Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
Montana State Invitational (GS)
Kjoelhamar Wins, Buffs In Lead At Montana State
January 16, 2011 | Skiing
BOHART RANCH & BIG SKY, Mont. - A total off 11 University of Colorado skiers earned a top six finish and senior Vegard Kjoelhamar won the men's 10K freestyle race here Saturday in the first day of the 2011 season where the Nordic and alpine teams are both in competition.
The Buffs have a 37 point lead over the field, racking up an impressive 499 points in four races, winning three of them and coming in three points behind the leader in the other. Utah sits in second place with 462 points and those two have surged from the rest of the field as Denver and New Mexico sit tied for third with 373 points, Alaska-Anchorage is fifth with 329 points, host Montana State sixth with 303 points and associate RMISA member Westminster College is seventh with 145 points competing only in alpine action.
"It was a good day at the office, that's for sure," CU head coach Richard Rokos said. "Everybody skied well. We had 11 out of 12 scores coming in the top six of four races, so that consistency across the board is good to see. Now the challenge is continuing to have results like today over and over again. Everybody is healthy and charging, so that's great to see. We will leave it to tomorrow to see how high we can finish."
Kjoelhamar won his fourth race as a collegian, third in freestyle action. His time of 24:25.6 for the 10K race helped him to his ninth podium appearance. He won the race by just 2.4 seconds over Utah's Miles Havlick, which is impressive especially considering it was an interval start so you don't know where you stand. Senior Jesper Ostensen also hit the podium with a third place finish, some 34.7 seconds behind Kjoelhamar (25:00.3), earning his 10th career podium appearance and fourth in a freestyle race.
Junior Reid Pletcher took 10th in 25:39.8 while senior Patrick Neel was just behind Pletcher in 12th place in a time of 25:49.4. Sophomore Ian Mallams took 23rd in a time of 26:26.5 with freshmen Andreas Hoye (27:22.5) and Spencer Lacy (27:45.0) finishing 31st and 32nd, respectively. In all, the Buffs totaled 124 points to win the race as a team.
"I was happy with how we skied today," CU Nordic coach Bruce Cranmer said. "Reid didn't feel great and a lot of the skiers who competed at nationals are a little tired from skiing and school, but we did well on both sides and that's great to see."
In women's Nordic action, the Buffs placed two on the podium in the 5K freestyle race with junior Eliska Hajkova finishing second in a time of 13:43.7, some 34.6 seconds behind Utah's Maria Graefnings, who won in a time of 13:09.1. Sophomore Joanne Reid took third in 14:04.1 and the Buffs' Alexa Turzian finished fifth in 14:10.9.
For Hajkova, it was her eighth podium appearance in just over one season of skiing and it's her fifth runner-up finish overall and the second place matched her career-best performance. Reid earned her first collegiate podium appearance, although she has finished in the top 10 eight times in 11 career races to date. For Turzian, it's her 20th career top five finish, including her season at Middlebury, and it's her 10th top five finish in freestyle races at Colorado.
The Buffs won the race with 130 points, which is the most points in any race in the season to date, alpine or Nordic. Sophomore Mary Rose took home 25th in a time of 15:15.9 while senior Katie Stege took 32nd in 16:04.4.
"Our women skied strong today," Cranmer said. "Coming in second to Maria isn't a bad thing. Overall as a team, I think we're looking for a few skiers to ski higher up in the standings, but it's hard for everybody to have a great day and we have a long season ahead of us. But we did really well with results on both sides so that's promising."
With temperatures in the upper 30s at Bohart Ranch and staying above freezing throughout the night, it was a little on the warm side for ideal conditions.
"It was warm weather but conditions were good," Cranmer said. "Tomorrow will be much more exciting. With a mass start, we have to have everybody ready at the same time and waxing will be a challenge as the weather is supposed to stay how it was today. It will be exciting; hopefully we're on the right side of excitement."
On the alpine side, the Buffs concluded another great day of action in giant slalom races, building off the momentum the teams gained during the RMISA Qualifier races the day before. On the women's side, sophomore Sara Hjertman took third in a time of 1:58.27 and was just a half-second behind the race winner, Tii-Maria Romar from Utah. Hjertman had the fastest time in the field after the first run yesterday but crashed on the second run, so after having the third fastest first run today, she had the eighth-fastest second run time but maintained that third spot in the final standings.
"Sara maybe skied a little conservatively so she didn't have a repeat of yesterday's performance," Rokos said. "But it was still fast enough to place very well."
Senior Katie Hartman took fourth and after having just the 19th fastest time in the first run, she blasted the field in the second run and had the fastest time in the field for a combined time of 1:58.34, good for fourth place. Senior Carolina Nordh also moved up significantly from her first to second runs, improving from 17th to sixth on the strength of the fourth fastest second run.
"Katie and Carolina had similar days," Rokos said. "It's good for a coach to see thing like both of them rebounding from slightly slower first runs to finish near the top in the second run and move up significantly. Carolina's finish was extremely important for her, she was able to move up quite a bit for NCAA qualification. These are all good signs, we just have to stay healthy and keep working on it."
Junior Jenny Allen took home 14th place in 1:59.27 while sophomore Erika Ghent, who won yesterday's giant slalom, was just behind Allen in 15th in a time of 1:59.62. Ghent won yesterday's race. Senior Ashley Babcock took home 27th in a time of 2:03.68 while sophomore Khyla Burrows finished 30th in 2:04.87.
Freshman Kirsten Cooper, who brought home a top performance on Friday, had the fastest time in the field after the first run and was the only racer in the field clocked under 58 seconds at 57.95. She crashed and did not finish the second run, duplicating the efforts of Hjertman from the day before.
"Kirsten is still new to college racing," Rokos said. "But today's result doesn't put a damper on anything and she has still had a great start to her collegiate career."
Senior Gabriel Rivas finished as a runner up to Utah's Ryan Wilson for the second straight day, as Rivas' time of 1:53.53 was just 39-hundredths of a second behind Wilson on Saturday. Sophomore Max Lamb brought home a fifth-place finish in a time of 1:53.95 and freshman Andreas Haug was just behind him in sixth in a time of 1:54.20.
Junior Eric Davis finished 17th in a time of 1:55.49, freshman Fletcher McDonald took home 30th in 1:58.74 and sophomore Taggart Spenst had to hike and took home 36th in a time of 2:54.29.
"From where Eric started, he had a good day," Rokos said. "He move up both from his start in the first run to the start in his second run."
The Montana State Invitational concludes Sunday with the 15K women's and 20K men's classic races with a mass start at Bohart Ranch and the slalom races at Big Sky. This will be the first meet to conclude during the 2011 season, as next weekend the Nordic teams head to Utah to finish their portion of the Utah Invitational.
"Tomorrow it will be important to finish the race," Rokos said. "But we are capable of skiing safe and fast, and that's our goal. We will be missing some slalom qualifying opportunities coming up in the next few weeks, but I don't think there's a big danger to not qualifying a full team at this point, so we will go out and try and have solid races and wrap up with meet with a victory. It's always good to come home with more confidence and another notch on the belt."
Montana State Invitational Team Scores (4 events)-1. Colorado 499; 2. Utah 462; t-3. New Mexico & Denver, 373; 5. Alaska Anchorage 329; 6. Montana State 303; 7. Westminster College 145.
Women's Giant Slalom (38 finishers)-1. Tii-Maria Romar, UU, 1:57.75; 2. Alex Parker, UAA, 1:57.82; 3. Sara Hjertman, CU, 1:58.27; 4. Katie Hartman, CU, 1:58.34; 5. Kate Williams, UNM, 1:58.45; 6. Carolina Nordh, CU, 1:58.57; 7. Ida Dillingoeen, DU, 1:58.58; 8. Anne Cecilie Brusletto, UNM, 1:58.59; 9. Lindsay Cone, DU, 1:58.80; 10. Aude Aguilaniu, WMC, 1:58.84. Other CU Skiers: 14. Jenny Allen, 1:59.27; 15. Erika Ghent, 1:59.62; 27. Ashley Babcock, 2:03.68; 30. Khyla Burrows, 2:04.87. Did Not Finish (Second Run): Kirsten Cooper.
Men's Giant Slalom (36 finishers)-1. Ryan Wilson, UU, 1:53.14; 2. Gabriel Rivas, CU, 1:53.53; 3. Seppi Stiegler, DU, 1:53.54; 4. Jeremy Elliot, UU, 1:53.67; 5. Max Lamb, CU, 1:53.95; 6. Andreas Haug, CU, 1:54.20; 7. Torjus Krogdahl, UU, 1:54.47; 8. Chris Acosta, UNM, 1:54.60; 9. Andreas Adde, UAA, 1:54.73; 10. Andreas Kilde, DU, 1:54.81. Other CU Skiers: 17. Eric Davis, 1:55.49; 30. Fletcher McDonald, 1:58.74; 36. Taggart Spenst, 2:54.29.
Women's Freestyle (33 finishers)-1. Maria Graefnings, UU, 13:09.1; 2. Eliska Hajkova, CU, 13:43.7; 3. Joanne Reid, 14:04.1; 4. Zoe Roy, UU, 14:07.6; 5. Alexa Turzian, CU, 14:10.9; 6. Ase Carlson, MSU, 14:13.6; 7. Christina Hellberg, UNM, 14:16.5; 8. Maerta Larsen, UU, 14:21.7; 9. Jamie Brogna, UAA, 14:21.9; 10. Kate Dolan, DU, 14:30.0. Other CU Skiers: 25. Mary Rose, 15:15.9; 32. Katie Stege, 16:04.4.
Men's Freestyle (33 finishers)-1. Vegard Kjoelhamar, CU, 24:25.6; 2. Miles Havlick, UU, 24:28.0; 3. Jesper Ostensen, CU, 25:00.3; 4. Andrew Dougherty, DU, 25:09.9; 5. Didrik Smith, UU, 25:14.2; 6. Martin Kaas, UNM, 25:17.0; 7. Tyler Reinking, MSU, 25:21.2; 8. Christian Otto, UNM, 25:24.6; 9. Tor-Hakon Hellebostad, UNM, 25:32.4; 10. Reid Pletcher, CU, 25:39.8. Other CU Skiers: 12. Patrick Neel, 25:49.4; 23. Ian Mallams, 26:26.5; 31. Andreas Hoye, 27:22.5; 32. Spencer Lacy, 27:45.0.
