David Ketterer Ties School Record up in Alaska

GIRDWOOD, Alaska – The University of Colorado ski program saw a busy Friday of alpine racing at Alyeska Resort in the Seawolf and UAA Invitationals where a freshman tied a school record and a Buffalo reached the podium in three out of four races.

Freshman David Ketterer won the men's slalom as part of the UAA Invitational late in the day, giving him his fourth slalom victory of the season. That ties for the most slalom race victories by any men's alpine skier at CU. John Skajem is the only other Buff to win four slalom races in a year, doing so in both the 1986 and 1987 seasons.

"I'm really happy with how the season is going so far, but I'm not looking for any records," Ketterer said. "I'm just skiing from race to race and from run to run and just trying to keep it going."

After weather canceled the slalom races in the Seawolf Invitational on Thursday, Friday's schedule saw four total slalom races go off on a jam-packed day. It started by finishing the alpine portion of the Seawolf Invitational and ended with the men's and women's slalom races to open up the UAA Invitational.

The men's alpine team had a big day, winning both of the slalom races with 93 points in the Seawolf Invitational and 83 in the UAA Invitational to squeak out a one-point win over New Mexico.

Sophomore Nora Christensen registered the first career podium finish, placing third in the Seawolf Invitational running of the women's slalom to open Friday's racing. She had been knocking on the door in the slalom, as she finished fourth twice and fifth the other time in her previous three slalom races this year, but finally cracked the top three Friday with her two-run time of 1:43.62.

"The way she skied, by me, she was super," head coach Richard Rokos said of Christensen's morning runs.

That set up the stage for the men's races, where the Buffs had three finish in the top seven in the morning.

Fresh off his first experience racing in a World Cup, doing so on Tuesday, Ketterer made the nearly 5,000-mile journey from Schladming, Austria to the Alyeska Resort in Alaska where he joined the Buffs on Thursday. He finished second in the morning slalom race where was followed in fourth by Max Luukko and Ola Johansen not far behind in seventh.

"I was a little tired today, I woke up at three (a.m.) because I had a little jet lag," Ketterer said. "The legs were a pretty heavy in the first race, but it got better over the day so I was pretty happy to score effectively in the first with that trip on the legs."

Overall, CU climbed from sixth after day one to fourth with 274 team points in the standings of the Seawolf Invitational after the completion of the alpine events. The four remaining Nordic races in the Seawolf Invitational kick off on Feb. 7.

"It was a hard experience and it is difficult to leave it that way for our Nordic team because they will have to do a lot and bring back a lot of points," Rokos said over a tough overall meet given the lack of depth.

Later Friday afternoon the Buffs opened the UAA Invitational.

The women's alpine had a tough go at it in the second slalom race, as only two Buffs finished – senior Katie Hostetler with her best showing this year in 16^th place and freshman Megan McGrew who placed 22nd.

Trulsrud did not finish her second run, Christensen was disqualified on her second run and Andrea Arnold did not start run No. 2 after being injured. CU's women's team finished sixth overall in the UAA Invite slalom race.

On the men's side, Luukko finished in fifth place in the afternoon race that Ketterer won. Roger Carry came up big and finished 21st, earning the necessary points for the men's team to slightly edge UNM by one.

CU will be back on the slopes in Alaska on Saturday to race in the men's and women's giant slalom. The Buffs enter their last day of competition standing in fifth place in the UAA Invitational.

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

Seawolf Invitational (4 of 8 events)— 1. Montana State 333; 2. Utah 311; 3. Denver 283; 4. Colorado 274; 5. New Mexico 234; 6. Alaska Anchorage 190; 7. Colorado Mountain College 56; 8. Westminster 29

UAA Invitational (2 of 8 events)— 1. New Mexico 168; 2. Denver 159; 3. Utah 148; 4. Montana State 134; 5. Colorado 114; Alaska Anchorage 106; 7. Colorado Mountain College 46

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Players Mentioned

Andrea Arnold

Roger Carry

Nora Christensen

Katie Hostetler

Ola Johansen

David Ketterer

Max Luukko

Megan McGrew