Tommy Wins Second Straight GS Race In RMISA Qualifier

BOZEMAN, Mont.—Freshman Mikaela Tommy is already making her mark on the CU record book by winning her second collegiate race in as many days, sitting atop the podium for Thursday's RMISA Giant Slalom Qualifier No. 2 here at Bridger Bowl. In all, four Buffs earned Top 10 finishes in the men's and women's giant slalom races to help improve their seeding for the NCAA Championships.

No team scores were calculated Thursday as the giant slalom races that were calculated as part of the Montana State Invitational happened on Wednesday when the Buffs finished second in both races to take a lead in the meet through two of eight races. Senior Max Luukko also posted his first top five finish of the season and junior Andrea Arnold posted her second straight and second career top 10 finish.

Tommy, who didn't race for the first two giant slalom races at Eldora to open the season, has now won both races since, essentially securing her of a top seed at the NCAA Championships come March. She became the fifth known skier to win both runs within a women's GS race and the third women's alpine skier under CU coach Richard Rokos to win back-to-back giant slalom races.

ALPINE WOMEN: On the strength winning both runs, Tommy won the race by almost one-second over the field with her two-run time of 1:37.54 coming in a .89 better than second place Tuva Norbye of Denver (1:38.43). Norbye won both GS races last week at Eldora and holds a tiebreaker over Tommy as it stands now through four GS races this season in terms of NCAA Qualification.

Arnold also improved her qualification number by finishing in the top 10 for the second straight day, taking 10th in a time of 1:40.34 and giving her back-to-back top 10s, the first two of her career.. Freshman Stef Fleckenstein finished 12th in 1:40.57 while senior Nora Christensen took 18th in 1:41.33 and freshman Olivia Gerrard was 21st in 1:42.99. Freshman Kaitlyn Harsch sat out today's races due to illness.

ALPINE MEN: Senior Max Luukko had the best finish of the season, taking fourth in a time of 1:31.82 while Joey Young finished seventh, matching his season and career best finish, in a time of 1:32.86. For Luukko, it's his 19th career top 5 finish in his 46th career race with 11 of those 19 top 5's coming in GS actin. Young now has three top 10 finishes in four races this season and eight overall in 16 career races.

All four of the other Buffs, Max Bervy, Filip Foretjek, Bobby Moyer and Teddy Takki, did not finish their first runs.

WHAT IT MEANS: Today was all about NCAA qualification and not team scoring, and it's probably a good thing with only two men finishing the race. Luukko and Young both took advantage of the extra qualifier and significantly improved their NCAA qualification points. Tommy's win essentially ensures her of a top three seed in the women's GS at season's end and put her in the driver's seat for a good starting position the rest of the season. Arnold continues to improve after missing most of last year due to injury and in 19 career races, her two best finishes are the last two days here at Bridger Bowl.

NOTEWORTHY: Tommy's back-to-back GS wins are quite an accomplishment. It marks the first time CU as a team has won back to back GS races since the start of the 2012 season when Katie Hartman won the first and Erika Ghent won the second GS race that season. She's the first women's skier at CU to win back-to-back GS races since Tove Pashkowski in 2000. Those were also the first two GS races of Pashkowski's career. In the Rokos Era, Tommy became the third women's skier to win back-to-back GS races joining Pashkowski and Caroline Gedde-Dahl, who did it in 1998.

Tommy has also won three GS runs this year, one Wednesday and both runs today. That marks more team GS run wins than in the last seven seasons. Both Hartman and Ghent won three GS runs in the 2012 season. You have to go back to Pashkowski's 2000 season to find a skier who won more GS runs in a season; she had four that season, the most on record at CU.

Tommy also became just the fifth known skier to win both runs within a women's GS race. With individual run data available since 2000, she joins Pashkowski, who accomplished the feat on Jan. 1, 2000 in Park City, Utah, Mia Cullman from the CU Invitational on Jan. 31, 2003 at Eldora, Hartman at the UNM Invitational on Feb. 5, 2010 at Taos and Ghent from CU's meet on Jan. 7, 2012 at Eldora.

UP NEXT: Action returns to the Montana State Invitational as the alpine teams will conduct the slalom races on Friday while the Nordic teams get underway with the 5K women's and 10K men's freestyle races at Crosscut Mountain Sports Center, formerly known as Bohart Ranch. This will mark the first time this season both alpine and Nordic teams will compete on the same day. Action concludes in Bozeman on Saturday with the Nordic classic races and the make-up for the men's slalom race of the CU Invitational.

WOMEN'S GIANT SLALOM (24 collegiate finishers)—1. Mikaela Tommy, CU, 1:37.54; 2. Tuva Norbye, DU, 1:38.43; 3. Eirin Engeset, UU, 1:38.48; 4. Andrea Komsic, DU, 1:39.00; 5. Amelia Smart, DU, 1:39.17; 6. Stephanie Gartner, MSU, 1:39.27; 7. Sona Moravcikova, UNM, 1:39.81; 8. Georgia Burgess, UAA, 1:39.91; 9. Katie Hensien, DU, 1:40.10; 10. Andrea Arnold, CU, 1:40.34. Other CU Finishers: 12. Stef Fleckenstein, 1:40.57; 18. Nora Christensen, 1:41.33; 21. Olivia Gerrard, 1:42.99.

MEN'S GIANT SLALOM (28 collegiate finishers)—1. Addison Dvoracek, UU, 1:31.25; 2. Liam Wallace, 1:31.74; 3. Aage Solheim, MSU, 1:31.81; 4. Max Luukko, CU, 1:31.82; 5. Huston Philp, UU, 1:32.75; 6. Florian Szwebel, MSU, 1:32.78; 7. Joey Young, CU, 1:32.86; 8. Morten Bakke, 1:33.14; 9. Vegard Busengdal, UNM, 1:33.17; 10. Martin Arene, WMC, 1:33.30. Other CU Finishers: Did Not Finish (First Run): Max Bervy, Filip Forejtek, Bobby Moyer, Teddy Takki.

Tommy Wins Second Straight GS Race In RMISA Qualifier

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Players Mentioned

Andrea Arnold

Max Bervy

Nora Christensen

Stef Fleckenstein

Filip Forejtek

Olivia Gerrard

Kaitlyn Harsch

Max Luukko

Bobby Moyer

Teddy Takki

Mikaela Tommy

Joey Young