Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
RMISA Championships/NCAA West Regional (FS 5/10K-I; Giant
Skiers In Close Second At RMISA Championships
February 27, 2015 | Skiing
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The University of Colorado ski team enjoyed a solid first day here Friday, as the Buffaloes are in the hunt for their 27th conference title at the midway point of the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association (RMISA) Championships, which also double as the NCAA West Regional.
Utah holds a slight lead over the Buffaloes, ending day one with 315 team points; Colorado is just eight back at 307. Just 10 points separates third through fifth place at this juncture: Montana State (277), Denver and New Mexico (both 267).
Colorado has finished first or second in the RMISA title meet the last nine years, and 47 times since 1950, when the Buffs first started a varsity program.
"We are getting more and more comfortable on this type of snow, the same kind of snow situation in the east," CU head coach Richard Rokos said. "We'll see more of it in training when we get back to New York, but we had a far better day today with our individual runs. The consistency isn't in place yet but we're getting there.
"This time of year, the snow here is very hard and icy, and that's usually what it is back east in the late winter," he continued. "Quite frankly, this is the kind of snow you dream to race on, but unfortunately, you only get to see it at the World Cup level and seldom on the collegiate level. So this is turning into a great confidence builder for us.
"The Nordics had a good day, with them, it's like money in the bank when it comes to our team results."
In the men's 10-kilometer freestyle race, sophomore Mads Stroem cruised to the win in 22:49.3, topping senior teammate Rune Oedegaard, who skied the course in 23:08.1. It marked the eighth time in nine events this winter that CU's powerful duo finished 1-2 in a race (11 times out of 17 in their careers); Friday marked Stroem's second straight win and third overall (fifth for his career), while Oedegaard has won five times (19 in his career). DU's Dag Frode Trolleboe made it interesting for third, finishing a second back of Oedegaard (23:09.1), though the race had a staggered, or interval, start.
"The conditions were better than expected out there, they did incredible work on the course, so that was good," Stroem said. "Especially when you have Rune on the bib behind you, you always see him out there. It's nice to be on top, but 1-2 is nice again, together. We both hope to be one or two, if we don't do that we won't be satisfied. I think it'll be good, Rune's getting a little old, too many turns and downhills, Rune likes it straight up."
Oedegaard has finished either first (five wins) or second in all seven of his regional races, though admits that's never really been on his mind.
"I don't really think about it too much, to be honest," he said. "Some years, I maybe was in too good of shape for regionals which made me not in great shape for NCAA's, so hopefully this year that won't be the case. Tomorrow we'll stay in there as much as we can."
"Rune and Mads, those two guys are always ready and always there at the end," Rokos said. "It's a rarity to see two teammates trade off almost the entire season on the top two spots on the podium. I don't recall it ever happening that frequently for us, and maybe just on one or two occasions for other schools during my entire career." Rokos is wrapping up his 25th season coaching the Buffaloes.
Senior Emil Johansson placed 10th in a 23:39.4 clocking, his second-best finish of the year as well as in his career; it was the third time the Buffaloes had three skiers in the top 10 this season. He is just getting back into racing shape after suffering a freakish cut and infection from a bike accident that required him to be on antibiotics for five weeks.
Rounding out the CU men's contingent were sophomores Jackson Hill (14th, 23:51.6) and Max Scrimgeour (28th, 25:11.6) and freshman Ian Boucher (32nd, 26:39.9).
"Mads is a really good strong double-poler, I think Rune likes bigger, tougher, longer hills than this, but this suited Mads a little better today," said CU Nordic coach Bruce Cranmer. "He has a good glide and he's coming back from being sick and he wasn't on his top form, it feels like he's getting back to top form at the right time. They're both really good at both skate and classic, they've both won in both, Mads is maybe a touch better in skate races and Rune in classic, but it comes down more to the conditions, if it's hard or soft conditions, certain things play into ones favor more than the other, but that's more luck of the day."
"It helps Mads confidence to win obviously, they're both tough on themselves when they don't win, second place is not where they want to be, even when it's behind a teammate," Cranmer added. "They both work hard and push each other, which has raised their level. It's good that they get to trade off who's first and second, it keeps you honest and keeps you pushing and it helps your confidence as well."
The CU men easily outscored host Alaska-Anchorage, 98-75, in the race; the Buff women didn't fare near as well in their 5-kilometer version, finishing third with 70 points behind New Mexico (96) and Utah (81). In all, Colorado edged UNM, 168-160 in Friday's combined Nordic events.
Freshman Petra Hyncicova earned a third place finish in 13:51.1 to lead the Buffs, as New Mexico had the top two finishers on the women's side, Emilie Cedervaern winning in 13:40.5 and Eva Severrus second in 13:49.3. It was Hyncicova's second-best finish of the year (she was second in the freestyle in CU's meet in January), and her eighth top-10 effort in nine races to date (fifth in the top five).
"I'm really happy because the other couple of races up here weren't good for me, but this was good," Hyncicova said. "These conditions are better for me, sea level is always better for me. I've felt good in the other races here, but today I wasn't feeling very good but had a good result. It's always better to have a good result before the long race."
Sophomore Maja Solbakken placed 11th in 14:30.5, with freshman Jesse Knori skiing in as CU's third scorer in 20th place in a 15:08.7 time. Sophomore Camilla Brautaset was 23rd in 15:54.1, while freshman Ane Johnsen did not start for a second straight race due to illness.
"Realistically three podiums today was good for us," Cranmer said. "The way we've been skiing, that's good, it would be crazy for more. The course was really good, from what it has been to what it was today. It held together and didn't just turn to mush, which it was earlier. They did a great job with the grooming and from what we had, these were great conditions.
In the women's giant slalom, junior Jessica Honkonen was fourth in a 2:29.21 time, her first top five finish this season; she now has 12 career top-5 efforts, and 24 top 10 finishes. Junior Brooke Wales Granstrom gave the Buffs a second skier in the top 10, as he 2:40.32 two-run time was good for seventh; Denver's Kristine Haugen won in 2:37.49.
Senior Shane McLean just missed a top 10 effort, placing 11th in 2:42.04, with sophomore Katie Hostetler taking 18th in 2:47.29. Junior Clare Wise (20th, 2:47.750 and freshman Dani Patty-Brownell (22nd, 2:47.75) rounded out CU's finishers; junior Thea Grosvold did not finish her second run after standing in 11th place following her morning effort.
The men's giant slalom saw the conditions turn a bit, with nine racers not finishing either their first or second runs and a 10th skier disqualified. They didn't deter Denver's Espen Lysdahl, however, who won both runs and took first place in a two-run time of 2:29.94. Montana State's David Neuhauser was a distant second in 2:31.62.
Colorado was led by junior Adam Zika, who finished sixth in 2:33.21. Though his seventh top 10 effort of the year, it was his second best overall finish and his top placing this winter in the event in which he won at the 2012 NCAA Championships.
"The conditions were awesome, it was icy," Zika said. "Unfortunately that's not what we train on as often as we want, but we're all getting better every run. It's great training and preparation for the NCAAs, which are in the east and conditions will be similar. After the race tomorrow we will be ready as a team for the NCAAs."
Sophomore Roger Carry had CU's second-best finish on the day, as he was 13th in 2:35.84; juniors Kasper Hietanen (15th, 2:36.79) and Henrik Gunnarsson (21st, 2:41.37) also finished both runs, but junior Cameron Smith wasn't as fortunate, as he did not finish his first run.
"The girls placed very respectively, with three in the top 11," Rokos said. "Thea made a mistake that proved costly on her second run. Adam was better than we expected as all those ahead of him have far more experience in this type of snow. We'll probably do another training here on Sunday so we get another day in before we go to Lake Placid."
The RMISA Championships will wrap up Saturday with the slalom (alpine, again on Girdwood at the Alyeska Resort) and classic races (Nordic at Kincaid Park). Stroem is forecasting a competitive ending to the cross country races.
"The course is probably not tough enough to ski away," he said, "So we'll have to be in position for the last lap and sprint to the end."
"I expect that we'll step up a bit in slalom," Rokos added. "It's been one of our mainstays in the past, and hopefully we'll bring it back to our glory again. It would be good if we can begin that here."
The six NCAA-sanctioned schools are competing for better seeding at next month's NCAA Championships at Lake Placid, N.Y.; all have already qualified full 12-skier teams.
RMISA Championship / NCAA West Regional (through 4 of 8 events) - 1. Utah 315; 2. Colorado 307; 3. Montana State 277; 4. Denver and New Mexico 267; 6. Alaska-Anchorage 238; 7. Colorado Mountain College 24.
