CU Freshmen Come Up Big At CU/DU Invites

Saturday, January 14

Winter Park, Colo. (Winter Park)

All Day

Colorado

Denver Invitational (GS)

January 14, 2012 | Skiing

By: Curtis Snyder, Associate SID

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS & WINTER PARK—Freshman hit the podium in leading CU in three of the four races Saturday for the defending national champion University of Colorado ski team, as the Buffaloes wrapped up the CU Invitational/Spencer Nelson Memorial and got underway at the Denver Invitational. The Buffaloes finished second in their own invitational and also sit second in the DU Invitational after the opening day.

Freshman Rune Oedegaard finished third in the men's 15K classical race at Steamboat Springs' Howelsen Hill Nordic Center course despite the fact he had to change polls five times. Junior Joanne Reid also hit the podium in the women's race, taking third in the 10K classical race. The classical races concluded the CU Invitational.

“Overall, it was a good meet,” CU coach Richard Rokos said of the CU Invitational. “It's not easy to be the organizer of the meet, we were short on manpower, so we couldn't commit as much as we could like, especially in Eldora. But overall it was a success.”

In alpine action, freshman Shane McLean finished second in the giant slalom race and her classmate, Adam Zika, also finished second in the men's race to propel the Buffaloes into second place after two of eight events in the DU Invitational.

“In Shane, a star was born today,” Rokos said. “It was an outstanding result. With her FIS points, she moved from 37 to 19 and that is fantastic, that will help with her starting positions, especially in non-collegiate races.”

“It's also nice to see that Adam is like his sister, (former CU skier Lucie Zikova),” Rokos continued. “She was bullet proof every race, skiing fast, and it seems that is how Adam is, as well. It's good to see that phenomenon sticks in the family.”

In the men's race opening the day's action, Oedegaard's third place time was 40:32.8 and he was just over 18 seconds behind the leaders. Montana State's David Norris (40:14.6) beat Utah's Miles Havlick (40:15.0) in a sprint to the finish. Behind Oedegaard was CU senior Vegard Kjoelhamar, who recorded a time of 40:36.8. Montana State's Tyler Reinking rounded out the top five in a time of 40:43.2 while senior Reid Pletcher finished sixth in a time of 40:58.4.

“Rune had four or five changes of polls, and when you do that, it takes a little time and then you're playing catch up,” CU Nordic coach Bruce Cranmer said. “It has a solid impact on him, it just wore him out a little bit. He felt like he could've been at minimum fighting with the lead pack to win the race, at least be in the hunt with those guys.”

“Vegard was right there with him,” Cranmer continued. “And that's good, we've been waiting for him to get back in the hunt of the podium, and he was in the hunt. Reid had another solid day. It's a building process with him, and he was there skiing with those top guys for a big chunk of the race.”

For the Buffaloes, freshman Arnaud DuPasquier finished in 25th in a time of 45:12.5 while sophomore Andreas Hoye and junior Ian Mallams both did not start the race, a little under the weather. Cranmer said both skiers should be ready for next weekend's meet as part of the DU Invitational.

As a team, Colorado won the race with 122 points with Montana State right on the Buffs' heels with 117 points. The Buffs finished second in the women's race with 112 points behind Alaska Anchorage's impressive total of 130 in the race. Entering the day, the Buffaloes had a 64 points deficit on Utah and shaved most of that deficit off before the meet concluded.

On the women's side, Reid hit the podium for the second straight race after winning Friday's freestyle race. After being kept off the podium as a freshman but finishing seven of the eight races that season between 4-10, she has now hit the podium seven times in the past two season. This was her second-best career classical finish, behind a win at last year's DU Invitational in Aspen.

Reid's finish was in a time of 32:35.1, and she finished behind a pair of Alaska Anchorage skiers as Jaime Brogna won the race in a time of 31:53.0 and Laura Rombach was second in 32:22.4. CU senior Eliska Hajkova was just behind Reid in fourth in a time of 32:42.2 and Utah's Rose Kemp rounded out the top five in a time of 32:45.5.

“Joanne had a great race,” Cranmer said. “She isn't quite as good of a classical skier, although she's had some outstanding classic races. She got on the podium, that's always ago do day. Eliska felt OK, but didn't have her full pedal, but still better than yesterday.”

Finishing third for the Buffaloes in 13th place overall was junior Mary Rose in a time of 33:29.5 as she racked up an all important 27 points for the team. Freshman Marianne Madsen finished 29th in a time of 36:42.4 while Katie Stege was forced out of the race.

When it was all said and done with the CU Invitational, Utah won the meet, racking up 896 points. On the strength of a solid Nordic day, Alaska Anchorage moved up to third place with 741 points, nine points ahead of Denver (732). Montana State also used the second best Nordic performance overall to edge out New Mexico by a single point, 707-706, for fifth place.

Meanwhile in Winter Park, the Buffaloes also sit in second place after the first day of the Denver Invitational. Utah leads the way with 240 points followed by CU's 219. Alaska Anchorage is in third with 192 points with the host Pioneers sitting in fourth with 184.

McLean had the fastest first run in the field in a time of 58.48 and she also ran the third-fastest second run but it wasn't enough to edge out Utah's Tii-Maria Romar, who won the race in a two-run time of 1:58.91. McLean was the only other racer under two minutes (1:59.60).

“The course was really fun for both races,” McLean said. “My first run was clean and I was going for it. I got a little late on the pitch in the second run, but I still went for it and am happy with my skiing. It's different skiing for a college team, it changes my mindset with is positive. You're always racing for your team, I like that better.”

As was the case at the CU meet, Utah and Colorado dominated the top of the board. Utah's Jamie DuPratt finished third in a time of 2:00.73, just ahead of CU's Erika Ghent (2:00.89) while the Utes' Julie Bordeau rounded out the top five in a time of 2:01.01. CU's Katie Hartman finished 10th despite a mistake on the second run.

“Between Katie, Erika and Shane, it's great to have three skiers so strong, and Carolina (Nordh) is also right there,” Rokos said. “It's just a matter of confidence to have run after run with the same results. They're getting there. Katie had a big mistake on the second run, it cost her some time but she was still able to pull out a top 10 performance.”

Nordh made a similar mistake on her first run but move up several spots to 17th after a solid second run in a time of 2:03.29. Jenny Allen finished 23rd in a time of 2:05.35 while Khyla Burrows, after hiking on her first run, did not finish her second run.

On the men's side, after Zika's second place, which he did in a time of 1:56.31 behind Utah's Nick Cohee, who won in a time of 1:56.01, the Buffaloes struggled a little. New Mexico's Armin Triendl took third in a time of 1:56.56 with Westminster's Petter Brenna finishing fourth in 1:56.91 and Denver's Espen Lysdahl rounding out the top five in a time of 1:56.94.

“After the first run I was pumped because I was in second by about a half-second,” Zika said. “I wanted to crush the second run and ski as well as I could. I made a little mistake but in the end I made up a little of the time. It's interesting to race with the college guys. Everybody is so close and everybody is really good, you have to do your best all the time.”

Sophomore Andreas Haug had the second-fastest second run in the field and moved up seven spots to finish ninth in a time of 1:57.50. Junior Max Lamb finished 19th as CU's third scorer in a time of 1:58.77 while senior Taggart Spenst finished 21st in a time of 1:58.92. Sophomore Fletcher McDonald didn't finish his second run.

Utah led the way racking up 240 points in the two races on the day, 21 points ahead of the Buffaloes total of 219. Alaska Anchorage sits third with 192 followed by host Denver with 184 while New Mexico and Westminster College are tied for fifth with 153 points.

Sunday's slalom action concludes the Denver Invitational and at the same time ends a stretch for the alpine racers of 10 days in which collegiate races were held on seven of them. All alpine teams will three-and-a-half weeks off before alpine action continues on February 8 in Alaska.

The next Nordic action will be Friday and Saturday at Devil's Thumb Ranch as part of the DU Invitational.

CU Invitational/Spencer Nelson Memorial Invitational (FINAL)—1. Utah 896; 2. Colorado 872; 3. Alaska Anchorage 741; 4. Denver 732; 5. Montana State 707; 6. New Mexico 706; 7. Westminster College 293; 8. Wyoming 183; 9. Colorado Mountain College 87.

Men's 15K Classical (33 College Finishers)—1. David Norris, MSU, 40:14.6; 2. Miles Havlick, UU, 40:15.0; 3. Rune Oedegaard, CU, 40:32.8; 4. Vegard Kjoelhamar, CU, 40:36.8; 5. Tyler Reinking, MSU, 40:43.2; 6. Reid Pletcher, CU, 40:58.4; 7. Lasse Molegaard-Nielsen, UAA, 41:10.2; 8. Sjur Prestsaeter, UNM, 41:31.1; 9. Didrik Smith, UU, 41:33.8; 10. Trygve Markset, DU, 41:34.1; 11. Andrew Dougherty, DU, 41:34.5; 12. Michael Schallinger, MSU, 41:46.6; 13. Rolf Figi, UU, 41:49.8; 14. Lukas Ebner, UAA, 41:51.2; 15. Christian Otto, UNM, 42:37.5; 16. Tom Smith, UU, 42:38.3; 17. Nevio Zeni, UAA, 42:38.5; 18. Andrew Wallace, DU, 42:38.8; 19. Sawyer Kesselheim, MSU, 43:01.2; 20. Patrick Madden, MSU, 43:04.8; 21. Luke Bromley, MSU, 44:21.7; 22. Elvind Solberg, UNM, 44:39.4; 23. Hans Nygren, MSU, 44:40.0; 24. Galen Johnston, UAA, 45:11.8; 25. Arnaud DuPasquier, CU, 45:12.5; 26. Evgheniy Panzhinskiy, WYO, 47:05.2; 27. Lutz Klausmann, UAA, 47:18.8; 28. Kyle Bochanski, WYO, 47:54.2; 29. Nathan Hough, WYO, 48:36.7; 30. Adam Looney, WYO, 49:31.8; 31. Patrick Rogers, WYO, 49:40.5; 32. Willie Via, WYO, 50:42.2; 33. Devin Oderwald, WYO, 52:28.5. Did Not Start: Carl Smith, MSU; Ian Mallams, CU; Joergen Bye Brevik, DU; Andreas Hoye, CU; Pierre Niess, UNM; Kristian Soerlund, DU.

Women's 10K Classical (32 College Finishers)—1. Jaime Brogna, UAA, 31:53.0; 2. Laura Rombach, UAA, 32:22.4; 3. Joanne Reid, CU, 32:35.1; 4. Eliska Hajkova, CU, 32:42.2; 5. Rose Kemp, UU, 32:45.5; 6. Kate Dolan, DU, 32:53.5; 7. Jessica Yeaton, MSU, 33:00.7; 8. Steffi Hiemer, UAA, 33:04.8; 9. Ase Carlson, MSU, 33:07.6; 10. Linn Klaesson, UNM, 33:09.2; 11. Katie Gill, DU, 33:10.4; 12. Parker Tyler, UU, 33:24.3; 13. Mary Rose, CU, 33:29.5; 14. Makayla Cappel, DU, 33:48.2; 15. Clara Chauvet, UNM, 34:02.3; 16. Casey Kutz, MSU, 34:21.4; 17. Rachelle Kanady, MSU, 34:30.9; 18. Anni Nord, UNM, 34:34.1; 19. Elena Breed, DU, 34:49.7; 20. Solveig Bratlie, MSU, 34:59.6; 21. Karina Smith, UAA, 34:59.6; 22. Mali Noyes, UU, 35:20.2; 23. Jessica Joltberg, DU, 35:25.9; 24. Annie Liotta, MSU, 35:26.2; 25. Carrie Heagney, MSU, 35:27.4; 26. Maerta Larsen, UU, 35:27.7; 27. Anita Kirvesniemi, UNM, 35:45.5; 28. Cambria McDermott, MSU, 35:47.6; 29. Marianne Madsen, CU, 36:42.4; 30. Mackenzie Jones, MSU, 37:18.1; 31. Anniken Bratlie, UNM, 39:48.1; 32. Sarah Dixson, WYO. Did Not Finish: Katie Stege, CU; Sierra Jech, WYO; Bridget Weiner, WYO. Did Not Start: Silje Wilsgaard, DU; Mari Elden, DU.

DU Invitational (2 events)—1. Utah 240; 2. Colorado 219; 3. Alaska Anchorage 192; 4. Denver 184; 5. New Mexico & Westminster College 153; 7. Montana State 142; 8. Colorado Mountain College 35.

Women's Giant Slalom (31 College Finishers)—1. Tii-Maria Romar, UU, 1:58.91; 2. Shane McLean, CU, 1:59.60; 3. Jaime DuPratt, UU, 2:00.73; 4. Erika Ghent, CU, 2:00.89; 5. Julie Bordeau, UU, 2:01.01; 6. Alexandra Parker, UAA, 2:01.59; 7. Stefanie Demetz, UNM, 2:01.66; 8. Anais Urbain, UAA, 2:01.83; 9. Sterling Grant, DU, 2:01.90; 10. Katie Hartman, CU, 2:02.41. Other CU Finishers: 17. Carolina Nordh, 2:03.29; 23. Jennifer Allen, 2:05.35; Khyla Burrows (DNF).

Men's Giant Slalom (33 College Finishers)—1. Nick Cohee, UU, 1:56.01; 2. Adam Zika, CU, 1:56.31; 3. Armin Triendl, UNM, 1:56.56; 4. Petter Brenna, WMC, 1:56.91; 5. Espen Lysdahl, DU, 1:56.94; 6. Andreas Adde, UAA, 1:57.11; 7. Ryan Wilson, UU, 1:57.31; 8. Max Marno, DU, 1:57.38; 9. Andreas Haug, CU, 1:57.50; 10. Niko Hermanen, UAA, 1:57.69. Other CU Finishers: 19. Max Lamb, 1:58.77; 21. Taggart Spenst, 1:58.92; Fletcher McDonald (DNF).