BOZEMAN, Mont.—Denver continues to lead while both Colorado and Utah are putting on another great comeback attempt as Nordic action got underway here Sunday at Bohart Ranch.
Entering the day, Denver held a 33 point lead over Colorado and 61 point lead over Utah after the alpine action concluded last week. At the conclusion of Sunday’s 5K women’s and 10K men’s interval start freestyle races, the Pioneers lead shrunk to just five points over Colorado and 23 over Utah.
Things were eerily similar last week after the alpine events at the Utah Invitational, Denver lead over Colorado and Utah and essentially Denver and Utah traded places after the Nordic action was done with Colorado remaining even in second place.
Denver looked to put an end to the emerging trend in the women’s race to start the day, getting a win from newcomer Linn Erickson, who won the women’s 5K race in a time of 16:08.3 by 10.1 seconds ahead of second place Emilie Cedervarn of New Mexico and 20.1 seconds ahead of third place Sloan Storey of Utah.
Utah however finished 3-4-8 to close the gap on Denver by 11 points. DU meanwhile, put 12 more points on its lead over Colorado. After that race, DU extended its lead over Colorado to 45 points while Utah closed the gap on the Buffaloes, just 15 points back. Utah did take 11 points off the DU lead of 61 entering the day.
But then in the men’s race, it was all Colorado and Utah as the two teams combined for eight of the top 10 spots in the final ranking. On the strength of a six-tenths second win by CU’s Mads Stroem (28:53.6) over Utah’s Nick Hendrickson (28:54.2), the Buffs topped Utah, 94-91, in the race. Denver meanwhile struggled with the exception of Moritz Madlener, who finished sixth (29:46.0), Denver’s second scorer for the team finished 20th and the Pioneers managed 54 points.
Suddenly, the Pioneer’s lead was down to just five points over Colorado, who in turn pushed its lead back to 18 points over Utah.
Behind Eriksen, Cedervarn and Storey in the women’s race, Utah’s Veronika Mayerhofer finished fourth in 16:44.0, just four-tenths ahead of Colorado’s Petra Hyncicova (16:44.4). Utah won the race with 88 points and New Mexico finished second with 82, five ahead of Denver’s 77. For the Lobos, behind Cedervarn’s runner-up finish, Eva Sever Rus was tied for sixth with a time of 16:52.7.
In the men’s race, behind Stroem and Hendrickson was Montana State’s Sawyer Kesselheim, who hit the podium in 29:28.4 with the Buffs Petter Reistad taking fourth in 29:36.3 and Utah’s Kevin Bolger taking fifth in 29:41.7. Kesselheim and Madlener were the only two non-CU or Utah skiers in the top 10 as Utah’s Oscar Ivars was seventh and teammate Nilkas Persson was eighth and then two Buffs, Arnaud Du Pasquier and Jackson Hill, took ninth and 10th, respectively.
Action in the Montana State Invitational concludes on Monday with the 15K women’s and 20K men’s classic races. Snow is expected in the area overnight which could make for some unexpected results.
After the MSU meet concludes, teams will convene on Steamboat Springs, Colo., for the Spencer J. Nelson Memorial Invitational Jan. 22-24.
| Date | Race |
|---|---|
| Jan. 10 | Women's Giant Slalom |
| Jan. 10 | Men's Giant Slalom |
| Jan. 11 | Women's Slalom |
| Jan. 11 | Men's Slalom |
| Jan. 17 | Women's 5K Freestyle |
| Jan. 17 | Men's 10K Freestyle |
| Jan. 18 | Women's 15K Classical |
| Jan. 18 | Men's 20K Classical |