Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
Montana State Invitational (SL)
Buffs Hold Off Utes, Win Montana State Invitational
January 16, 2011 | Skiing
BOHART RANCH & BIG SKY, Mont. - The University of Colorado ski team was able to hold off a surging Utah team amidst major weather issues and win the 2011 Montana State Invitational here Sunday, the first meet completely in the books in the 2011 season.
Colorado had 10 performances in the top 11 to hold off Utah, winning by just nine points, 921-912, in the closest meet in Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association history under the current scoring format. The Buffs held a 37 point lead at the mid-point entering Sunday's races. The nine point win tops a 15 point win by New Mexico over Denver in the 2010 Utah Invitational as the closest meet under the current scoring system, which took affect prior to the 2010 season. It is the closest margin of victory overall since Denver edged out the Buffs, 591-587.5, just 3.5 points, in the 2008 New Mexico Invitational.
"It's good to have a victory under the belt, regardless of how tight it was," CU coach Richard Rokos said. "Utah came strong today, especially in Nordic women, but we maintained the lead and it's good to go home with a victory."
New Mexico finished third with 786 points while Denver took fourth with 764 points. Alaska Anchorage racked up 658 points in fifth place while host Montana State finished sixth with 603 points and RMISA associate member Westminster College, competing in alpine only, finished with 324 points.
"Utah has assembled a strong team," Rokos said. "They've had a strong alpine team the last few years and then they recruited the best skier from Nevada, so they got a boost by Nevada disassembling a team."
After the morning's Nordic action, Utah won both races as a team with Colorado finishing second in both as the Utes began to chip away at the lead. In the women's 15K classical race, junior Eliska Hajkova took second in a time of 50:49.6, but finishing about two-and-a-half minutes behind the race winner, Utah's Maria Graefnings.
"It was an interesting waxing day," Cranmer said. "Eliska chose a no-wax ski and we're not sure it was the right choice. It started raining during the women's race and for the first two laps, she was slipping a lot, but she had a good kick on the final lap. I'm sure wax had something to do with her not staying with Maria the whole time, but I'm not sure just how much."
Sophomore Joanne Reid finished seventh (51:16.4) and senior Alexa Turzian took 16th (53:43.9) after breaking her pole. Aside from Graefning's win, Utah also finished third and sixth to outscore the Buffs 131-108 and bringing the margin down to just 14 points. Sophomore Mary Rose finished 25th with a time of 57:03.7 while senior Katie Stege took 31st with a time of 58:31.4.
"Some of the other girls were happy with their skies," Cranmer said. "And other's didn't feel great. It was just a difficult day and difficult conditions. Alexa could've been a bit higher if she hadn't broke her pole, perhaps where Joanne finished. But that's just what transpired, it was a wild weather day."
And while the weather affected the women's race, it was the main story of the men's race. About 30 minutes before the start of the men's race while raining, a gust of wind brought down the Buffs tent and Cranmer and assistant Jana Weinberger had to put a make-shift shelter together between the ski vans while ensuring the skies didn't get wet. Then they had to prep seven men's skiers for the mass start 20K classical race.
"For the guys race, it was total mayhem," Cranmer said. "It was raining, kind of a frozen rain, it was 35 degrees. We had the tent fall apart right at the critical point in our preparations for the race. When skies get wet, you can't put wax on them. It was all we could do that we could get some kind of wax on the skies that the guys were happy with. In terms of wax it doesn't get much worse than that."
Despite those troubles, the Buffs and Utes battled it out, with Utah narrowly winning the race 122-121, meaning the Buffs would hold a 13 point advantage with the alpine results not yet in. Senior Vegard Kjoelhamar matched Hajkova's second place finish after he won the freestyle race the day before. He was one of just three skiers in the field under an hour and finished with a time of 58:50.0.
"Vegard was leading a bunch of the race and in it the whole time," Cranmer said. "Miles got away from him on the last hill a little bit."
Senior Jesper Ostensen finished fifth in a time of 1:00:55.5 and junior Reid Pletcher seventh in 1:01:16.3. Freshman Andreas Hoye finished 17th with a time of 1:04:12.5, sophomore Ian Mallams took 22nd (1:06:27.7) and freshman Spencer Lacy 27th in 1:07:38.7.
"The guys had a solid performance, we definitely dodged a bullet," Cranmer said. "It wasn't a great finish kind of day, but with everything that happened and everything that was thrown at us, we came out pretty good. It was an exciting and stressful day. It's fun to get a win out of the block."
Neither Colorado nor Utah fared quite as well on the alpine side Sunday, but the battle for the team victory continued to stay tight. Both schools had their top three finishers that count toward team scoring finish in the top 13 and the Utes edged the Buffs by eight points, 105-97, closing the gap to just five points.
Sophomore Erika Ghent finished the slalom race in seventh place with a time of 1:37.38 with senior Carolina Nordh just two-hundredths of a second behind her teammate with a time of 1:37.40 while sophomore Sara Hjertman took 11th with a time of 1:37.66. All three were within just a second of a podium appearance, as the third place skier had a time of 1:36.69.
Freshman Kirsten Cooper finished 15th with a time of 1:37.95 and senior Katie Hartman was just behind her in a time of 1:38.12. Junior Jenny Allen took 22nd in a time of 1:38.96 while Ashley Babcock finished 30th after having to hike in her first run with a time of 1:57.38 and sophomore Khyla Burrows did not finish her second run.
"We had some outstanding performances on the women's side," Rokos said. "Cooper's second run was great. Most of the squad did better on their first run, but Kirsten, Erika and Katie all had solid second runs. Carolina had ambitions to finish better. She finished well but somewhere she left some time on the hill, we'll have to review the video. Her second run was good, very impressive. Sara was conservatively in both runs."
Two freshmen saved the day for the Buffaloes as in the men's slalom race, each of CU's team scorers finished one spot ahead of the respective team scorer for the Utes. The Buffs finished fifth, 10th and 15th while the Utes finished sixth, 11th and 16th, enabling the Buffs to outscore the Utes by four points and secure the nine point overall team victory.
Freshmen Fletcher McDonald and Andreas Haug were the Buffs top two scorers and throw in sophomore Max Lamb's 15th place finish, and it was CU's three newcomers on the men's alpine side that scored team points for the Buffaloes. McDonald finished with a time of 1:28.21 and was just 14 hundredths of a second from a podium appearance. Haug brought home his top 10 finish with a time of 1:28.84 while Lamb's time was 1:29.38.
Junior Eric Davis finished 20th with a time of 1:29.77 while both senior Gabriel Rivas (33rd, 1:38.07) and junior Taggart Spenst (34th, 1:38.24) had to hike during the first run, further putting pressure on CU's young alpine skiers.
"Fletcher had his best race today, he skied well," Rokos said. "He skied both runs in good fashion and ended up in the top five. Eric was strong after the first run but made a mistake on the second run that put him back a little bit. Andreas skied a little conservatively on both of his runs because Gabriel and Taggart both hiked on their first runs. Rivas was having outstanding run, but with three gates left he had to hike. Taggart popped out in the first run so the rest of the guys had to maintain a solid performance and finish. That was the main goal."
Next up for western skiers will be the conclusion of the Utah Invitational next weekend in Soldier Hollow with the Nordic squads competing. At the mid-point of that Invitational, the Buffs hold a slim five point advantage over the Utes, 444-439. After that meet, two weeks later full squads will be in action at the New Mexico Invitational, which will be interesting because a lot of teams will not be at full strength due to many skiers participation in the World University Games running at the same time.
"On the Nordic side, the team really likes those courses at Soldier Hollow," Cranmer said. "I don't know what the weather will be like, but in terms of those challenges, it couldn't be any more challenging there than it was today. We're psyched to go there. I think with U.S. National's behind us, we'll be much more relaxed and hopefully we can go in there and get the job done."
"This is it for alpine for a while and we will resume in New Mexico in three weeks with a partial team," Rokos added. "The rest of the alpine team will be in Turkey at World University Games. We'll be on hold for a little bit and won't have a full squad again until the Denver meet in about a month."
Montana State Invitational Team Scores (final)-1. Colorado 921; 2. Utah 912; 3. New Mexico, 786; 4. Denver, 764; Alaska Anchorage 658; 6. Montana State 603; 7. Westminster College 324.
Women's Slalom (30 finishers)-1. Sterling Grant, DU, 1:35.76; 2. Eva Huckova, UU, 1:35.94; 3. Sandy Tschofen, WMC, 1:36.69; 4. Ida Dillingoeen, 1:36.97; 5. Kate Williams, UNM, 1:37.18; 6. Maria Camilla Fraschini, WMC, 1:37.24; 7. Erika Ghent, CU, 1:37.38; 8. Carolina Nordh, CU, 1:37.40; 9. Stefanie Demetz, UNM, 1:37.43; 10. Tii-Maria Romar, UU, 1:37.49. Other CU Skiers: 11. Sara Hjertman, 1:37.66; 14. Kirsten Cooper, 1:37.95; 16. Katie Hartman, 1:38.12; 21. Jenny Allen, 1:38.96; 30. Ashley Babcock, 1:57.38. Did Not Finish (Second Run): Khyla Burrows.
Men's Slalom (37 finishers)-1. Petter Brenna, UNM, 1:27.64; 2. Seppi Stiegler, DU, 1:27.84; 3. Andreas Adde, UAA, 1:28.08; 4. Grant Jampolsky, DU, 1:28.14; 5. Fletcher McDonald, CU, 1:28.21; 6. Torjus Krogdahl, UU, 1:28.41; 7. Juho-Pekka Penttinen, UNM, 1:28.66; 8. Chris Barber, MSU, 1:28.78; 9. Chris Salbu, UNM, 1:28.83; 10. Andreas Haug, CU, 1:28.84. Other CU Skiers: 15. Max Lamb, 1:29.38; 20. Eric Davis, 1:29.77; 33. Gabriel Rivas, 1:38.07; 34. Taggart Spenst, 1:38.24.
Women's Classical (33 finishers)-1. Maria Graefnings, UU, 48:23.3; 2. Eliska Hajkova, CU, 50:49.6; 3. Sarah MacCarthy, UU, 51:02.5; 4. Laura Rombach, UAA, 51:06.6; 5. Christina Hellberg, UNM, 51:11.5; 6. Zoe Roy, UU, 51:12.6; 7. Joanne Reid, CU, 51:16.4; 8. Stephanie Hiemer, UAA, 51:28.3; 9. Jamie Brogna, UAA, 51:31.5; 10. Maerta Larsen, UU, 51:33.3. Other CU Skiers: 16. Alexa Turzian, 53:43.9; 25. Mary Rose, 57:03.7; 31. Katie Stege, 58:31.4.
Men's Classical (34 finishers)-1. Miles Havlick, UU, 58:37.4; 2. Vegard Kjoelhamar, CU, 58:50.0; 3. Martin Kaas, UNM, 59:58.6; 4. Didrik Smith, UU, 1:00:10.2; 5. Jesper Ostensen, CU, 1:00:55.5; 6. Tor-Hakon Hellebostad, UNM, 1:00:59.6; 7. Reid Pletcher, CU, 1:01:16.3; 8. Trygve Markset, DU, 1:01:21.7; 9. Rolf Figi, UU, 1:01:27.4; 10. Christian Otto, UNM, 1:01:35.7. Other CU Skiers: 17. Andreas Hoye, 1:04:12.5; 22. Ian Mallams, 1:06:20.7; 28. Spencer Lacy, 1:07:38.7. Did Not Finish: Patrick Neel.
