CU Skiers In Fifth After Day One Of Utah Invitational

Monday, January 11

Park City, Utah

All Day

Colorado

Utah Invitational (GS)

Photo by: CUBuffs.com

CU Skiers In Fifth After Day One Of Utah Invitational

January 11, 2010 | Skiing

By: David Plati, Associate AD/Sports Information

PARK CITY, Utah — The University of Colorado ski team opened its 2010 collegiate season here Monday with the giant slalom races of the Utah Invitational, ending in fifth after the day's pair of races.

New Mexico held first place with 231 points, followed by defending NCAA champion Denver with 212, then Utah (195), Nevada (189) and the Buffaloes (172).

There are now just seven schools who sponsor NCAA skiing in the west, as Whitman and Wyoming, which had fielded only Nordic teams the last several years, both eliminated their programs. Another change this year is the scoring base, weighted on the front end to reward top finishes; first place is now worth 50 points, second worth 47, followed by 44, 41, 39, 37, 35, 33 and 31 to complete the top 10. The old format awarded 30 points for first, then subsequently one fewer point for each placing. Thus, the greatly increased points totals for single races Monday.

“The ladies were consistent, and to have six skiers in the top 15, that's pretty good,” CU head coach Richard Rokos said. “We just need to push a little more and have a few of them finish closer to the top. I think it was the worst day for our guys in a long time. We had a more bad luck today than we've had in quite a while. We skied fast in parts, but it wasn't good enough for a complete run. I always say 'things can't get worse,' and then they do. That's what happened today.”

The Buffaloes had just one top 10 finish, that by newcomer Erika Ghent, a freshman transfer from Denver. She took fifth in the women's GS in a two-run time of 1:57.34, as she had the fifth fastest first run and the fourth quickest second time down the mountain in her first college competition.

CU skiers then posted the 11th through 15th place finishes: sophomore Jennifer Allen (1:58.60), freshman Sara Hjertman (1:59.16), junior Carolina Nordh (1:59.30), junior Katie Hartman (1:59.34) and sophomore Joelle Chevalier (1:59.81). Allen had the sixth fastest first run (59.61) while Chevalier had the ninth fastest afternoon run (58.10). Freshman Khyla Burrows did not finish the first run.

“To come from a low starting position (25th) and finish in the top five is a great accomplishment,” Rokos said of Ghent's effort. “She had a couple of really good runs, which is what we expect from her, but it's never easy coming from a low position and move up like she did today. Jenny skied very well and was a nice surprise. She was in a bit of a slump at the end of last year and we've been waiting for her to break out of it. She's been skiing well for a few weeks, but it was a surprise, even for her.”

In the men's GS, Colorado's top skier, Gabriel Rivas, the defending NCAA slalom champion, suffered a nasty crash and hiked on his first run, but was injured to the point where he did not start his second run, is out of Tuesday's slalom and is questionable later in the week for the Montana meet. Freshman Spencer Nelson, from Winter Park, posted CU's top finish, taking 11th in 1:57.7 in his first collegiate race. Senior Stephan Hughes was 15th in 1:58.99, with senior Drew Roberts (25th, 2:07.46) and sophomore Eric Davis (31st, 2:30.36) the only other finishers for the Buff men. Sophomore Taggart Spenst did not finish his first run.

“At the end of the first run, the course really flattens out and he got himself wrapped around a gate,” Rokos said. “He took the gate too fast and whipped around and the edge of one ski scrapped his calf and bruised it pretty bad. He will have to take a few days off. I'm not sure if he will be back by Montana State or not.”

Rokos said the weather was near perfect Monday. “It was like the spring time and the snow was good and hard. This is a world cup hill, it's challenging and steep. There were a couple of holes on the course that took a good portion of the field and forced them into DNF's (did not finish). But that's the nature of the business and we're expecting the same conditions Tuesday. The slalom is stronger for us for whatever reason, so we need to recover from today and show strong tomorrow. The slalom is more risky, you tend to have more DNF's, but for us, it's a stronger event.”

The alpine portion of the meet concludes Tuesday with the slalom races; the Utah Invitational will conclude Jan. 22-23 with the Nordic races at Soldier Hollow. In the interim, the teams will head northeast to Bozeman to participate in the Montana State Invitational this Friday through Sunday (Jan. 15-17).

OTHER SKI TEAM NEWS

SIX BUFFS FARE WELL IN ANCHORAGE EVENTS: Six Buffs, three men and three women, represented CU in last weekend's U.S. National Cross Country Championships and Nordic College Cup in Anchorage, Alaska. Sophomore Eliska Hajkova had CU's best finish, seventh in the classic sprints, as she covered the 1.4k course in 3:44.67; junior Alexa Turzian was 58th in 4:03.71. In the men's version, sophomore Reid Pletcher was 13th in 3:24.58 (the men's distance was 3:24.58), with senior Matt Gelso 37th (3:29.66).

Hajkova was 16th in the women's 10k freestyle (31:19.6), with freshman Joanne Reid 18th (31.30.5) and Turzian 24th (31:45.9); Turzian was the only one to ski in the 20K classic, finishing 22nd in 1:20:15.4. Gelso was 19th in the men's 30k classic in 1:39:14.4 and 24th in the 15k freestyle (40:17.1), while senior Patrick Neel was 32nd (1:42:42.3) and 41st (41:23.2) in the same races, respectively.

In the College Cup competition, derived from the main results of the entire field, Hajkova led the way with second and third place finishes, while Turzian posted ninth and 24th place efforts in the short sprint-style races. Pletcher had a third place finish in one race, while senior Matt Gelso had a runner-up and 11th place showings.

Utah Invitational Team Scores (2 events)—1. New Mexico 231; 2. Denver 212; 3. Utah 195; 4. Nevada 189; 5. Colorado 173; 6. Alaska-Anchorage 163; 7. Montana State 139.

Women's Giant Slalom (35 finishers)—1. Eva Huckova, UU, 1:56.15; 2. Stefanie Demetz, UNM, 1:56.41; 3. Alexandra Parker, UAA, 1:56.81; 4. Maline Hemmingsson, UNM, 1:57.14; 5. Erika Ghent, CU, 1:57.34; 6. Anne Brusletto, UNM, 1:57.75; 7. Lindsay Cone, DU, 1:57.88; 8. Amy Harris, UNR, 1:58.00; 9. Jennie Vanwagner, DU, 1:58.01; 10. Kate Williams, UNM, 1:58.17. Other CU Finishers: 11. Jennifer Allen, 1:58.60; 12. Sara Hjertman, 1:59.16; 13. Carolina Nordh, 1:59.30; 14. Katie Hartman, 1:59.34; 15. Joelle Chevalier, 1:59.81. Did Not Finish (1st run): Khyla Burrows.

Men's Giant Slalom (32 finishers)—1. Seppi Stiegler, DU, 1:56.44; 2. Martin Harris, UNR, 1:56.70; 3. Petter Brenna, UNM, 1:56.74; 4. A.J. Arvin, DU, 1:56.82; 5 (tie). Shane Collins, UNR and Thomas Schwab, UNM, 1:56.96; 7. Nick Cohee, Utah, 1:57.01; 8. Thomas Zumbrunn, Utah, 1:57.19; 9. Kyle Kung, Utah, 1:57.20; 10. Andreas Kilde, DU, 1:57.31. CU Finishers: 11. Spencer Nelson, 1:57.72; 15. Stefan Hughes, 1:58.99; 25. Drew Roberts, 2:07.46; 31. Eric Davis, 2:30.36. Did Not Finish (1st run): Taggart Spenst. Did Not Start (2nd run): Gabriel Rivas.