Behind Wins from Hyncicova and Reistad, Buffs Dominate MSU Invite

Sunday, January 15

Bozeman, Mont.

All Day

Colorado

Montana State Invitational (CL-15/20K)

Photo by: Kelly Gorham, Montana State University

Behind Wins from Hyncicova and Reistad, Buffs Dominate MSU Invite

January 15, 2017 | Skiing

MSU Invite Final Results RMISA Slalom Qualifier Results

Nordic team finishes 1-3-6-7 in women’s 15K classic race, Reistad wins men’s 20K and CU as a team wins overall MSU Invitational by 66.5 points

By: Jason Clay, Associate SID

BOZEMAN, Mont. – The Colorado women's Nordic team cleaned up in the 15K classic race, finishing with four in the top seven and CU had two overall event winners in a dominating day at Bohart Ranch that saw the Buffs win the Montana State Invitational.

Colorado has now won the first two meets to open the ski season. Sunday, the Buffs capped off the Montana State Invitational with a 66.5-point victory over second place Utah while on Saturday CU's alpine teams finished off the Utah Invitational with 610 points to hold off Denver by nine points.

CU had event winners on both the men's and women's Nordic teams Sunday, as well as well as a win in the slalom race at the NCAA qualifier being held at Snowbasin, Utah. Petra Hyncicova won the women's 15K classical, her third win in four races this winter and sophomore Petter Reistad won the 20K men's classical to pick up his first career race win. In the men's slalom, Ketterer took first place yet again and now has won all three slalom races to open his CU career.

The women's Nordic team has especially been on fire. On Saturday in the 5K freestyle race, CU placed three in the top six with Hyncicova winning it and Ane Johnsen coming in second. The Buffs topped that Sunday with four in the top seven in the 15K classic.

"We've been close to these kind of results, but it was awesome to have that today," head Nordic coach Bruce Cranmer said of the women's dominating weekend. "It is fun to see and it is great when you can do it. It is not always that you have that all together."

Along with Hyncicova winning by a 18.4-second margin, Johnsen finished third, senior Jesse Knori came in sixth and freshman Anne Siri Lervik seventh. The women's Nordic team altogether won the women's 15K classic race with 101 points, 34-points higher than second-place Utah.

"Ane just kept knocking people off because she was around fourth or fifth the last time I saw her on the last lap and then she came in third and that was pretty neat to see her move up that far," Cranmer said of Johnsen's finish. "She might have skied one of the faster loops of the last lap, so that was fun to see and she seems to really be coming into good form and of course Petra was great again today. She is in her own world a little bit."

For Hyncicova, she has now won three of her four races this season and the one she did not win, she came in second in the classical sprints at the Utah Invitational last weekend. She becomes the first women's Nordic skier to win three of four races to open a season since Joanne Reid did so back in 2013.

On the men's Nordic side, Reistad pulled away from the field for a 26.2-second margin of victory for his first collegiate win. He has now finished on the podium in 3-of-4 races, a hot start to his sophomore season.

"He just made a break away after a couple of laps and he got a chance to get away, then he got up to like a 25 or 30 second lead and maintained that 25-second gap for the rest of the race," Cranmer said. "He skied really consistently, skied well and the guys behind, there was a small group of three or four and I think they kept sort of trying to get him, but he was skiing so well and they didn't have anything left to chase him down with so he was able to hold them off and get his first win which was pretty cool."

The alpine teams were also racing on Sunday in the RMISA slalom qualifier at Snowbasin, Utah, where no team scoring is kept.

Ketterer's third-straight slalom race victory has him within one slalom win of tying the school record for the most in a season for the event. John Skajem won four slalom races in both the 1986 and 1987 seasons and now Ketterer is one off from tying his school mark.

Behind Ketterer was Max Luukko finishing in fourth and Bobby Moyer in 13^th. Moyer, as he did yesterday in the slalom race that closed out the Utah Invitational, had the second-fastest run in the entire field on run two Sunday.

On the women's side, CU had two in the top 10 with Nora Christensen finishing fourth and Tonje Trulsrud ninth.

COMPLETE RACE RESULTS INCLUDED ON PDFs AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE

MONTANA STATE INVITATIONAL (FINAL)—1. Colorado 670; 2. Utah 603.5; 3. Denver 602; 4. New Mexico 440; 5. Montana State 436.5; 6. Alaska Anchorage 350; 7. Westminster 246; 8. Alaska Fairbanks 236; 9. Wyoming 114; 10. Colorado Mountain 33.

Women's 15K Classical Team Scores—1. Colorado 101; Utah 67; 3. Denver 64; T-4. Alaska Anchorage 58; T-4. Alaska Fairbanks 58; 6. New Mexico 47; 7. Montana State 43; 8. Wyoming 25.

Men's 20K Classical Team Scores—1. Utah 88; 2. Denver 86; 3. Alaska Fairbanks 70; 4. Colorado 65; 5. Montana State 59; 6. Alaska Anchorage 43; 7. Wyoming 33; 8. Montana State 19

NCAA Men's Slalom Qualifier (CU Finishers)—1. David Ketterer, CU, 1:48.31; 4. Max Luukko, CU, 1:49.60; 13. Bobby Moyer 1:51.11; 25. Roger Carry 1:54.97.

NCAA Women's Slalom Qualifier (CU Finishers)—4. Nora Christensen 2:03.18; 9. Tonje Trulsrud, CU, 2:03.65; 19. Katie Hostetler 2:13.76; Megan McGrew DNF2