Colorado Wins New Mexico Invitational

Sunday, February 21, 2016 • by Curtis Snyder, RMISA

RED RIVER, N.M.—Colorado used a race win in the men’s 5K freestyle and a sweep in the men’s slalom race to claim victory in the 2016 Drew Judycki Memorial Jade Enterprises New Mexico Invitational, held here this weekend at Red River Ski Area and Enchanted Forest Cross Country Ski Trails.

The Buffs ended up winning the meet by 30 points (676-646) over Utah after holding a 28-point advantage entering the day. Denver finished third with 595 points and host New Mexico was fourth with 462. Montana State surged ahead of Alaska Anchorage, 423-362, to take fifth. Associate members Westminster (229), Wyoming (152) and Colorado Mountain (36) round out the team scores.

The men’s 5K freestyle race got things underway Sunday and CU’s Mads Stroem made it a meet sweep, taking the race in a time of 13:35.2, just 3.2 seconds ahead of Utah’s Nick Hendrickson (13:38.4). Utah’s Niklas Persson (14:00.0) then edged Colorado’s Petter Reistad (14:00.1) by just one-tenth of a second to earn the podium appearance. Montana State’s Sawyer Kisselheim rounded out the top five in a time of 14:03.0.

Utah’s Noe Bellet took sixth and the next team scorer was CU’s Jackson Hill in eighth, meaning Utah outscored the Buffs by two points, 98-96, in the race to make cut the Buffs lead to 26 points.

In the women’s 5K race, Denver’s Linn Eriksen also claimed a meet sweep, winning by 20.1 seconds in a time of 15:43.6 over Utah’s Veronika Mayerhofer (16:03.7) while Montana State’s Cambria McDermott rounded out the podium in 16:08.1. Utah’s Sloan Storey took fourth in 16:11.2 and Denver’s Taeler McCrerey was fifth in 16:22.3.

Utah edged Denver for the race victory, 95-92. Colorado Scored 63 points and Utah took a brief lead in the meet standings by six points.

Focus then shifted over to Red River Ski Area where the teams were underway with another slalom race. The men finished first and the Buffs took control back of the meet earning a podium sweep. Ola Johansen won in a time of 1:35.97 with Max Luukko taking second in 1:36.54 and Henrik Gunnarsson, Saturday’s winner, taking third in 1:37.02. Denver then took spots 4-6 with Alex Leever (1:37.09), Taylor Shiffrin (1:37.18) and Erik Read (1:37.19).

Colorado scored a perfect 111 points and Denver then scored 87, the next highest total available. Utah scored 50 points and the Buffs turned a six point deficit into a 55 point lead through seven of eight races.

Utah wouldn’t go easily, as the Utes placed two in the top five of the women’s slalom race including Julie Mohgan getting her second straight win in a time of 1:39.29. Denver’s Tuva Norbye took second in 1:40.78 and Westminster’s Anne-Solene Bregou was third in 1:40.99. Denver’s Kristine Haugen was fourth in 1:41.19 and the Utes Roni Remme was fifth in 1:41.71.

Denver won the race with 91 points and Utah was second with 87. Colorado scored 62 points and the Buffs 55 point lead reduced to 30.

The regular season is now complete and the teams have just a few days before reporting to Beaver Creek (alpine) and Minturn (Nordic) for the RMISA Championships, which double as the NCAA Western Regional, hosted by Denver.