44.16; 9. Thomas Schwab, UNM, 1:44.40; 10. Hermann Lager, UU, 1:44.47; 11. Egil Ismar, UAA, 1:45.14; 12. Toby Lamar, MSU, 1:45.18; 13. Andrew Fischer, UAA, 1:49.67; 14. Torjus Krogdahl, UU, 1:50.94; 15. Dan McKay, UAA, 1:54.07; 16. Thomas Zumbrunn, UU, 1:55.38; 17. Chet Cook, MSU, 1:57.19; 18. Kristopher Shampeny, MSU, 1:57.25; 19. Eric Anderson, UN, 2:01.26; 20. Arman Serebrakian, CU, 2:10.65; 21. Chris Machesney, WHT, 2:12.65; 22. Dylan Bryant, UN, 2:16.38; 23. Tim Bak, WHT, 2:17.61; 24. Nick Cohee, UU, 2:19.44; 25. Olivier Lacaille, UNM, 2:24.21; 26. Ian Lochhead, DU, 2:30.97. Did Not Finish (CU): Tony Cesolini (1st run), Patrick Duran (2nd run), Gabriel Rivas (2nd run). Disqualified: Eric Davis (1st run).
Women's Slalom?1. Estelle Pecherand-Charmet, UNM, 1:38.33; 2. Alexandra Parker, UAA, 1:39.18; 3. Eva Huckova, UU, 1:40.90; 4. Carolina Nordh, CU, 1:41.02; 5. Lacy Saugstad, UAA, 1:41.95; 6. Georgia Wettlaufer, DU, 1:43.34; 7. Katie Lyons, UN, 1:44.15; 8. Ashley Babcock, CU, 1:44.24; 9. Kristina Palovicova, UN, 1:44.41; 10. Amy Harris, UN, 1:44.96; 11. Amy Lattimer, MSU, 1:45.04; 12. Jenny Tank, DU, 1:45.31; 13. Sandra MacDonald, UAA, 1:45.60; 14. Molly Ryan, DU, 1:46.56; 15. Carmel McElroy,MSU, 1:46.57; 16. Alison Leighton, MSU, 1:48.69; 17. Amanda Goyne, UN, 1:49.16; 18. Lisa Perricone, CU, 1:49.52; 19. Heidi Hillenbrand, CU, 1:49.90; 20. Hannah Victory, MSU, 1:53.96; 21. Elizabeth Allen, WHT, 1:58.44; 22. Torey Anderson, WHT, 1:59.67; 23. Lexie Drechsel, WHT, 2:03.38; 24. Joelle Chevalier, CU, 2:09.99; 25. Jennifer Allen, CU, 2:17.80; 26. Sofia Smith, UU, 2:27.85. Did Not Start (CU): Katie Hartman (2nd run).
Players Mentioned
