Trulsrud Places Second in Giant Slalom at Utah Invitational

SNOWBASIN, Utah – Colorado sophomore Tonje Trulsrud was only a one-hundredth of a second off from winning the giant slalom Thursday, highlighting the day for the women's alpine team at the Utah Invitational.

Trulsrud ranked fifth after the first run of the giant slalom with a time of 1:15.31, but made up over a full second on run No. 2 when she clocked the fastest time of the field on the second run at 1:12.34.

Utah's Chloe Fausa, who had first run time of 1:14.16, was able to edge out Trulsrud by one one-hundredth of a second with her two-run total time of 2:27.64 to win the event.

Utah, who in addition to Fausa, placed two other Utes inside the top 10 and won the women's giant slalom with a team score of 91. Denver was second with 82 points followed by Colorado in third with 71.

CU head coach Richard Rokos said that the conditions made Thursday's skiing difficult for the field.

"It was Utah powder, very soft, and the girls with higher numbers had a really difficult time, mainly because it was really foggy with flat light," Rokos said. "They practically didn't see terrain or see the surface, so it was a guessing game as to what was underneath the skis. On the given conditions, I think they did a very good job.

"Obviously Tonje just capitalized on her ability and skied well. Nora (Christensen), starting later in the second round, she gave up a little bit because of the condition of the terrain and low visibility."

Buffalo sophomore Nora Christensen placed 12^th with a two-run total time of 2:30.64 and was followed by freshman Andrew Arnold in 16^th and Katie Hostetler in 20^th. Freshman Megan McGrew, whose first run time of 1:19.08 ranked 23^rd among the 66 competitors in the field, did not finish her second run.

In four races now, Arnold has proven to make big strides with her second run in both giant slalom and slalom races.

On Thursday she ranked 20^th after her first run, but her second run time of 1:13.99 was the 11^th fastest in the field and helped her climb up the standings and earn her second top 20 finish early on this season.

With the completion of five events now in the Utah Invitational, Denver took the lead over Colorado with 377 total points. CU is close behind in second with 374 followed by Utah in third with 368 and New Mexico in fourth with 313.

Next up at the Utah Invitational will be the running of the men's giant slalom race on Friday. The meet will conclude on Saturday with the running of the men's and women's slalom races.

Live scoring for all alpine races at the Utah Invitational is available at http://ussalivetiming.com.

Utah Invitational (5 of 8 events)—1. Denver 377; 2. Colorado 374; 3. Utah 368; 4. New Mexico 313; 5. Alaska Anchorage 262; 6. Alaska Fairbanks 252; 7. Montana State 235; 8. Wyoming 104; 9. Westminster 60

Women's Giant Slalom Team Scores—1. Utah 91; 2. Denver 82; 3. Colorado 71; 4. Westminster 60; 5. New Mexico 54; 6. Montana State 38; 7. Alaska Anchorage 37

Women's Giant Slalom (23 collegiate finishers)—1. Chloe Margrethe, UU, 2:27.64; 2. Tonje Trulsrud, CU, 2:25.65; 3. Tuva Norbye, DU, 2:27.69; 4. Ann-Kathrin Breuning, WMC, 2:27.72; 5. Roni Remme, Utah, 2:28.43; 6. Monica Huebner, DU, 2:29.25; 7. Charley Field, UAA, 2:29.42; 8. Katharine Irwin, UNM, 2:29.64; 9. Abby Ghent, UU, 2:29.67; 10. Andrea Komsic, DU, 2:30.50. Other CU Finishers: 12. Nora Christensen 2:30.64; 16. Andrea Arnold 2:32.79; 20. Katie Hostetler 2:36.18; DNF(2) Megan McGrew.

Trulsrud Places Second in Giant Slalom at Utah Invitational

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Players Mentioned

Andrea Arnold

Nora Christensen

Katie Hostetler

Megan McGrew

Tonje Trulsrud