Tuesday, February 20, 2018 • by Brooke Frederickson, RMISA
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo.—The RMISA enters the home stretch of the season with the RMISA Championships and NCAA West Regional, hosted Feb. 23-25 by Colorado in Steamboat Springs.
The meet kicks off with the men’s and women’s slalom races on Friday, Feb. 23. On Saturday, the Nordic teams compete in the women’s and men’s 5- and 10-km classic races. The meet concludes on Sunday, Feb. 25, with the men’s and women’s giant slalom races as well as the 15 and 20-km freestyle races.
Also during the weekend the alpine teams will compete in the season’s second RMISA giant slalom qualifier on Saturday, Feb. 24. The RMISA alpine qualifier races do not count towards any team scoring and are used as an extra opportunity for skiers to earn qualification points for the NCAA Championships at the end of the season.
The meet will be a warmup for the NCAA Championships, also hosted by Colorado in Steamboat Springs from March 7-10. NCAA competitors will be announced on the evening of Feb. 26 at NCAA.com.
Colorado won the regular-season championship with 2,603 points. The Buffs won three of the four team meets this year, with Denver winning the Utah Invitational. Colorado has been the top Nordic team with 1,414 points while Denver has been the top alpine team with 1,235.5 points scored. The Buffs have won the most races individual races this year (13) with Utah second with 11 race wins.
Men’s Nordic
- Utah has been the top men’s Nordic team this season with 709 points scored, followed by Colorado’s 665 points.
- The Utes have won six of the 10 races this year, with Martin Bergstroem leading the league with four wins and Haakon Hjelstuen with two race wins this year.
- Denver’s Dag Trolleboe has two wins on the year. Trolleboe and Bergstroem are tied for the league lead with seven podiums each.
- Also with two wins is Colorado’s Alvar Alev. He also has three podium finishes.
- Colorado’s Petter Reistad is third in the league with five podium finishes on the year.
- Other skiers who have been consistent include Denver’s Eivind Kvaale (three podiums, seven top fives), Utah’s Bjorn Riksaasen (seven top 10’s) and Colorado’s Sondre Bollum (six top 10’s).
- 23 different skiers have earned at least one top 10 finish this year.
Women’s Nordic
- Colorado has been the top women’s Nordic team with 749 points scored. Utah is second with 640.5 points scored.
- Utah’s Guro Jordheim leads all skiers with five wins and eight podiums this year.
- Women’s Nordic has been affected the most by outside competition, as Colorado’s Petra Hyncicova, Montana State’s Johanna Taliharm and UAA’s Casey Wright all competed at the Olympics. Alaska Anchorage’s Hailey Swirbul participated in the Junior World Championships.
- Hyncicova, the reigning NCAA freestyle and classic champion, has one win and five podiums this year.
- Swirbul, who finished second in the 5-km classic at Junior Worlds, has three podium finishes this season.
- Colorado’s Hedda Baangman has two wins and four podium finishes this year.
- Also with wins are Denver’s Jasmi Joensuu and Linn Eriksen. Eriksen, the 2016 NCAA classic champion, has three podium finishes.
- Colorado’s Christina Rolandsen has also been consistent with two podiums and four top-five finishes.
- Other skiers who have been consistent include Montana State’s Emma Tarbath (one podium, seven top 10 finishes), Utah’s Mariah Bredal (seven top 10 finishes) and Denver’s Taeler McCrerey (five top 10 finishes).
- 24 different skiers have earned at least one top 10 finish this year.
Men’s Alpine
- Denver has been the top men’s alpine team with 614 points scored, followed by Montana State (609 points).
- Six different skiers have won races this year, the most different winners of any discipline on the circuit.
- Colorado’s Ola Johansen leads the league with three wins and six podium finishes.
- Montana State’s Garret Driller has two wins and three podiums.
- Skiers with one win each are New Mexico’s Vegard Busengdal, Montana State’s Addison Dvoracek, Denver’s Tobias Kogler and Denver’s Jett Seymour.
- Busengdal is second in the league with four podium finishes this year.
- Montana State’s Morten Bakke and Denver’s Alex Leever each have the most podium finishes without a win this year, three each.
- Colorado’s David Ketterer, the defending NCAA champion in the slalom and giant slalom, is still returning to form after competing on the World Cup circuit. He finished fifth in his last race and was also recently second in a Nor-Am Cup slalom at Stowe.
- Other skiers who have showed consistency include Colorado’s Joseph Young (five top 10’s) Denver’s Nick Santanielo (two top five’s, four top 10’s) and New Mexico’s Rob Greig (four top 10’s).
- 28 different skiers have earned at least one top 10 finish on the year.
Women’s Alpine
- Denver has been the top women’s alpine team with 621.5 points with Colorado second (612 points).
- Colorado’s Tonje Trulsrud leads the league with three wins and six podium finishes.
- Colorado’s Nora Christensen has two wins and four podium finishes.
- New Mexico’s Katharine Irwin also has two wins this year.
- Denver’s Kristine Aasberg and Alaska Anchorage’s Charley Field each have one win on the year.
- Utah’s Ann-Kathrin Breuning has six top-five finishes on the year with two podiums.
- Denver’s Andrea Komsic, who has three podium finishes on the year, competed in the Olympics.
- Other skiers with two podiums include Denver’s Tuva Norbye, Denver’s Amelia Smart and Montana State’s Jocelyn McCarthy.
- New Mexico’s Rebecca Fiegl has been in the top 10 seven times while Utah’s Julie Mohagen has five top-10 finishes on the year.
- 22 different skiers have earned at least one top 10 finish on the year.