ANCHORAGE, Alaska—Seven top 10 finishes in the men’s and women’s freestyle races, including podiums from Veronika Mayerhoffer and Niklas Persson, pushed No. 3 Utah into the lead after the first day of the Seawolf Invitational here at Hillside Trails Monday.
In all, the Utes had seven top 10 finishes in the two races, including five of the top 10 in the women’s 5K freestyle to win that race and build up 172 points, eight ahead of No. 1 Colorado, which saw its Nordic duo of Rune Oedegaard and Mads Stroem finish 1-2 for the sixth time in seven races to win the men’s race on its way to 164 points.
No. 5 New Mexico, fresh of a win in its own meet, is in third place with 151 points after earning two women’s podiums with Emilie Cedervarn winning and Eva Severrus third. Host and No. 9 Alaska Anchorage is in fourth place with 130 points while No. 10 Montana State (119) and No. 2 Denver (93) round out the team scoring.
The men kicked things off with a 10K freestyle race and Oedegaard won his fifth race of the season in a time of 25:18.6, just 7.8 seconds ahead of Storem (25:26.4), who has five runner-up finishes and one victory of his own on the season. Stroem narrowly edged out Utah’s Niklas Persson (25:26.6) by just .02, who earned his second podium of the season. The Seawolves’ Clement Molliet finished fourth in a time of 25:57.7 and DU’s Moritz Madlener rounded out the top five in a time of 25:59.3.
Colorado won the race with 102 points, 23 ahead of Utah’s total of 79 while Alaska Anchorage finished third with 63 points.
An hour later in the women’s race, the Lobos’ Cedervarn earned her first collegiate victory, although she has now finished on the podium in four of her five races this season. Her winning time of 14:46.9 was 12 seconds ahead of Mayerhoffer (14:58.9) while Severrus’ third-place time was 15:11.5. Colorado’s Petra Hyncicova finished fourth in 15:21.5 and the Utes Sloan Storey was fifth in 15:36.1.
New Mexico edged Utah to win the race, 95-93, with the host Seawolves again in third place with 67 points.
Monday marked the first of six straight days of racing that will encompass both the Seawolf Invitational and the RMISA Championships, which are set for Friday and Saturday. Tuesday’s schedule includes the men’s and women’s classic races at Kincaid Park.
| Date | Race |
|---|---|
| Feb. 23 | Women's 5K Freestyle |
| Feb. 23 | Men's 10K Freestyle |
| Feb. 25 | Women's 5K Classical |
| Feb. 25 | Women's Slalom |
| Feb. 25 | Men's 7.5K Classical |
| Feb. 25 | Men's Slalom |
| Feb. 26 | Women's Giant Slalom |
| Feb. 26 | Men's Giant Slalom |