STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo.—Utah won both Nordic races Sunday to put its mark on the 2016 Spencer J. Nelson Memorial Invitational, closing out three days of racing in dominating fashion.
The Utes had 92 points in the men’s race and 89 in the women’s to finish with 649 points, topping Denver (587) and Colorado (583) by over 60 points, a far cry from the point totals of 13 and four that decided the first two meets of the season. Montana State took fourth with 516.5 points, just two ahead of New Mexico’s total of 514.5. Alaska Anchorage scored 402.5 points while associate members Westminster (240), Wyoming (118) and Colorado Mountain (61) round out the team scoring.
For the second straight day, the Utah men’s team had three skiers in the top six and added three women in the top eight to close out the meet.
Individually, Denver’s Moritz Madlener and New Mexico’s Emilie Cedervarn both earned meet sweeps after also claiming the freestyle races on Saturday. In fact, both have won the past three Nordic races.
Madlener’s time in the 20K mass start classic race was 56:51.8 as he beat out Colorado’s Mads Stroem (56:52.9) in a sprint to the end. Those two pulled away from Utah’s Niklas Persson (57:05.5) on the last lap and that trio then finished a minute ahead of the rest of the field. Utah’s Kevin Bolger took fourth in 58:04.3 and Montana State’s Erik Axelsson rounded out the podium in 58:10.4.
Utah’s 92 points was best in the field by 13, ahead of Denver’s total of 79 and Colorado’s 76.
Cedervarn, who won Saturday’s race by over 30 seconds, had to win Sunday’s in a sprint, as her time of 48:58.0 was just 2.3 seconds ahead of Utah’s Veronika Mayerhofer (49:00.3) and Denver’s Linn Eriksen (49:01.8) was also in the mix. That group of three pulled ahead of Colorado’s Petra Hyncicova (50:17.5), who came back to beat Utah’s Sloan Storey (50:21.5) in a sprint at the end. That group of five was then 45 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.
Utah’s 89 points beat out New Mexico’s total of 83 while Colorado was third with 75 points.
Meanwhile over at Mt. Werner in the GS qualifier race, yet another skier continued his streak of wins as Utah’s Endre Bjertness (1:56.28) edged out Colorado’s Ola Johansen (1:56.53) for his second straight win. Utah’s Dominic Demschar rounded out the podium in 1:57.40 while Alaska Anchorage’s Sean Alexander was fourth in 1:57.47 and Denver’s Taylor Shiffrin rounded out the top five in 1:57.55.
In the women’s race, Denver’s Kristine Haugen won in a time of 1:57.43, her 19th collegiate victory and second of the season, although first in GS action. She beat out Utah’s Chloe Fausa (1:57.68) and the Buffs’ Tonje Trulsrud (1:57.81), who both claimed podium spots not for the first time in 2016. Westminters’s Ann-Katharin Bruening took fourth in 1:58.23 and the Lobos’ Courtney Altringer took fifth in 1:58.47.
After a whirlwind start to the 2016 season that included three states and 28 total races in a span of 21 days, the teams now have 27 days off before the New Mexico Invitational, which will conclude the regular season. It’s then straight to the post season with the RMISA Championships a week after New Mexico’s meet and then the NCAA Championships two weeks after RMISAs.
| Date | Race |
|---|---|
| Jan. 22 | Women's Slalom |
| Jan. 22 | Men's Slalom |
| Jan. 23 | Women's Giant Slalom |
| Jan. 23 | Women's 5K Freestyle |
| Jan. 23 | Men's Giant Slalom |
| Jan. 23 | Men's 10K Freestyle |
| Jan. 24 | Women's 15K Classical |
| Jan. 24 | Men's 20K Classical |