Buffs Remain In Second At CU Invitational

Friday, January 13

Steamboat Springs, Colo. (Howelsen Hill)

All Day

Colorado

Colorado Invitational (FS)

January 13, 2012 | Skiing

By: Curtis Snyder, Associate SID

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. – The defending national champion University of Colorado ski team remained in second place but slipped further behind Utah Friday as the Nordic season got underway here as part of the Buffs' CU Invitational/Spencer Nelson Memorial.

Things looked good early for the Buffaloes as junior Joanne Reid won the women's 5K freestyle race in a time of 14:52.5 and led the Buffaloes to a team victory, topping Utah by 11 points. But soon after in men's freestyle action, the Utes finished 1-2-5 and after it all panned out, Utah holds a 74 point lead over CU entering the final two races Saturday.

Utah has racked up 702 points to the Buffaloes 638. CU then has a healthy lead over a trio of schools as Denver is third with 558 points, followed by New Mexico, just 10 points back at 548 while Alaska Anchorage rounds out the top five with 526 points. Montana State, scoring an impressive 224 points on the day, sits sixth with 500 points and could move up further with a similar performance Saturday.

“I was a little concerned with what we've been doing,” CU Nordic coach Bruce Cranmer said. “We've been doing a lot of traveling and a lot of the foreign kids just got back to Colorado in the past day or two. It obviously didn't affect Joanne, it was a good course for her, I thought she had a chance to do well and she did just that. Congrats to her.”

Reid won the race by nearly 10 seconds, as Alaska Anchorage's Jamie Brogna took second place in a time of 15:01.9 and New Mexico's Linn Klaesson was third in a time of 15:05.4. The top six skiers were all from different teams, a rarity. For Reid, it is her first career freestyle win and second overall, as she won the classical race at the Denver Invitational last season. It marks her fourth consecutive podium in freesytle races dating back to last year when she finished off the podium just once – a fourth place finish at New Mexico.

“It makes me feel good that at least I know I'm in shape,” Reid said. “It's a bummer that a lot of our team had a bad day, It was really cold so I'm sure that was a factor. The snow is slower when it's cold. You need a different technique and some of us don't have that down because it hasn't been that cold lately.”

Just prior to the women's race the temperature was about 5 degrees below zero and was hovering around zero when the men's race started.

“The cold affects some more than others,” Cranmer said. “Some race well and others don't. It's supposed to be a little warmer tomorrow, maybe 5-degrees or so, even that little bit will help.”

Senior Eliska Hajkova was CU's next finisher in seventh place in a time of 15:34.4. Sophomore Mary Rose finished 18th in a time of 16:08.1, senior Katie Stege was 28th in a time of 17:13.6 and freshman Marianne Madsen finished 30th in 18:01.3.

“I thought Eliska would do a little better,” Cranmer said. “By no means did she do badly, we're just so used to her being closer to the podium. She's been traveling a lot and is maybe a little off, not quite as sparky as normal. It wasn't disastrous for her, but I'm sure she will be motivated to improve that finish.”

“Marianne just got to the United States,” Cranmer continued. “She has spent the last two days with a lot of paperwork, orientation and this was the first time she's been on snow since traveling to the U.S., so I wasn't expecting anything from her. She also doesn't have a lot of experience at altitude, so the deck was really stacked against her. Mary raced really well all preseason and I was hoping for a better day, but I'm sure she will also bounce back.”

In men's action, junior Reid Pletcher, in his first race after an off-season, life-threatening injury, was the Buffaloes top skier, finishing eighth in a time of 25:33.9, followed closely by freshman Rune Oedegaard, who took ninth in a time of 25:40.9.

“Reid had a reasonably good race,” Cranmer said. “He's trained hard and just needs to absorb that training. He'll get even better. He skied solid throughout the race, that was a good distance for him and he'll continue to improve.”

Senior Vegard Kjoelhamar finished 16th in a time of 26:16.7 while freshman Arnaud Du Pasquier was two spots back in 18th in a time of 26:26.6. Sophomore Andreas Hoye took 24th in a time of 27:23.4.

“All the Norwegian guys (Kjoelhamar, Oedegaard and Hoye) just landed from home and maybe have some jet lag along with coming back to altitude, it affected them,” Cranmer said. “Vegard told me it was the hardest race he's ever run and Rune said he was dizzy. In all, not a great day, but our best days are ahead of us.”

The Buffaloes stretch of winning seven of the last nine collegiate meets is in jeopardy with Saturday's classical races closing out the meet. Both genders will be a mass start with the women running a 10K race and the men 15K.

Colorado's annual invitational has been renamed the Spencer Nelson Memorial, honoring the CU sophomore who was killed in a hiking accident near Aspen in August 2010. The previous two decades the meet honored Laura Sharpe Flood, who was killed in a training accident at CU's home mountain in Eldora in April 1990.

Alongside the conclusion of the CU meet Saturday, the Denver Invitational will get underway with giant slalom races at Winter Park. Action begins at 9:30 a.m. there and will conclude Sunday with the slalom races. DU's meet with then conclude next Friday and Saturday with Nordic action at Devil's Thumb Ranch, at which point the season will be one-third complete.

CU Invitational/Spencer Nelson Memorial Team Scores (6 events)—1. Utah 702; 2. Colorado 638; 3. Denver 558; 4. New Mexico 548; 5. Alaska-Anchorage 526; 6. Montana State 500; 7. Westminster 293; 8. Wyoming 102; 9. Colorado Mountain College 87.

Men's 10K Freestyle (34 collegiate finishers)— 1. Didrik Smith, UU, 24:40.1; 2. Miles Havlick, UU, 24:41.4; 3. Michael Schallinger, MSU, 24:51.9; 4. Tyler Reinking, MSU, 24:59.1; 5. Tom Smith, UU, 25:13.5; 6. David Norris, MSU, 25:24.8; 7. Andrew Dougherty, DU, 25:30.4; 8. Reid Pletcher, CU, 25:33.9; 9. Rune Oedegaard, CU, 25:40. 9; 10. Lukas Ebner, UAA, 25:41.8; 11. Rolf Figi, UU, 25:45.4; 12. Christian Otto,UNM, 25:56.7; 13. Lasse Molgaard-Nielsen, UAA, 26:01.4; 14. Sawyer Kesselheim, MSU, 26:11.3; 15. Trygve Markset, DU, 26:12.5; 16. Vegard Kjoelhamar, CU, 26:16.7; 17. Nevio Zeni,UAA, 26:20.2; 18. Arnaud Du Pasquier, CU, 26:26.6; 19. Andrew Wallace, DU, 26:34.7; 20. Hans Nygren, MSU, 26:36.7; 21. Patrick Madden, MSU, 26:50.9; 22. Kristian Soerlund, DU, 27:03.8; 23. Luke Bromley, MSU, 27:20.2; 24. Andreas Hoye, CU, 27:23.4; 25. Sjur Prestsaeter, UNM, 27:30.6; 26. Lutz Klausmann, UAA, 28:27.6; 27. Adam Looney, WYO, 28:32.4; 28. Galen Johnston, UAA, 28:40.4; 29. Eivind Solberg, UNM, 29:00.5; 30. Nathan Hough, WYO, 30:24.2; 31. Kyle Bochanski, WYO, 30:30.7; 32. Patrick Rodgers, WYO, 30:42.8; 33. Willie Via, WYO, 32:18.1; 34. Devin Oderwald, WYO, 32:26.4.

Women's 5K Freestyle (33 collegiate finishers)— 1. Joanne Reid, CU, 14:52.5; 2. Jaime Bronga, UAA, 15:01.9; 3. Linn Klaesson, UNM, 15:05.4; 4. Jessica Yeaton, MSU, 15:17.7; 5. Rose Kemp, UU, 15:21.4; 6. Kate Dolan, DU, 15:32.9; 7. Eliska Hajkova, CU, 15:35.4; 8. Ase Carlson, MSU, 15:35.8; 9. Mali Noyes, UU, 15:38.9; 10. Clara Chauvet, UNM, 15:44.1; 11. Laura Rombach, UAA, 15:47.6; 12. Casey Kutz, MSU, 15:50.5; 13. Parker Tyler, UU, 15:52.2; 14. Steffi Hiemer, UAA, 15:53.1; 15. Makayla Cappel, DU, 15:55.0; 16. Katie Gill, DU, 15:56.4; 17. Cambria McDermott, MSU, 15:56.5; 18. Mary Rose, CU, 16:08.1; 19. Maerta Larsen, UU, 16:29.7; 20. Rachelle Kanady, MSU, 16:30.2; 21. Jessica Jortberg, DU, 16:32.1; 22. Elena Breed, DU, 16:32.5; 23. Annie Liotta, MSU, 16:38.1; 24. Carrie Heagney, MSU, 16:55.8; 25. Karina Smith, UAA, 16:59.7; 26. Anni Nord, UNM, 17:09.8; 27. Solveig Bratlie, MSU, 17:11.5; 28. Katie Stege, CU, 17:13.6; 29. Anita Kirvesniemi, UNM, 17:16.9; 30. Marianne Madsen, CU, 18:01.3; 31. Mackenzie Jones, MSU, 18:07.8; 32. Bridget Weiner, WYO, 18:30.5; 33. Sarah Dixson, WYO, 19:39.5.