ASPEN, Colo.—Colorado's Magnus Boee and Utah's Julia Richter finished with victories on Friday as the University of Colorado Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational resumed with Nordic freestyle sprint races at Aspen High School.
The University of Utah won both the men's and women's team events in the RMISA's first sprint race since 2019, edging Colorado in both competitions. The Utes finished with a 96-94 win in the men's race and a 108-90 victory in the women's race, the fourth time this season that the Utes women's Nordic team has scored above the century mark.
The 204 points gained on the day gives Utah the lead at the CU Invitational (505.5 total points after six-of-eight events) and a 51.5-points advantage over the host Buffaloes (454) heading into the final day of the meet.
Boee's victory in the men's race for Colorado marked his fourth of the season, as the junior has placed in the top five in each of the five Nordic races this year. He won the fourth and final run of the day in a time of 3:33.23 and also had the fastest time in the semifinals at 3:32.98.
A pair of Utes trailed Boee on the podium, but it was enough for Utah to take the team win. Bjorn Riksaasen came in second just 1.53 second behind Boee, while Noel Keeffe was third with a time of 3:35.90. Keefe had the fastest run in qualifying (3:09.88) and in the quarterfinals (3:07.80).
Colorado's Oyvind Haugan came in fourth in the final, while Montana State's Reed Godfrey finished fifth. CU had five skiers in the top 11 of the standings, while UU had three in the top seven.
In the afternoon women's competition, Richter picked up her first victory of the season and the fourth of career. She was one of three Utes in the final and finished with a time of 4:03.34, which was 2.61 faster than teammate Karianne Moe in second (4:05.95). Utah's Abigail Jarzin came in fourth (4:23.21).
The Buffaloes placed two skiers in the women's final, with Weronika Kaleta picking up a podium spot in third while Anna-Maria Dietze came in fifth. CU also scored a skier in sixth, Ezra Smith, but the Utes taking three of the top four spots was enough for them to grab their fifth women's Nordic victory of the year.
Richter also had the fastest collegiate time in the quarterfinals (4:13.37) and semifinals (3:59.84). She produced three of the four sub-four-minute runs in the women's competition, with only Kaleta (3:48.20) having a better qualitying time than Richter (3:51.86).
The 2021 University of Colorado Invitational concludes on Saturday with the women's 5K and men's 10K classical races at Aspen High School.
Colorado Invitational Team Results (through 6 of 8 events): 1. Utah (505.5), 2. Colorado (454), 3. Montana State (435), 4. Westminster (362), 5. Alaska Anchorage (242.5), 6. Colorado Mountain (174), 7. Denver (153)
Team Notes: Utah pulled ahead for the lead at the Colorado Invitational heading into the final day of competition after Westminster led with 362 points after the Alpine portion ... Westminster and Colorado Mountain College do not field Nordic squads, while Alaska Anchorage and Alaska Fairbanks are not competing in the meet's Nordic competition ... The Utah women have won all five Nordic races this season and eclipsed the 100-point mark for the fourth time ... The Utes' men's and women's teams picked up victories in the same race for the second time this year (also RMIA Invite Classic on Jan. 18 and Denver Invite Classic on Jan. 23) ... Utah has a 51.5 point lead over Colorado heading into the classical competition on Saturday.
Men's Freestyle Sprint Final Individual Results: 1. Magnus Boee, CU, 3:33.23; 2. Bjorn Riksaasen, UU, 3:34.76; 3. Noel Keeffe, UU, 3:35.90; 4. Oyvind Haugan, CU, 3:39.95; 5. Reed Godfrey, MSU, 4:27.67
Men's Freestyle Sprint Team Results: 1. Utah (96), 2. Colorado (94), 3. Denver (71), 4. Montana State (68)
Men's Individual Notes: Colorado's Magnus Boee now has four wins and five top-five results after five races this season ... Boee, who has seven victories and nine podiums in his career, won a freestyle race for the third time this season; he won one freestyle race during his rookie year in 2020 ... Utah's Bjorn Riksaasen's second-place finish is a new career high, as his previous best was third in the men's 20K classic at the 2020 RMISA Championships—his only other podium appearance ... Riksaasen has placed in the top 10 in all five races this year and now owns five career top-five finishes and 22 places in the top 10 ... Noel Keeffe's third-place finish was a career high and his first-ever podium ... Keeffe had three top-10 finishes entering the race, with his previous best being a pair of eighth-place results at the 10K freestyle and 20K classical at the 2020 Colorado Invitational ... CU freshman Oyvind Haugan recorded his second top-five finish and third top 10 of the year (out of three races) ... Montana State sophomore Reed Godfrey registered a new career best in fifth place, his first-ever result inside the top 10 ... DU's Bernhard Flaschberger picked up a top-10 place for the fourth time this season after taking sixth, while Ola Jordheim of Utah (seventh place) registered his fifth top-10 result of the campaign ... DU's Borgar Norrud's eighth-place result was a season's best and his fifth career top 10 ... Wyatt Gebhardt of Colorado finished ninth, a season's best for the junior and his best result since coming in seventh at the 2020 CU Invitational 10K freestyle ... Buffs teammate Tyler Terranova recorded his first career top 10
Women's Freestyle Sprint Final Individual Results: 1. Julia Richter, UU, 4:03.34; 2. Karianne Moe, UU, 4:05.95; 3. Weronika Kaleta, CU, 4:20.80; 4. Abigail Jarzin, UU, 4:23.21; 5. Anna-Maria Dietze, CU, 6:06.86
Women's Freestyle Sprint Team Results: 1. Utah (108), 2. Colorado, T3. Denver (65), T3 Montana State (65)
Women's Individual Notes: Utah's Julia Richter earned her fourth career victory and her second in freestyle ... Her last win came in the 5K freestyle at the 2019 NCAA Championships ... Richter placed on the podium for the second time this season (second in 5K freestyle at RMISA Invite on Jan. 17) and has finished in the top 10 in each of the five races in 2021 ... UU teammate Karianne Moe tied a career best in second place (also second at 2020 DU Invite 5K Classic) for her first podium of the season and fourth of her career ... Colorado freshman Weronika Kaleta registered her first career podium in third place. Kaleta has placed in the top 10 in four of the five races this season ... Abigail Jarzin's fourth-place finish for the Utes was a season's best ... CU's Anna-Maria Dietze came in fifth for her second top-five result of the season and sixth of her career, while teammate Ezra Smith was sixth, tying a season high and marking her third top 10 of the 2021 ... Mariah Bredal of Utah (seventh) placed in the top 10 for the fifth time this year, while Denver's Vera Norli recorded her fourth top-10 result after coming in eighth ... MSU freshman Sophia Mazzoni registered his second career top 10 with a ninth-place result, and teammate Aubrey LeClair's 10th place finish was a season's best for her and marked her second career top 10 (also 2020 RMISA Qualifier 5K freestyle).
| Date | Race |
|---|---|
| Jan. 12 | Women's Slalom #1 |
| Jan. 12 | Women's Slalom #2 |
| Jan. 13 | Men's Slalom #1 |
| Jan. 13 | Men's Slalom #2 |
| Feb. 5 | Women's Freestyle Sprint |
| Feb. 5 | Men's Freestyle Sprint |
| Feb. 6 | Women's 5K Classic |
| Feb. 6 | Men's 10K Classic |