Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
RMISA Western Regionals
Skiers In Fourth At RMISA Championships
February 19, 2009 | Skiing
RENO, Nev. ? The University of Colorado ski team is sitting in fourth place after the first two events here Thursday in the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association Championships, an event that also doubles as the NCAA West Regional.
Only the slalom races were held Thursday, with the event having its usual number of pitfalls and outright falls, with almost a third of the field suffering falls or skiing off course (26 of the 81). When the smoke cleared, New Mexico and host Nevada handled things best with the Lobos placing six skiers in the top 11 between the men's and women's races, while the Wolfpack had four top five efforts.
New Mexico is in the lead with 151 points, with Nevada second (141); Denver (127), Colorado (124) and Utah (106) round out the top five in the nine-school field. Competition took place under sunny skies and little wind in warmer than desired conditions, as temperatures neared 50 degrees.
Colorado is the defending champion, and is looking to take over the lead in titles since the sport went coed in 1983. Colorado and Utah are tied for the most RMISA titles with 10; Denver (four), New Mexico and Wyoming (one each) claimed the other six. Nine of those titles are under current CU head coach Richard Rokos, including the 2008 crown. The Buffs have won the most overall with 23 (11 in men's competition between 1950 and 1982 and two in women's action (1978, 1979); Denver is next with 18.
“It was a very tough race today and tough conditions,” Rokos said. “This was probably the most beautiful weather that we've had this year but for skiing and the regional championships it was not ideal. As a region we should try to provide quality competition for a crucial race like this. There were definitely not perfect snow conditions but there is nothing that we could do about it. To start anywhere deep in the field you had to focus on making it from start to finish in a slow but organized fashion in order to eliminate any chance of mistakes.
“Seeding in itself meant a lot today,” he continued. “We were trying to promote our qualification spots for NCAA and I don't think that it worked as well as we were hoping for.
In the men's slalom, UNM's Petter Brenna won with a two-run time of 1:46.16, but the story of the race was about CU junior Gabriel Rivas. Having to hike a bit after his first run, he was in the 25th start position for the second run; but he smoked the field with a time of 50.66, two or more seconds better than most of the skiers in the top 10 and 1.5 seconds ahead of the next fastest time, 52.05 by another Buff junior, Patrick Duran. Rivas zoomed all the way up to a 12th place finish in 1:49.16.
Junior Drew Roberts was in third after his first run but settled for a sixth place showing in 1:48.29. Duran wound up as the third scorer for the Buffs in claiming 18th in 1:50.93.
“The conditions were soft which made this more of a strategy race, Roberts said. “It was tough not being able to go all out and you had to focus on your strategy for both the first and second run. The track was tough and I ski better when the track is clean. I still haven't learned how to ski fast when it's rough. My line wasn't as good in the second run. Plus I was in third place after the first run and I knew that all I needed was better than sixth to improve my seeding so maybe that got to me mentally.”
“I made a technical mistake on my first run. I don't know the cause but it made me fall and I tried to hike and finish the run as fast as I could,” Rivas said. “Knowing that I still had an opportunity to move up, like I always do, I just tried to go 100 percent even though I knew it would be hard to get in top five. I tried my best to just take advantage of the slick course and gain some spots in the ranking as much as I could.”
Senior Tony Cesolini (21st, 1:51.15), freshman Taggart Spenst (22nd, 1:51.17), junior Arman Serebrakian (23rd, 1:51.28) and junior Stefan Hughes (28th, 1:55.53) rounded out the action for the CU men; freshman Eric Davis was a last minute scratch.
In the women's slalom, sophomore Carolina Nordh posted CU's best finish, as she claimed seventh in 2:07.16. Not too far behind were fellow sophs Katie Hartman (11th, 2:07.71) and Ashley Babcock (12th, 2:07.85). New Mexico's Estelle Pecherand-Charmet won in a 2:04.15 clocking.
“I am much better at turning courses than straight courses, but I started so far back in the first run,” Nordh said of starting 24th. “Starting that far behind was super hard especially today with the course being so soft, so my goal was to put together two solid runs without big mistakes and that's important on a course like this.”
Hartman was in 17th after the first run but used the fourth fastest second-run effort to vault into 11th.
“Those were pretty tough conditions,” Hartman said. “Just for the second run I was thinking about going for it because I had nothing to lose and it ended up working for the better. Kind of racers luck today. I think the conditions definitely affected the entire race. It's hard to base results and skill off a day like today.”
Freshman Jennifer Allen took 14th in 2:09.40, junior Heidi Hillenbrand was 25th in 2:14.64, and senior Lisa Perricone 34th in 3:26.64. Perricone had to hike after falling during her first run, but did ski the 24th fastest second run time despite a horrible 37th starting position.
“Both girls and guys on a day like this and on a hill like this, in these conditions, skied well,” Rokos said. “Having the guys finish their first round and come from behind to make the flip was positive. Unfortunately Gabriel had a mistake in his first run but his second run was two seconds faster than the next guy and Pat probably skied his best race of the year, finishing third on the second run, but it wasn't enough to move that far up in the standings.
“Same thing with the girls, they put great effort into today's race,” he added. “Lisa unfortunately hiked but Ashley's first run was an absolute great surprise for everybody and a fourth place in a single run was probably the best of her career. Overall it was a good race. We didn't have a winner but we didn't have a loser. Coming into the second day of the race we are still in the hunt and anything can happen, and of course we still have the cross country events we expect to do well in.”
Four events are scheduled for Friday, led off by the women's giant slalom at 9:15 a.m., which will be run through completion; the men's GS begins at 1:15 p.m. The women's 5-kilometer classical race kicks off the Nordic completion at 11 a.m., with the men's 10K at Noon. The meet concludes Saturday with the freestyle races, the men's 15K at 10 a.m. and the women's 10K at 11:30 a.m.
RMISA Championship Team Scores?1. New Mexico 151; 2. Nevada 141; 3. Denver 127; 4. Colorado 124;
5. Utah 106; 6. Alaska-Anchorage 91; 7. Montana State 84; 8. Whitman 61; 9. Wyoming 0.
Men's Slalom?1. Petter Brenna, UNM, 1:46.16; 2. Martin Harris, UN, 1:46.89; 3. Gregory Berger, UN, 1:47.11; 4. Ian Lochhead, DU, 1:47.77; 5. Nikolai Finne, UNM, 1:48.25; 6. Drew Roberts, CU, 1:48.29; 7. Scott Veenis, Utah, 1:48.33; 8. Hermann Lager, Utah, 1:48.45; 9. Thomas Zumbrunn, Utah, 1:48.50; 10. Egil Ismar, UAA, 1:48.73. Other CU Results?12. Gabriel Rivas, 1:49.16; 18. Patrick Duran, 1:50.93; 21. Tony Cesolini, 1:51.15; 22. Taggart Spenst, 1:51.17; 23. Arman Serebrakian, 1:51.28; 28. Stefan Hughes, 1:55.53. Did Not Start (1st run): Eric Davis.
Women's Slalom?1. Estelle Pecherand-Charmet, UNM, 2:04.15; 2. Molly Ryan, DU, 2:06.19; 3. Katie Lyons, UN, 2:06.53; 4. Ida Dillingoeen, DU, 2:06.60; 5. Taryn O'Flynn, UN, 2:06.90; 6. Claire Abbe, DU, 2:06.96; 7. Carolina Nordh, CU, 2:07.16; 8. Georgia Wettlaufer, DU, 2:07.23; 9. Karin Ohlin, UNM, 2:07.41; 10. Stefanie Demetz, UNM, 2:07.41. Other CU Results?11. Katie Hartman, CU, 2:07.71; 12. Ashley Babcock, CU, 2:07.85; 14. Jennifer Allen, CU, 2:09.40; 25. Heidi Hillenbrand, 2:14.64; 34. Lisa Perricone, 3:26.64.
Assistant SID Allie Musso contributed to this report.
