Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
Montana State Invitational (FS-5/10K-I)
Stroem Wins Second Straight, Buffs Close Gap On Pioneers
January 17, 2016 | Skiing
BOZEMAN, Mont — Junior Mads Stroem won his second straight race and six University of Colorado skiers placed in the top 10 for the Nordic freestyle races as part of the Montana State Invitational Sunday here at Bohart Ranch.
As was the case during the Utah Invitational, Denver took a solid lead at the end of the alpine events just to see their lead diminish at the hands of Colorado and Utah. Entering the day, Denver had a 33 point lead over Colorado, who itself was 38 points ahead of the Utes. After the 5K women's and 10K men's freestyle races, the three are now just 23 points apart with two races remaining.
Denver remains in the lead with 475 points, just five ahead of Colorado's total of 470 while Utah sits third with 452 points. Those three then have a nearly 100 point over fourth place and host Montana State (359) with New Mexico (331) and Alaska Anchorage (304) all battling it out. Associate members Westminster (251), Wyoming (58) and Colorado Mountain College (55) round out the team scoring. Westminster and Colorado Mountain only have alpine programs and Sunday was Wyoming's first RMISA action of the season.
The conditions were a fairly big factor Sunday with snow causing soft conditions that wreaks havoc on the coaches trying to figure out what kind of wax to use and the skiers having to push through more snow than normal to maintain high speeds.
“It plays into some people's favor,” CU Nordic coach Bruce Cranmer said. “That's the nature of sports to some extent, some like the surface rock hard, others softer. Some are good in every kind of snow, but some are not. Today, I don't think anybody had an advantage going early or late, so it was a fair race in that regard, but still some teams benefit more than others in these conditions.”
Stroem was 15 seconds behind the race leader Nick Hendrickson of Utah at the 5K interval and made up 15.6 seconds on Hendrickson in the second 5K to claim a win by just six-tenths of a second, 28:53.6 to 28:54.2, in the interval start race. Streom was just behind Hendrickson in the start order, but still likely had no way to know that he won until the times were confirmed.
“It was super tight,” Cranmer said. “Mads was about 4 seconds behind Nick the last time I saw him with just under 1K left in the race, so he made up quite a bit of time there, especially at the end.”
Stroem now has two straight wins after taking the 15K men's classic race at Utah and he has now won eight career races. He has finished first or second in 14 of the last 16 races dating back to the end of his freshman campaign and in 23 career races, he has 19 podium (top three) appearances and two of the other four races, he finished fourth.
It wasn't just Stroem dominating the men's race as the Buffs placed four in the top 10. Freshman Petter Reistad finished fourth in a time of 29:36.3 and missed his first podium by just 5.9 seconds. He has his second straight fourth place finish and has three straight top 10s to start his career. Senior Arnaud Du Pasquier finished ninth in 30:26.5 and junior Jackson Hill was 10th in 30:30.0.
“Petter also finished strong,” Cranmer said. “He was about 10 seconds behind fourth when I saw him with just under 1K to go, so he really turned it on at the end. With Arnaud and Jackson, I knew they were anywhere from ninth to 13th, there were a bunch of times right there, so it's great to get them both into the top 10.”
Junior Max Scrimgeour finished 26th in 32:23.6 and sophomore Ian Boucher was 32nd in 33:27.7 to round out the Buffs performance in the men's race.
In women's action, sophomore Petra Hyncicova finished fifth in a time of 16:44.4, just four-tenths of a second behind fourth place and 16 seconds off the podium. Hyncicova now has two straight top five finishes after taking third in the classic race at the Utah Invitational last week. She now has 13 top 10 finishes in 15 career races.
“Petra was a little disappointed,” Cranmer said. “For most of the race, she was within striking distance of third, she just got passed a little at the end. She's a bigger, more powerful skier, a sprinter, and these conditions definitely don't lend well to people who like harder snow like she does.”
Sophomore Ane Johnsen finished 10th in a time of 17:09.5 in her first race of the season after she sat out the Utah Invitational due to illness. Johnsen now has seven top 10 finishes in eight career races as a Buff.
“I want to see Ane fighting for top 5s, not top 10s,” Cranmer said. “But these conditions didn't help her, either and with her coming back from being a little sick, she was basically walking up the hills, a top 10 for the first time out is good.”
Behind Johnsen, a trio of Buffs finished in order with junior Camilla Brautaset taking 17th in 17:51.1, sophomore Jesse Knori 18th in 17:57.8 and junior Lucy Newman 19th in 18:01.0. Freshman Christina Rolandsen, also recovering from illness and racing for the first time in her career, finished 26th in 18:29.8.
The women's race began the day and Utah won the race with 88 points to begin to close the gap on Denver (77) and Colorado (65). After that race, DU lead with 421 points with CU second at 376 and Utah third at 361. The Buffs and Utes both performed well in the men's race with the Buffs taking a 94-91 edge over the Utes and Denver scored just 54 points as the two both closed the gap significantly.
As it was in the Utah Invitational, it will all come down to Monday's classic races to finish out the MSU meet, the second of the season. The men will kick things off with the 20K classic raced followed by the women's 15K race. Throwing another wrench in the plans is the call for more snow overnight.
“If it's snowing, in a mass start race it's too hard to get away,” Cranmer said. “It's a little like a bike race, you can't pull away but you're drafting. It's not as much about drafting, it's about the skier in front pushing the snow down and the skiers behind him having a better track. It could mean that the whole field will ski together and nobody will want to try and break away.”
After the MSU meet, the alpine and Nordic teams will all converge on Steamboat Springs, Colo., next weekend for the Buffs' Spencer J. Nelson Memorial Invitational. Slalom races will kick off the meet Friday night followed by giant slalom and freestyle races Saturday and classic races Sunday. Sunday alpine teams will also have an RMISA Qualifier GS race.
Montana State Invitational Team Scores (6 of 8 events)—1. Denver 475; 2. Colorado 470; 3. Utah 452; 4. Montana State 360; 5. New Mexico 330; 6. Alaska Anchorage 304; 7. Westminster 251; 8. Wyoming 58; 9. Colorado Mountain 55.
Men's 10k Freestyle (33 finishers)— 1. Mads Stroem, CU, 28:53.6; 2. Nick Hendrickson, UU, 28:54.2; 3. Sawyer Kesselheim, MSU, 29:28.4; 4. Petter Reistad, CU, 29:36.3; 5. Kevin Bolger, UU, 29:41.7; 6. Moritz Madlener, DU, 29:46.0; 7. Oscar Ivars, UU, 30:04.4; 8. Niklas Persson, UU, 30:04.7; 9. Arnaud Du Pasquier, CU, 30:26.5; 10. Jackson Hill, CU, 30:30.0. Other CU Finishers: 26. Max Scrimgeour, 32:23.6; 32. Ian Boucher, 33:27.7.
Women's 5k Freestyle (38 finishers)— 1. Linn Eriksen, DU, 16:08.3; 2. Emilie Cedervarn, UNM, 16:18.4; 3. Sloan Storey, UU, 16:28.4; 4. Veronika Mayerhofer, UU, 16:44.0; 5. Petra Hyncicova, CU, 16:44.4; 6. Eva Sever Rus, UNM and Cambria McDermott, MSU, 16:52.7; 8. Natalia Mueller, UU, 16:56.1; 9. Mackenzie Kanady, UAA, 16:57.4; 10. Ane Johnsen, CU, 17:09.5. Other CU Finishers: 17. Camilla Brautaset, 17:57.8; 18. Jesse Knori, 17:57.8; 19. Lucy Newman, 18:01.0; 26. Christina Rolandsen, 18:29.8.
