Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
New Mexico Invitational (SL #1)
Both Men's Teams Go 1-2 As Buffs Take Lead At UNM Invite
February 20, 2016 | Skiing
RED RIVER, N.M. — On the strength of 1-2 finishes in both men's races Saturday, the University of Colorado ski team is in the lead at the midpoint of the 2016 Drew Judycki Memorial/Jade Enterprises/New Mexico Invitational with slalom and classical races taking place here Saturday.
Junior Mads Stroem won the men's 10K classic race with freshman Petter Reistad taking second while senior Henrik Gunnarsson won the men's slalom race and freshman Max Luukko took second. The 1-2 finishes in those two races propelled the Buffs to race wins in both and ultimately to the first day lead at Red River Ski Area and Enchanted Forest Cross Country Trails.
CU racked up 344 total points and leads by 28 points over Utah (316), 66 over Denver (278) and 79 over host New Mexico (265). Alaska Anchorage is fifth with 183 points followed by Montana State (175), Westminster College (133), Wyoming (79) and Colorado Mountain College (12).
“It was definitely a good day,” CU coach Richard Rokos said. “This is what we've been waiting quite a while for. This is a good confidence builder for the entire team, both alpine and Nordic.”
Gunnarsson won his second straight slalom race after winning his first collegiate race in the CU Invitational at Howelsen Hill last month. He is the first CU men's alpine skier to win back-to-back slalom races since Gabriel Rivas accomplished the feat in 2009 at the Alaska Anchorage and Colorado Invitationals. Gunnarsson started sixth and had the fastest first run (47.71) and then held on for the win by 22-hundredths of a second over Luukko, 1:38.91 to 1:39.23.
“Henrik is obviously in a great position for qualification,” Rokos said. “He should earn a top seed as he stands now, and may need one more result to fight for the No. 1 overall seed.”
Luukko was third after the first run and had the ninth fastest second run to move up to second place. Gunnarsson and Luukko become the first CU men's alpine duo to go 1-2 in a race since Drew Roberts and Stefan Hughes did the same in the slalom race at the Montana State Invitational to open the 2007 season.
“Max got very organized and started skiing clean and confident,” Rokos said. “It's great, we were waiting for it for a while, and it came at a needed time.”
Not to be outdone, senior Kasper Hietanen had the fastest second run in the field to move up from 16th to eighth in a time of 1:40.33 to give the Buffs three in the top eight and an even 100 points in the race. No other team scored more than 68 points in the men's slalom race. Senior Adam Zika finished 16th in 1:41.43 and senior Cameron Smith finished 19th in 1:42.49. Freshman Ola Johansen did not finish the first run.
The Buffs did have some bad luck on the men's alpine side Friday during training junior Roger Carry injured his knee and will miss the rest of the season.
“It's very disappointing for Roger that he's out for the rest of the season,” Rokos said. “He has been skiing very well, and he was definitely in the hunt for an NCAA Championship spot. He was injured in training yesterday and will likely have surgery as early as next week.”
On the women's side, freshman Tonje Trulsrud continued her stellar season finishing sixth in a time of 1:36.15 while senior Jessica Honkonen was two spots back and just four-hundredths of a second back at 1:36.19. Senior Thea Grosvold was 12th in a time of 1:37.06. Senior Clare Wise also had one of her best career performances in 20th in a time of 1:39.10. Freshman Nora Christensen and junior Katie Hostetler did not finish the race.
“Tonje and Jessica had good races,” Rokos said. “Thea was skiing very well on her second run, she had the sixth fastest run and moved up a few spots. She had one mistake on her first run, and a mistake on a course like this and go wide in a gate, you may be out of it. A few hundredths are deciding three or four spots.”
Stroem is no stranger to a 1-2 finish, as he and former Buff Rune Oedegaard accomplished that feat nine times in 10 regular season races last year. This time it was freshman Reistad who joined him on the podium. Stroem's winning time was 29:36.5, 20.4 seconds ahead of Reistad, who was then 30.8 seconds ahead of third place.
“A good portion of the field double polled most of the race,” Cranmer said. “And Mads and Petter are both stronger skiers and are strong double pollers, it may have given them some separation today.”
Stroem's win is his ninth career race and third of the season. His nine career wins are now ninth-most since 1983 in program history. Reistad matched his career best finish, he also took second in the classic race at Montana State.
“Mads has been focused,” Cranmer said. “He rested after Steamboat and now he wants to keep a lid on it before coming up for NCAAs. Petter has been struggling a little with illness all season and I think he's getting better, if not all the way he's most of the way there.”
Junior Jackson Hill also placed in the top 10, taking 10th in a time of 32:07.2. Senior Arnaud Du Pasquier finished 18th in 33:15.4 after breaking a poll right out of the start. Junior Max Scrimgeour finished 23rd in 33:48.7 and sophomore Ian Boucher was 24th in 34:02.4.
On the women's side, sophomore Ane Johnsen had her best career performance in second place in a time of 20:30.2. Junior Lucy Newman was 11th in 21:34.4 and junior Camilla Brautaset was right behind her in 12th in 21:40.8 while freshmen Christina Rolandsen took 15th in 22:25.5.
Sophomore Jesse Knori did not travel with the team to New Mexico with a slight cold, choosing instead to rest up for next week's RMISA Championships. Sophomore Petra Hyncicova is in Romania competing at the Under-23 World Cross Country Championships. She will not return until the NCAA Championships.
“The women looked solid today,” Cranmer said. “She's looking better race by race and just knocking on the door of a top 10, certainly it doesn't take that much more to get over the line and be there.”
The Buffs will look to win their first meet of the season as the Invitational comes to a close on Sunday. The alpine teams will run another slalom race while the Nordic squads will do a 5K freestyle race for both genders. The postseason then commences with the RMISA Championships in Vail and Beaver Creek next weekend and the NCAA Championships taking palce in Steamboat Springs March 9-12.
