Kogler Wins Men's GS at RMISA Invite, Utah Locks Up Meet Victory

Friday, February 12, 2021 • by Ron Knabenbauer, Special To RMISA

PARK CITY, Utah—Tobias Kogler of the University of Denver won the men's giant slalom on Friday as the RMISA Invitational at Utah continued at Park City Resort.

It was Kogler's first victory of the season and his first since winning an individual national title in the men's GS at last year's NCAA Championships. He was joined on the podium with Westminster College's Joachim Mjelde in second place and Montana State's Louis Muhlen-Schulte in third.

The second men's giant slalom race of the day was postponed due to conditions worsening as the day went on and became too dangerous to continue. The event will be attempted to be made up in the next week with the teams remaining in Utah in preparation for the RMISA Championship, which begins on Thursday with the men's and women's slalom.

Kogler recorded a total time of 1:59.64, posting the fastest first (59.80) and second runs (59.84) of the day en route to his seventh career victory and his fourth in his last six finished races. The DU senior was taking part in his third competition of the season.

Mjelde's second-place result was a new career best for him, and Muhlen-Schulte registered his second podium of 2021 while continuing his consistent skiing on the year. The MSU junior has been in the top 10 in six of the seven races.

Westminster won the team event by just one point as it edged Montana State 82-81. Mikkel Solbakken joined Mjelde with a top-five result for the Griffins in fourth place, while the Bobcats had three skiers in the top 10 as Aage Solheim was seventh and Riley Segar came in ninth.

Colorado and Utah also recorded multiple skiers in the top 10. The Buffaloes' Filip Forejtek recorded his fifth top-five performance of the season in fifth while freshman teammate Louis Fausa was sixth. Wilhelm Normannseth registered his fifth top 10 of the year in eighth for the Utes and was joined by Joachim Lien in 10th.

Overall, the team standings were tight as Denver bested Colorado for third place with a 72.5-71.5 advantage, while Alaska Anchorage finished half a point ahead of Colorado Mountain College for sixth (31.5-31).

The University of Utah was fifth on the day with 63.5 points but will win the meet regardless of what happens with the final GS race. Utah has 590.5 points after seven of the eight events and leads Montana State by 117.5 points; the most a team can gain in a single race is 111 points.

It will be the Utes' third meet victory of the season after also winning the Colorado and Denver Invitationals. They are currently ahead as well at the RMISA Invitational at Westminster/Soldier Hollow heading into the Nordic portion on Feb. 22-23.

RMISA Invitational at Utah Team Standings (through 7 of 8 events): 1. Utah (590.5), 2. Montana State (473), 3. Alaska Anchorage (472.5), 4. Colorado (453.5), 5. Denver (369.5), 6. Westminster (293), 7. Alaska Fairbanks (218), 8. Colorado Mountain (85)

Men's GS#1 Top 10 Individual Results: 1. Tobias Kogler, DU, 1:59.64; 2. Joachim Mjelde, WMC, 2:00.80; 3. Louis Muhlen-Schulte, MSU, 2:00.86; 4. Mikkel Solbakken, WMC, 2:00.91; 5. Filip Forejtek, CU, 2:00.94; 6. Louis Fausa, CU, 2:01.12; 7. Aage Solheim, MSU, 2:01.33; 8. Wilhelm Normannseth, UU, 2:01.34; 9. Riley Seger, MSU, 2:01.59; 10. Joachim Lien, UU, 2:01.72

Men's GS#1 Team Results: 1. Westminster (82), 2. Montana State (81), 3. Denver (72,5), 4. Colorado (71.5), 5. Utah (63.5), 6. Alaska Anchorage (31.5), 7. Colorado Mountain (310

Team Notes: Westminster won its third men's alpine team event season outright and has also tied for another victory with Montana State in the first slalom race at the Colorado Invitational on Jan. 13 ... Including the women's circuit, the Griffins have been on top of the team leaderboard in nine of the 15 completed alpine events ... Westminster placed two skiers in the top five for the fifth time this season and the second in a giant slalom event ... Montana State recorded three skiers in the top 10 for the second time this year (also first slalom at CU Invite on Jan. 13) ... WMC has the most top-10 finishers this season in men's alpine with 18, while MSU is second with 14 ... With a 117.5 point lead, Utah is set to win its third meet of the season ... The Utes will finish with the most points in men's and women's Nordic and women's overall ... Utah entered the meet with a 2268.5-1902 lead versus Colorado for the overall regular season championship.

Individual Notes: Denver's Tobias Kogler, who was skiing in his third race of the season and finished his second, won his seventh career event and his fifth in giant slalom ... It was his first victory since winning the NCAA Championship in the discipline last year ... Dating back to the end of last season, he has won four of the last six races he's finished and has reached the podium in five of them ... Joachim Mjelde of Westminster set a new career high and recorded his first career podium in second place ... His previous best was fourth, which he accomplished twice including this season at the DU Invite SL#1 on Jan. 11 ... MSU's Louis Muhlen-Schulte finished third to record his second podium of the season (third at CU Invite SL#1 on Jan. 13) and sixth of his career ... He has finished in the top 10 in six of the seven races this season ... Westminster's Mikkel Solbakken was fourth place and has finished in the top five in six of his seven races this year, including in each of the first three GS events ... Filip Forejtek came in fifth and has now finished in the top five in all six races he's completed this season ... Forejtek owns 15 career top-five performances and nine in the giant slalom, which includes a current run of 12 straight in races he's finished (out of 14 total, dating back to GS at 2020 Utah Invitational) ... Colorado rookie teammate Louis Fausa recorded his fourth top-10 result of the season in sixth place, tying his career best and setting a new high in the GS (sixth in SL#1 at CU Invite on Jan. 13, ninth in GS#2 at DU Invite on Jan. 11) ... Montana State's Aage Solheim's seventh-place result marked his fifth-straight top 10 in races he's finished this season ... Utah freshman Wilhelm Normannseth came in eighth for his fourth straight top-10 performance of the campaign ... He has been in the top 10 in all five races he's finished to begin his collegiate career ... MSU's Riley Seger recorded a new season best in ninth place, his fourth top 10 of his career and his best result since coming in fourth in the giant slalom at the 2020 RMISA Championships ... Joachim Lien of Utah (10th) recorded his third-straight top-10 result of 2021 and has now ended up in the top 10 in each of his last 14 races he's finished (six in a row in GS) and 23 total in his three-year career ... Alaska Anchorage was led by Didrik Nilsen in 11th (tied) while Colorado Mountain College's Henry Hakoshima was 13th, his fourth top-15 result of the season and of his career.