Buffs in Lead at Both Utah and Montana State Invites

BOULDER – The University of Colorado women's Nordic team cleaned up on Sunday in the classic sprint races at the Utah Invitational and the Buffalo alpine teams opened up the Montana State Invitational in the lead after the running of the giant slalom at the Big Sky Resort.

In all CU earned six podium finishes in Sunday's split action, including at least one in all four events, and had nine total top 10 finishes.

The Buffaloes lead the Montana State Invitational with a score of 176 on the first day while after two days and four events in the Utah Invitational CU stands in the lead with 303.5 points.

CU's men's alpine team finished 2-3-4 in the giant slalom to give the Buffs the win in the event with 102 points. Ola Johansen and Max Luukko both got on the podium with their second- and third-place finishes and David Ketterer was right behind in fourth with his two-run time of 2:10.26.

Two Buffalo women finished in the top 10 in the giant slalom led by sophomore Tonje Trulsrud, who finished second with a two-run time of 2:15.76. The next Buff behind Trulsrud was fellow sophomore Nora Christensen, who had a two-run time of 2:18.16.

"With our guys finishing two, three, four, that is very strong and on the ladies' side we were second, ninth and 16^th, so not a bad day," head coach Richard Rokos said.

Freshman Andrea Arnold ranked 29^th after her first run in Sunday's giant slalom, but her second-run time of 1:08.01 was the fourth fastest of the field and helped her move up 13 spots to finish in 16^th place overall.

"That's the highlight of the day, no question," Rokos said of Arnold's second run. "Actually maybe highlight of the year because she suddenly discovered herself. I'm happy for her result because that is a confidence builder she needed and a good sign for the rest of the girls to see that it is possible and can happen at any time. It was a very good day for her."

Colorado women's alpine team finished the day second with 74 points, trailing Denver's 82.

CU's Nordic teams continued action at Soldier Hollow Resort for the Utah Invitational with the classical sprit races, an event that hasn't been an official RMISA event in nearly 30 years and only the qualifying scores counted towards RMISA points and Utah Invitational scoring. However, skiers were able to advance to semifinal and final heats.

"The girls are doing good, we just got to get our boys on track here," head Nordic coach Bruce Cranmer said. "Having Mads (Stroem) out of the mix (illness) is tough, and Petter (Reistad) went well today, he was the No. 2 college skier today, so that was a big improvement (from yesterday).

"We're sort of just kind of getting going and a lot of times you feel like it's kind of shaking things out a bit even though it was a big race in the sense that it was U.S. Nationals too, so it also makes for a little more complicated racing because it is just so many people."

The women's Nordic team placed six in the top 20 among all RMISA competitors during the qualifying round of the classic sprint race. A day after winning the freestyle, junior Petra Hyncicova finished in second in the qualifier and was followed in third by sophomore Christina Rolandsen.

"(Christina) has definitely stepped up," Cranmer said. "Last year I think she struggled a little bit, she had a couple races that were good, but she got really sick last year at Christmas time and came part of the way back but not all the way. This year she has been pretty consistently up there, so that has been good to see that she was able to be at that level."

Freshman Anne Siri Lervik finished seventh, Ane Johnsen placed 13^th, Jesse Knori 14^th and Camilla Brautaset was 19th in the race.

On the men's side, sophomore Petter Reistad's time of 3:42.35 was the second fastest among all RMISA competitors to earn his fourth career podium finish. He continued on after the qualifying round and finished fifth overall in the classic sprint in the U.S. National Championships that were being held in conjunction with the Utah Invitational.

Hyncicova was the only Buff on the women's side to advance past the first heat, as she made it to the semifinals.

"We had a pretty good start I think for the girls," Cranmer said. "Usually in the past we've started a little bit slow, which I usually get nervous about but am fine with because then we just keep getting better as the season went along. If you start at a high place, it is like can we hang on to this for two and a half months?

"That is probably trickier than steady progression and getting better as the season goes along. So, team wise I'm hopeful that is the direction we are headed."

The Utah Invitational will pick back up action on Thursday with alpine competition.

Day two of the Montana State Invitational continues on Monday with the running of the men's and women's slalom races. Alpine live timing is available for Monday at www.live-timing.com.

Montana State Invitational (2 of 8 events)—1. Colorado 176; 2. Utah 156.5; 3. Montana State 139.5; 4. Denver 131, 5. New Mexico 106; 6. Westminster 99; 7. Alaska Anchorage 90; 8. Colorado Mountain 27

Women's Giant Slalom Team Scores (29 Finishers)—1. Denver 82; 2. Colorado 74; 3. Utah 68.5; 4. Westminster 67; 5. Montana State 61.5; 6. New Mexico 54; 7. Alaska Anchorage 47

Men's Giant Slalom Team Scores (35 Finishers)—1. Colorado 102; 2. Utah 88; 3. Montana State 78; 4. New Mexico 52; 5. Denver 49; 6. Alaska Anchorage 43; 7. Westminster 32; 8. Colorado Mountain 27

Women's Giant Slalom (19 collegiate finishers)— 1. Ann-Kathrin Breuning, WMC, 2:14.92; 2. Tonje Trulsrud, CU, 2:15.76; 3. Kristine Aasberg, DU, 2:15.85; 4. Chloe Fausa, Utah, 2:16.44; 5. Kari Hole, MSU, 2:16.45; 6. Tuva Norbye, DU, 2:17.14; 7. Charley Field, UAA, 2:17.72; 8. Karoline Myklebust, UNM, 2:17.87; 9. Nora Christensen, CU, 2:18.16; 10. Andrea Komsic, DU, 2:18.25. Other CU Finishers: 16. Andrea Arnold, 2:18.85; 24. Katie Hostetler 2:20.94; 25. Megan McGrew 2:22.10

Men's Giant Slalom (35 collegiate finishers)—1. Samuel Dupratt, Utah, 2:09.59; 2. Ola Johansen, CU, 2:09.69; 3. Max Luukko, CU, 2:10.08; 4. David Ketterer, CU, 2:10.26; 5. Morten Bakke, MSU, 2:10.66, 6. Addison Dvoracek, MSU, 2:11.02; 7. Endre Bjertness, Utah, 2:11.36; 8. Dominic Demschar, Utah, 2:11.44; 9. Jeffrey Bell, MSU, 2:11.68; 10. Vegard Busengdal, UNM, 2:11.69 Other CU Finishers: 19. Roger Carry 2:13.37; 27. Bobby Moyer 2:14.74

Utah Invitational (4 of 8 events)—1. Colorado 303.5; 2. Denver 295; 3. Utah 277; 4. New Mexico 259.5; 5. Alaska Fairbanks 252; 6. Alaska Anchorage 225; 7. Montana State 196; Wyoming 104

Women's Classical Sprint Team Scores—1. Colorado 90; 2. Utah 75; 3. New Mexico 71; 4. Alaska Fairbanks 61; T-5. Alaska Anchorage 56; T-5. Denver 56; 7. Montana State 45; 8. Wyoming 24

Men's Classical Sprint Team Scores—1. Denver 100; 2. Utah 76; 3. New Mexico 64; 4. Alaska Fairbanks 61; 5. Colorado 55; 6. Alaska Anchorage 46; 7. Montana State 45; 8. Wyoming 31

Women's Classical Sprints (43 collegiate finishers)—1. Krista Niiranen, UNM, 3:24.65; 2. Petra Hyncicova, CU, 3:32.40; 3. Christina Rolandsen, CU, 4:34.63; 4. Casey Wright, UAA, 3:36.87; 5. Jasmi Joensuu, DU, 3.37.70; 6. Nichole Bathe, UAF, 3.38.67; 7. Anne Siri Lervik, CU, 3:42.04; 8. Ann-Cathrin Uhl, UAF, 3:43.90; 9. Anika Miller, MSU, 3:44.33 10. Sarissa Lammers, UAF, 3:45.08. Other CU Finishers: 13. Ane Johnsen, 3:46.84; 14. Jesse Knori, 3:46.85; 19. Camilla Brautaset, 3:53.35; 24. Lucy Newman, 3:57.35

Men's Classical Sprints (39 collegiate finishers)—1. Kevin Bolger, Utah, 3:41.69; 2. Petter Reistad, CU, 3:42.35; 3. Moritz Madlener, DU, 3:43.61; 4. Eivind Kvaale, DU, 3:45.09; 5. Zacharias Toresson, UAA, 3:46.06; 6. Petteri Vaherkoski, UNM, 3:48.63; 7. Michael Fehrenbach, UAF, 3:49.06; 8. Jan Cech, UAF, 3:49.58; 9. Martin Muan, MSU, 3:50.18; 10. Karsten Hokanson, MSU, 3:51.22. Other CU Finishers: 15. Ian Boucher, 3:55.99; 29. Max Scrimgeour, 4:08.04; 33. Jackson Hill, 4:11.35; 37. Andrew Potyk, 4:21.73

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Players Mentioned

Andrea Arnold

Ian Boucher

Camilla Brautaset

Roger Carry

Nora Christensen

Jackson Hill

Katie Hostetler

Petra Hyncicova

Ola Johansen

Ane Johnsen

David Ketterer

Jesse Knori

Anne Siri Lervik

Max Luukko

Megan McGrew

Bobby Moyer

Lucy Newman

Andrew Potyk

Petter Reistad

Christina Rolandsen

Max Scrimgeour

Tonje Trulsrud