Utah's Dupratt, DU's Norbye Win GS Races In Alaska

Saturday, January 28, 2017 • by Brooke Frederickson, RMISA

GIRDWOOD, Alaska—Utah's Sam Dupratt and Denver's Tuva Norbye closed out the RMISA's time in Alaska with wins in the giant slalom races at the UAA Invite on Saturday, Jan. 28. Denver leads the team standings with 319 points, just a point over second-place Utah.

It was Dupratt's third win of the year and fourth podium, all which have been in the giant slalom. New Mexico's Vegard Busengdal picked up his fifth podium of the year with a second-place finish while Colorado's Max Luukko earned his third podium of the season with a third-place run. Utah's Endre Bjertness finished fourth, helping lead Utah to a race-high 90 points. Montana State had three skiers in the top 10 with Garret Driller finishing sixth, Jeff Bell in ninth and David Neuhauser in 10th. Colorado's David Ketterer earned his eighth top-five finish with a fifth-place run. Denver's Tanner Farrow placed seventh with Alaska-Anchorage's Tony Naciuk in eighth.

For the women Norbye won her second-straight race, winning yesterday's slalom for the meet. Both were her first wins of the season. DU won the race with 98 points as Kristine Aasberg placed second for her second podium of the year while Andrea Komsic was 10th. New Mexico's Karolina Myklebust earned her first podium of the year with a third-place finish. A pair of Utes earned fourth and fifth - Roni Remme and Julie Mohagen. Colorado's Tonje Trulsrud finished sixth with Montana State's Stephanie Gartner seventh and MSU's Kari Hole in eighth. New Mexico's Katharine Irwin finished ninth.

Behind Denver and Utah, New Mexico sits third with 307 points followed by Montana State (271) and Colorado (250).

The next action for the RMISA is the Nordic portions of the Seawolf and UAA Invitationals, held Feb. 7-8 and Feb. 11-12 in Girdwood, Alaska. The alpine teams next compete at the RMISA Championships, beginning on Feb. 24.