Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
New Mexico Invitational (Nordic TBD)
Skiers Win UNM Invitational; Sweep Men's Slalom Race
February 21, 2016 | Skiing
RED RIVER, N.M. — Mads Stroem completed a meet sweep by winning the 5K freestyle race and CU's men's alpine trio of Ola Johansen, Max Luukko and Henrik Gunnarsson swept the podium, propelling the University of Colorado ski team to a victory at the 2016 Drew Judycki Memorial Jade Enterprises New Mexico Invitational here Sunday at Red River Ski Area and Enchanted Forest Cross Country Ski Area.
The Buffs opened the day with a 28 point lead over Utah and finished basically holding serve with a 30 point win. Colorado's total was 676 points to Utah's 646. Denver finished third with 595 points and host New Mexico was fourth with 462. Montana State rounded out the top five with 423 points.
“It was a good weekend,” CU coach Richard Rokos said. “When you get on the podium like we were able to do on the men's side, it's a very good weekend. We were trying to have a carbon copy of yesterday and it worked.”
After the men's alpine team finished 1-2 for the first time in almost a decade on Saturday, few probably thought the squad could better that performance, but they did just that. Others close to the program saw that Gunnarsson and Luukko went 1-2 and thought “what if” Johansen hadn't skied out on his run. As improbable as it would've been to think the Buffs could pull off the sweep Sunday, they did just that.
“It's a pretty unique accomplishment,” Rokos said. “Especially in slalom, which is the least predictable events of the four that we compete in on both the alpine and Nordic sides.”
Gunnarsson started fourth, Johansen seventh and Luukko 13th. After the first run, Johansen was in second, just one-tenth behind the race leader, while Gunnarsson was fourth and Luukko seventh, but all three were within a half-second of each other. Johansen then had the fastest second run for a total time of 1:35.97 and Luukko had the second fastest second run for a total of 1:36.54 to continue his move up the list. Gunnarsson had the ninth-fastest second run and it was enough to move up into third in a time of 1:37.02.
It marks the first men's alpine podium sweep in the 26-year Rokos era and is believed to be the first since the 1970s. It's the first time any CU team has swept the podium since 2013 when the women's Nordic trio of Eliska Hajkova, Maria Nordstroem and Joanne Reid did it twice in the same meet at the RMISA Championships. It happened on the men's Nordic side in 2009 and the last time it happened in alpine action was 2006 when the women's side was in 2006 at the Western State Invitational when Lucie Zikova won, Lisa Perricone was second and Sabrina Mocelin took third in the giant slalom race.
The closest a podium sweep has come on the men's side in the Rokos era is a 1-2-4 set of finishes, which happened twice. In 1999, Josh Nolting won, Greg Bucheister was seond and Scott Montalbo at the Western State Invitational in a slalom race and again in 2002 when Brad Hogan won the slalom race at the CU Invitational with Tyler Shepherd taking second and Jed Schuetze fourth.
Senior Kasper Hietanen also had his second straight top 10 finish in as many days, taking ninth in a time of 1:37.37. Senior Adam Zika finished 15th in 1:38.37 and senior Cameron Smith was 24th in a time of 1:41.74. Junior Roger Carry was injured in training on Friday and will miss the remainder of the season with a knee injury.
“We try to make sure that we are holding at least four spots in the top 10, I think after this weekend Kasper is also very close to that,” Rokos said. “And Adam isn't that far behind. It will be an immediate decision next week of who will go to NCAAs and it's good to have so many guys in that bracket.”
On the women's side, senior Jessica Honkonen led the way with a sixth-place finish in a time of 1:41.74 and freshman Nora Christensen was 11th in 1:42.67. Freshman Tonje Trulsrud was 18th in 1:45.19 while senior Clare Wise took 19th in 1:46.16. Senior Thea Grosvold finished in 22nd in 1:48.95 and junior Katie Hostetler was 25th in 2:11.23.
“We had a few misfortunes on the women's side,” Rokos said. “The star of the show was Clare, she skied very well and it's good to display depth on the team and have assurance that we have more than three or four girls capable of skiing fast.”
Wise completed her first career meet in which she took top 20 performances home in both meets. Close to her career best performances, she now has 11 top 20 finishes in her career.
Earlier in the day at Enchanted Forest, junior Mads Stroem finished off the meet sweep, winning the 5K freestyle race in a time of 13:35.2, just 3.2 seconds ahead of Utah's Nick Hendrickson. For Stroem, it's his fourth win of the season and 10th in his career. Since 1983 when skiing went coed, Stroem becomes just the ninth skier to win 10 or more career races. It's the second time Stroem has swept both races in a meet, also doing that last year at the RMISA Championships.
“Mads was duking it out with Hendrickson,” Nordic coach Bruce Cranmer said. “Those two had a little separation over third place. Mads feels good, he's getting confidence back with where his training and form is at. Even though this was a funky race, the trails, the ice, the elevation, it's not like anything else we do, but if you win, you win, you're the fastest guy for that day and that always feels good.”
Freshman Petter Reistad finished fourth and was just one-tenth of a second off the podium. His time of 14:00.1 was just behind Utah's Niklas Persson (14:00.0) as he finished off a stellar meet in which he took second and fourth in the two races. Junior Jackson Hill was also in the top 10, coming in tied for eighth in a time of 14:07.4
“Petter missed the podium by a tenth of a second,” Cranmer said. “In a short 5K race that's as icy as it was today, the top guys still separate themselves a bit. Today it was like an ice rink, almost like a bob sled or loge run. Nobody got hurt and that was my biggest concern. On ice like that on these skis, there are no edges, you can't always control yourself.”
Sophomore Ian Boucher had his career best finish, coming in 14th in a time of 14:23.5 and he was followed by junior Max Scrimgeour's 23rd place performance in 14:57.8 and senior Arnaud Du Pasquier's 29th place finish in 15:32.3.
On the women's side, junior Lucy Newman led the way as four Buffs placed between ninth and 13th. Newman was ninth in 17:01.8 with sophomore Ane Johnsen 10th in 17:02.5 and junior Camilla Brautaset 11th in 17:08.2. Freshman Christina Rolandsen was 13th in 17:18.3 as the four skiers were less than 17 seconds apart.
The RMISA regular season is now complete and the Buffs will next change focus to the post season. The RMISA Championships will take place next weekend in Beaver Creek (alpine) and Minturn (Nordic). While the goal of every team is to win the championship, often times shoring up seeding for NCAA Championships takes precedence. The Buffs will host the NCAA Championships March 9-12 in Steamboat Springs.
“There may be some tactics and strategy for the races next week,” Rokos said. “It's the one race you can manipulate the start order a little bit. It's a good way to deepen your standings for NCAA seeding. We'll talk about it.”
Headed into the final weekend, Rokos feels the Buffs are in good position to put a deep team together for the NCAA Championships, even though a good number of positions are still up for grabs.
“On the men's side, I'll try to make sure we are holding at least four spots that could be in the top 10 for NCAAs,” Rokos said. “Right now we are there and Adam isn't that far behind. On the women's side, behind Tonje there is a little gap, but I don't think it will hurt our start position all that much. On the Nordic side, it's similar to alpine where Petra (Hyncicova) will be up there and Ane is pushing hard and it's open below that. At least two Nordic guys know exactly where they will start.”
University of New Mexico Invitational Team Results (FINAL)—1. Colorado 676; 2. Utah 646; 3. Denver 595; 4. New Mexico 462; 5. Montana State 423; 6. Alaska Anchorage 362; 7. Westminster 229; 8. Wyoming 152; 9. Colorado Mountain 36.
Men's 5k Freestyle (31 finishers)— 1. Mads Stroem, CU, 13:35.2; 2. Nick Hendrickson, UU, 13:38.4; 3. Niklas Persson, UU, 14:00.0; 4. Petter Reistad, CU, 14:00.1; 5. Sawyer Kisselheim, MSU, 14:03.0; 6. Noe Bellet, UU, 14:04.9; 7. Kevin Bolger, UU, 14:05.8; 8. Jackson Hill, CU and Oscar Ivars, UU, 14:07.4; 10. Karsten Hokanson, MSU, 14:09.5. Other CU Finishers: 14. Ian Boucher, 14;23.5; 23. Max Scrimgeour, 14:57.8; 29. Arnaud Du Pasquier, 15:32.3.
Women's 5k Freestyle (32 finishers)— 1. Linn Eriksen, DU, 15:43.6; 2. Veronika Mayerhofer, UU, 16:03.7; 3. Cambria McDermott, MSU, 16:08.1; 4. Sloan Storey, UU, 16:11.2; 5. Taeler McCrerey, DU, 16:22.3; 6. Natalie Mueller, UU, 16:32.9; 7. Mackenzie Kanady, UAA, 16:34.5; 8. Aja Starkey, DU, 16:59.3; 9. Lucy Newman, CU, 17:01.8; 10. Ane Johnsen, CU, 17:02.5. Other CU Finishers: 11. Camilla Brautaset, 17:08.2; 13. Christina Roladnsen, 17:18.3.
Men's Slalom (29 finishers): 1. Ola Johansen, CU, 1:35.97; 2. Max Luukko, CU, 1:37.02; 3. Henrik Gunnarsson, CU, 1:37.02; 4. Alex Leever, DU, 1:37.09; 5. Taylor Shiffrin, DU, 1:37.18; 6. Erik Read, DU, 1:37.19; 7. Carl-Johan Oester, UNM, 1:37.31; 8. Giulio Bosca, WMC, 1:37.36; 9. Kasper Hietanen, CU, 1:37.37; 10. Rob Greig, UNM, 1:37.58. Other CU Finishers: 15. Adam Zika, 1:38.37; 24. Cameron Smith, 1:41.74.
Women's Slalom (27 finishers): 1. Julie Mohagen, UU, 1:39.29; 2. Tuva Norbye, DU, 1:40.78; 3. Anne-Solene Bregou, WMC, 1:40.99; 4. Kristine Haugen, DU, 1:41.19; 5. Roni Remme, UU, 1:41.71; 6. Jessica Honkonen, CU, 1:41.74; 7. Kari Hole, MSU, 1:41.89; 8. Monica Huebner, DU, 1:42.09; 9. Sofia Novoselic, WMC, 1:42.16; 10. Benedicte Lyche, MSU, 1:42.61. Other CU Finishers: 11. Nora Christensen, 1:42.67; 18. Tonje Trulsrud, 1:45.19; 19. Clare Wise, 1:46.16; 22. Thea Grosvold, 1:48.95; 25. Katie Hostetler, 2:11.23.
