Friday, February 22, 2013 – by Curtis Snyder, RMISA Results Available On Schedule/Results Page BOZEMAN, Mont. – The University of Colorado used its second women’s Nordic podium sweep in as many days to build on its lead at the 2013 RMISA Championships as both Nordic and alpine teams were in action here Saturday.
The Buffs currently have 711 points after six of eight events are in the books after a snowy day of racing for both disciplines. Utah sits second with 625 points while Denver improved from a tie for fourth into third with 616 points. Host Montana State sits fourth with 549 points, followed by New Mexico (523) and Alaska Anchorage (477).
The women’s Nordic teams got the day underway at Bridger Bowl, and the CU women shifted positions but overall remained in the top three podium spots. Eliska Hajkova won the race in a time of 51:25.7, sprinting away from teammates Joanne Reid (51:40.2) and Maria Nordstrom (51:45.9) on the final uphill. Those three broke away in the lead pack on the second of three laps and then ended up some 37 second ahead of the rest of the field.
Utah’s Rose Kemp finished fourth in a time of 52:23.6 while Denver’s Makayla Cappel rounded out the top five in 52:30.2.
Hajkova won her first race of the season, but the Buffaloes continue to have won all 10 races this season. Reid ended her streak of seven straight wins and has eight overall while she has finished twice as a runner-up this season, once each to Nordstrom and now Hajkova.
The Buffs scored a perfect 141 points in the race, topping Denver (107) by 34 points while Utah took third with 90 points.
The Utes were nearly as if not equally as impressive on the men’s side, as the Utes finished four skiers in the top five. Miles Havlick won the race in a time of 58:35.6, followed by Colorado’s Rune Oedegaard, as those two continue to duke it out. Oedegaard edged out Havlick by .3 seconds in the classic race Friday while Havlick out-sprinted Oedegaard at the line to win the freestyle race by 2.6 seconds in a race that seemed even close than that.
Utah then took spots 3-4-5 with Einar Ulsund taking the final podium spot in a time of 58:57.5 while Niklas Persson was fourth in 59:00.9 and Noe Bellet fifth in a time of 59:07.7.
The Utes scored 135 points on the men’s side, 21 points ahead of Colorado’s total of 114. Montana State took third with 95 points.
Meanwhile a few miles away and up on the Bridger Bowl face, the giant slalom races were taking place amidst weather delays.
The women took the hill first, and despite teams taking advantage of seeding rules that allow the switching of skiers within the team seeds, the results were similar to what they’ve been all season, as Denver’s Kristine Haugen won with a time of 1:39.23, about a half second ahead of Utah’s Kristiina Rove (1:39.78). Haugen has won all six GS races this season and now has eight overall wins on the season, matching Reid’s total on the Nordic side.
New Mexico’s Mateja Robnik hit the podium in a time of 1:40.52, just ahead of Colorado’s Brooke Wales (1:40.75) while the Utes’ Ana Kobal finished fifth in 1:41.03. Denver took the race with 113 points, followed by a pack that included Colorado (99), New Mexico (98) and Montana State (94) within five points of each other.
The day ended with men’s giant slalom action, and the Lobos’ Chris Acosta’s win gave him the top GS seed in the RMISA by taking the race in a time of 1:38.89. He edged out Utah’s Jeremy Elliot (1:39.17) while Espen Lysdahl took another podium appearance on the season in at time of 1:39.43. Spots 3-5 were separated by just four hundredths of a second, with Denver’s Grand Jampolsky (1:39.45) and Colorado’s Andreas Haug (1:39.47) rounding out the top five.
Acosta won his second race of the season, while Lysdahl took his fourth consecutive and fifth overall podium on the season. Elliot brought home his fourth podium appearance, all in GS action, of the season.
The Pioneers took the men’s race with 122 points, followed by New Mexico (111) and Colorado (102), who both also hit triple figures in the race.
The 2013 RMISA Championships conclude Sunday with the running of the slalom races. After that race, teams will prep for the 2013 NCAA Championships, held March 6-9 in Vermont, hosted by Middlebury.
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