CU Wins MSU Invite; Buffs' Hyncicova & Reistad Win Classic Races

Sunday, January 15, 2017 • by Brooke Frederickson, RMISA

BOZEMAN, Mont.—Colorado's Petra Hyncicova earned her third win in four races this season in the women's 15-km classic while the Buffs' Petter Reistad won the men's 20-km classic for his first career win as CU went on to win the Montana State Invitational on Saturday afternoon.

Colorado's Nordic women continued to demonstrate that they are one of the strongest units in the RMISA, scoring 101 points in the race. Behind Hyncicova was Ane Johnsen in third for her second-straight podium, Jesse Knori in sixth and Anne Lervik in seventh. New Mexico's Krista Niiranen had her fourth consecutive podium finish with a second-place run. Utah's Merete Myrseth and Denver's Taeler McCrerey sprinted to the finish with the same finishing time for fourth. Rounding out the top ten was Alaska-Fairbanks Nichole Bathe in eighth, Utah's Guro Jordheim in ninth and Denver's Jasmi Joensuu in 10th.

For the men, behind Reistad was Denver's Moritz Madlener in second and Utah's Kevin Bolger in third. Bolger has finished on the podium in all four races this year while Madlener has three podiums in the three races he has competed in. Utah and Denver each had three skiers in the top 10 with the Utes just edging out the Pioneers for the race win, 88 points to 86 for DU. Martin Bergstroem in fifth and Martin Mikkelsen in seventh each had their best career finishes for the Utes while Denver had Lars Hannah in sixth and Dag Trolleboe in ninth. Alaska-Fairbanks placed two in the top 10 with Michael Fehrenbach recording a season-best fourth-place finish and Jan Cech in 10th. New Mexico's Petteri Vaherkoski placed eighth to lead the Lobos.

Both races had an unusually high number of DNF's with 10 for the women and seven for the men.

Colorado scored 670 points for the win, with Utah in second (603.5) and Denver in third (602). New Mexico with 440 points just edged Montana State (436.5) for fourth place.

The teams are off next week to prepare for a trip to Alaska for two meets, the Alaska Anchorage Invitational and Seawolf Invitational. Nordic competes from Feb. 7-12 at Kincaid Park and the Girdwood Nordic Trails.