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Colorado Invitational (FS-5/10K-I)
Skiers Slip Into Third In Own CU-Spencer Nelson Invitational
January 23, 2016 | Skiing
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — The defending national champion University of Colorado ski team had one of its top freshmen claim a giant slalom win but struggles on the Nordic side Saturday hurt the Buffaloes as they dropped from second into third in its own Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational.
Utah jumped from fifth to first in the team standings, with the Utes scoring 468 points with six of eight events completed in the meet. Denver fell from the lead into second with 440 points, while CU is in the bronze slot with 432. Montana State (389½) and New Mexico (372) round out the top five.
“Things trade back and forth at times,” head coach Richard Rokos said of the differing results Saturday between CU's alpine and Nordic teams. “On the Nordic side what happened to them is not common (finishing fourth in both the men's and women's point standings for an individual race).
“They don't have to take chances like in alpine so overall the results are more consistent. So it was very unusual for us, but it can go in cycles. But there are no long term concerns on the Nordic side, they just need to recover physically and probably mentally a bit as well. We'll see what happens tomorrow, I wouldn't be surprised if they bounce right back.”
In the giant slalom, CU had the women's champion and five skiers in the top 13 in the men's race. “We had a lot of highlights in the GS, plus the guys skied tight and close and that's a pretty good sign,” Rokos said.
Freshman Tonje Trulsrud used the second-fastest times in both the morning and afternoon runs to win the women's giant slalom in 1:56.58. Behind Utah's Julie Mohagen by .12 of a second heading into the second run, Trulsrud overtook her and won by .15 when all was said and done. Mohagen finished in 1:56.73 with New Mexico's Katharine Irwin third in 1:56.95.
It was her second win in the GS in 10 days and her fourth top four finish in seven races this winter, including slalom events. CU's other finishers were all outside the top 10, with senior Thea Grosvold finishing 14th in 1:59.91, also the only other Buffalo to finish in under two minutes. Freshman Nora Christensen placed 24th in 2:01.40, with junior Katie Hostetler 27th (2:03.62). Senior Clare Wise injured her shoulder in a training run and attempted to race; she did complete her first run but opted to withdraw and thus did not start her second run.
“The first run was super fun, I started second and the conditions were great, I was surprised how good the snow was,” Trulsrud said. “I was nervous for the second run, I knew I could ski fast, it was rougher, I started 29th, but I managed to stay in the turn and pushed it all the way down.”
“It builds the confidence to get the win, and we're having NCAA Championships here, every hill is different, but it's good to ski well on this hill,” she added. “I want to do the same thing tomorrow, every race is important, I don't think about the difference, that tomorrow is just a qualifier.”
Senior Jessica Honkonen was not present for a second straight day, as she is returning from her native Finland where she traveled to earlier in the week for family reasons.
“Tonje is skiing very well, and we're waiting to the same results coming from Nora,” Rokos said. “They've been teammates, and it's just a matter of time and confidence until Nora starts matching what Tonje is accomplishing. And we'll be at full strength again once Jessica gets back.”
A couple of freshmen recorded top finishes for Colorado in the men's GS. Max Luukko finished third in 1:55.70 and Ola Johansen fourth in 1:26.17. It was Luukko's best placement in seven races to date and his fourth top five effort, while Johansen has finished in the top six in all seven of his, including six top five performances.
“It was a good day, especially after yesterday's disappointment,” Luukko said (he was 17th in Friday's slalom). “I was motivated more today because of yesterday. I had some mistakes, but everybody had mistakes. It was a difficult setting today and the conditions were a little tough. I'll be looking for a win tomorrow (in another GS here).”
“Fourth place is good, but I'm a little disappointing in my skiing,” Johansen said. “I usually focus more on my skiing than my result, in terms of how happy I'll be. If I skied better and finished fourth, that would be fine. My first run was good, I was happy about it, and I wasn't too far behind and it was possible to get a podium and if I had a good run, a win. Second run, there were some difficult parts where I struggled a little too much. I'm happy Max did well today, third college and second for NCAA qualifying, which is really important.
Junior Roger Carry was CU's third scorer with a solid 10th place finish in 1:56.80; the race was fairly tight as Utah's Endre Bjertness won in 1:55.26, meaning a second-and-a-half separated the top 10 skiers. Seniors Cameron Smith (1:57.23) and Henrik Gunnarsson (1:57.28) followed in 12th and 13th places, respectively, with another senior, Kasper Hietanen, in 23rd (1:59.17). Senior Adam Zika completed the first run but opted not to start the second due to some pain in a knee he had surgery on two years ago.
The cross country teams struggled Saturday, each finishing fourth in their respective freestyle races that featured interval starts. Cold temperatures in the low teens combined with a wave of sickness affecting many of the Buff skiers countered any home course advantage the Buffaloes had heading into the day.
The women raced first in their 5-kilometer event, with New Mexico's Emilie Cedervaern claiming top honors in a time of 15:11.7. Sophomore Petra Hyncicova posted CU's best effort, as she finished fifth in 16:01.8.
“It was such a tough race – it was so cold, it was hard to breath,” Hyncicova said. “And it's higher than we were in Bozeman, so it's higher altitude. I'm struggling with skate this season, so I'm satisfied (finishing fifth) but not satisfied. I love skating, I'm sad I didn't make the podium, but I'm looking forward to classic tomorrow, I've been racing better in classic this year. I hope we work as a team and personally I want to finish higher than I did today.”
Sophomore Ane Johnsen recorded CU's best next effort, as she was 13th in 16:36.2; the remaining four Buffaloes were all well down the line, all in succession between 24th and 27th place: juniors Lucy Newman (18:18.2), Jessi Knori (18:21.1) and Camilla Brautaset (18:26.7) and freshman Christina Rolandsen (18:34.8).
In the men's 10-kilometer version, freshman Petter Reistad paced the Buffaloes with a seventh-place finish in 26:54.4, as Denver's Mortiz Madlener won in a 26:05.1 time. Junior Mads Stroem, battling illness for over a week, fought hard against the elements in finishing eighth (27:12.0). Senior Arnaud DuPasquier was CU's third scorer, coming in 15th in a 28:00.8 clocking.
“In the beginning, I felt a little slow,” DuPasquier said. “I was one of the first ones out, so that's hard. I was expecting to catch the guys in front of me pretty quick, and that didn't happen so I knew I wasn't skiing very fast. I was able to work from that point on, every transition, I'd go as fast as I could until the top of the hill, then I'd recover. I did that through the second run and I think it worked well.”
CU's other three skiers were uncharacteristically the last three finishers: junior Max Scrimgeour (30th, 29:50.2), sophomore Ian Boucher (31st, 29:54.4) and sophomore Jackson Hill (32nd, 34:57.5[D1] ).
“The course was slow for everybody,” DuPasquier added. “It was really cold, but I stayed in Colorado over December, so I was used to it, I don't think it was a problem for me. But it was for some guys. Jackson had some problems breathing. Jackson and I have been really tight fighting for the third spot for NCAAs, coming into today we were both within 30 seconds if you added all of our races together, which is amazing. I'm a little bummed that he didn't' have a good race, our competition is helping me a lot. Every time we start fighting, we are so into it, the two of us both pass a lot of guys, that's the true spirit of sport.”
“It was a tough day, obviously, not what we were hoping or looking for,” CU Nordic coach Bruce Cranmer said. “It was a lot colder than I anticipated (it would be). I thought it would be a little colder than forecast, and it was even colder than that. We were in the ballpark wax-wise, but weren't as good as we could've been. That wasn't the major issue, we had some people with breathing issues. For whatever reason, whether it's cold or something happen, we didn't have our best day. A struggle from what we're looking for and expecting. You have those kinds of days, you have them every once in a while.
“We'll have NCAAs here, hopefully this won't leave a bad taste, and we'll come back in six weeks and have a different day,” he continued. “For right now, just a tough day, a lot of people struggling on different levels, health and cold, the perfect negative storm for us. It can really nail you, some people just struggle in cold weather. This is a tough course in that there's 2K of straight downhill, you get really cold. It's not like you do a half a kilometer down and back up, you go from the top all the way down to the stadium, you're sitting in a tuck, not working, so when you have to work again, it just takes a minute, and if you struggle with cold, that makes it a little tougher.
“I don't have a clear answer to what, I think cold had something to do with it. A couple of guys aren't quite there, Mads says his body doesn't quite feel right, Petter has something in his throat, he had issues breathing. Jackson really struggled breathing and Jesse had some issues with her asthma.”
As far as Sunday's classical races are concerned, which match the longest races of the season (15K for the women, 20K for the men), Cranmer is optimistic his Buffaloes will ratchet up their performance.
“I think we can bounce back and have a better day, I don't know if that people who aren't feeling well will all of the sudden feel good,” he said. “Mads hasn't been feeling well, he had a lot of hours over the summer training, maybe a little more than his body can absorb, he may need some recovery, which he can do in season. It should also be quite a bit warmer, maybe as much as 10 or 15 degrees. It may snow, it may be a little trickier, it can slow things down for the whole field, but we can hope for the best and see what happens. It'll be a different day and there's a good chance most of us can bounce back and ski better.”
The CU portion of the meet will finish Sunday with the cross country classical races, while the alpine skiers will take part in the second of two RMISA qualifiers this winter, which will be a second giant slalom. Steamboat will also host the 63rd Annual NCAA Championships in seven weeks (March 9-12).
(Associate SID Curtis Snyder contributed to this report.)
