Pair of Race Victories Puts CU In Control of MSU Invite

BIG SKY, Mont. — On the backing of slalom race victories from Tonje Trulsrud and Ola Johansen on Monday, Colorado swung the momentum to the side of the Buffaloes and went from a fourth place first-day standing to in the lead at the halfway point of the Montana State Invitation.

CU trailed race leader New Mexico by 44 points after the first day of the MSU Invite, but with Monday's 177-point day the Buffs find themselves with a 12-point lead over second place Denver.

Along with the race victories from Trulsrud and Johansen, Nora Christensen placed second in the women's slalom while freshman Joey Young, who was the No. 45 seed in the men's race, used a gigantic second run to finish fourth on the men's side. All-in-all, a huge day it was at the Big Sky Resort for the Buffaloes.

"In terms of today I think it was extremely good day," Rokos said. "Slalom has been our stronger and especially with the girls who are skiing very consistent at the top, and this just confirms it."

This was the first time since the slalom races at the Utah Invitational to open the 2007 season that Colorado won both men's and women's alpine races on the same day.

For Johansen, his win backs up his victory in Sunday's giant slalom race. For Trulsrud, it was the first slalom victory of her career.

THE WOMEN'S RACE: Monday got off to a great start with Christensen winning the first run with her time of 51.33 and Trulsrud standing third by clocking in at 51.85. The duo then capped it off with solid second runs, Trulsrud's being the fastest in the field the second time down the hill at 51.60, and adding in Isabella Fidjeland's 15th place overall finish and the Buffs easily won the women's slalom race by a 23-point margin.

For Christensen, her second place finish is the best of her career.

Andrea Arnold ranked 23rd after the first run with a time of 54.64, but did not start her second run Monday as she was injured after her first run.

THE MEN"S RACE: Like the women's race, CU's men's team got itself into good position with quality first runs that saw three Buffs within the top 12 of the fastest times.

Young's second run and overall performance cannot be overshadowed on this day. From a starting position at No. 45, he worked himself into the top 30 and stood 28th overall after the first run (24th among collegian racers). The third one on the course to start the second run, he finished with a time of 49.06 the second time down the hill. That was over a half-second faster than any other competitor clocked in at on run two Monday.

"First run I had a little bit of a later bib, so I started a little further back and.I just wanted to punch into the flip so I could get an early start for the next run," Young said. "On the second run I just went full attack and had a pretty good run, so overall a pretty good day."

Behind Young was Max Luukko placing 21st overall and Bobby Moyer 23rd.

NOTEWORTHY: With David Ketterer sweeping the alpine races at the 2017 NCAA Championships, and Johansen's efforts here at the MSU Invite, they mark the first time since 1991 that a CU men's alpine skier swept both races at a meet. That year, Toni Standteiner won both the slalom and giant slalom in back-to-back meets at the CU Invitational and the New Mexico Invitational.

The Trulsrud-Christensen 1-2 finish marked the first time since 2008 that the Buffalo women took first and second place in the same alpine race. The last time it happened was also in the slalom at the 2008 New Mexico Invitational. That year Katie Hartman won the race and Lucie Zikova was runner up.

WHAT IT MEANS: With a single-day movement from fourth to first place, Colorado is now in control of the Montana State Invitational with four events to go. The Nordic teams, which opened the season up in Anchorage, Alaska at the U.S. Cross Country Championships last week, will now head to West Yellowstone this weekend and look to give CU the MSU meet title for a second consecutive season.

NEXT UP: Colorado's alpine team travels down south to Snowbasin Resort where it will begin the Utah Invitational on Thursday, Jan. 11 with the running of the women's giant slalom. The men's giant slalom takes place on Jan. 12 and the slalom races for both sides is on Jan. 13. The first Nordic races of the MSU Invite are on Saturday, Jan. 13, with the 5/10K freestyle.

QUOTEABLE:
Head Coach Richard Rokos

On his assessment of the day
"It was actually very good, I think a little bit disappointing for Bobby and Max because they couldn't hold their first run standing. Obviously for Joey, moving from some 50th place start order down to fourth is fantastic and winning second run is even more of a confidence builder for him. Then for Ola, it looks like a pretty solid streak of victories for him and then between those three girls, the only three girls we have right now, I think they did a fantastic job. With (Isabella) coming back and building confidence, I think it was a good day."

On coming back from 44 points down to taking a 12-point lead despite having just three available women's skiers and four on the men's side
"We are leading, but we are down to the wire with the number of skiers. We are in championship mode, so we have no room for error. It is not bad training, but it is more mental pressure than what coaches deserve so early in the season."

On Tonje Trulsrud, normally a better GS skier, winning the first slalom race of her career
"Her second run was extremely, extremely good. It was obviously class skiing."

On Joey Young moving up to a fourth place finish after starting 45th
"He can run the bracket up to the top 10 and he did, but starting 45th today, he broke in the top 30 (after the first run) and then starting third (for second run), gosh, he discovered a whole new future for him. I always claimed being in the bracket (inside the top 30) or not is at least two seconds without any skiing just because the nature of the business. That is just what you lose with a lack of a good surface."

RESULTS
Montana State Invitational | Day Two | Slalom
Big Sky, Mont. (Big Sky Resort)

Overall Team Standings (4 of 8 events complete)
1. Colorado 306; 2. Denver 294; 3. Montana State 276; 4. New Mexico 272; 5. Utah 263.5; 6. Westminster College 193.5; 7. Alaska-Anchorage 190; 8. Colorado Mountain College 71.

Women's Slalom (24 finishers):
1. Tonje Trulsrud, CU, 1:43.45; 2. Nora Christensen, CU, 1:43.61; 3. Amelia Smart, DU, 1:44.58; 4. Ann-Kathrin Breuning, Utah, 1:44.65; 5. Sofija Novoselic, WMC, 1:44.66; 6. Benedicte Lyche, MSU, 1:44.79; 7. Andrea Komsic, DU, 1:44.88; 8. Jocelyn McCarthy, MSU, 1:45.06; 9. Rebecca Fiegl, UNM, 1:45.24; 10. Juliette Gauthier, WMC, 1:45.60. Other CU Finishers: 15. Isabella Fidjeland, 1:46.87; Andrea Arnold, DNS2

Women's Slalom Team Scores
1. Colorado 94; 2. Denver 71; 3. Utah 69; 3. Montana State 69; 5. Westminster College 66; Alaska-Anchorage 42; 7. New Mexico 33; Colorado Mountain College 10.

Men's Giant Slalom (34 finishers):
1. Ola Johansen, CU, 1:39.39; 2. Garret Driller, MSU, 1:39.65; 3. Vegard Busengdal, UNM, 1:40.02; 4. Joey Young, CU, 1:40.40; 5. Addison Dvoracek, MSU, 1:40.44; 6. Linus Walch, Utah, 1:40.78; 7. Nick Santaniello, DU, 1:40.82; 8. Alex Leever, DU, 1:40.84; 9. Jett Seymour, DU, 1:41.00; 10. Dominic Unterberger, UAA, 1:41.05. Other CU Finishers: 21. Max Luukko, 1:42.46; 23. Bobby Moyer, 1:42.82.

Men's Slalom Team Scores
1. Montana State 86; 2. Colorado 83; 3. Denver 70; 4. New Mexico 66; 5. Utah 61.5; 6. Alaska-Anchorage 46; 7. Westminster College 41.5; 8. Colorado Mountain College 24.

Pair of Race Victories Puts CU In Control of MSU Invite

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Andrea Arnold

Nora Christensen

Isabelle Fidjeland

Ola Johansen

David Ketterer

Max Luukko

Bobby Moyer

Tonje Trulsrud

Joey Young