PARK CITY, Utah—Tobias Kogler of the University of Denver swept the men's alpine races at the RMISA Invitational at Utah after winning the rescheduled second giant slalom event on Thursday morning at Park City Resort.
Kogler, the defending NCAA champion in the event, earned his second-straight victory after also winning the first giant slalom race on Feb. 12. He has won five of his last seven races and three straight in the GS discipline.
The DU senior finished with a total time of 1:53.74 after producing the fastest first run (55.59) and the fourth-quickest second (58.15) and came in nearly a second ahead of second-place Gustav Voello of Utah (1:54.64). Colorado's Fillip Forejtek was in third, just two-hundredths of a second behind Voello at 1:54.66.
The race served as the second men's GS competition of the meet after the first of the two scheduled events took place on Feb. 12 at Park City. The second race that day was postponed due to conditions worsening, and it was eventually determined to be unsafe to continue.
Thursday's early morning competition wasn't an FIS-U or USSA race, but it will count as an official RMISA race and be counted in the team standings for the RMISA Invitational at Utah. It will also be used for NCAA qualification, MVP and official start lists maintained by the conference.
The University of Utah won the race's team event with 93 points after previously locking up the overall meet title following the first GS competition (683.5 total points). The Utes won four of the eight team races at the RMISA Invite, including three Nordic events on Jan. 17-18 to give them a big lead entering the alpine portion.
Joachim Lien and Wilhelm Normannseth joined Voello in the top 10 for UU, coming in fifth and sixth, respectively. Montana State and Westminster also had multiple skiers in the top 10, with Aage Solheim in seventh and Riley Seger in ninth for the Bobcats and Mikkel Solbakken in fourth and Joachim Mjelde in eighth for the Griffins.
The race was the first of three scheduled for Thursday, as the alpine skiers begin their portion of the RMISA Championship later in the day at Park City Resort. To accommodate the make-up race, the women's and men's giant slalom was moved to today and the slalom competition will now be on Friday.
RMISA Invitational at Utah Final Team Standings (after 8 of 8 events): 1. Utah (693.5), 2. Montana State (533), 3. Colorado (524.5), 4. Alaska Anchorage (516.5), 5. Denver (440.5), 6. Westminster (367), 7. Alaska Fairbanks (218), 8. Colorado Mountain (122).
Men's GS#2 Top 10 Individual Results: 1. Tobias Kogler, DU, 1:53.74; 2. Gustav Voello, UU, 1:54.64; 3. Filip Forejtek, CU, 1:54.66; 4. Mikkel Solbakken, WMC, 1:54.87; 5. Joachim Lien, UU, 1:54.93; 6. Wilhelm Normannseth, UU, 1:55.53; 7. Aage Solheim, MSU, 1:55.57; 8. Joachim Mjelde, WMC, 1:55.70; 9. Riley Seger, MSU, 1:55.73; 10. Didrik Nilsen, UAA, 1:56.20
Men's GS#2 Team Results: 1. Utah (93), 2. Westminster (74), T3. Colorado (71), T3 Denver (71), 5. Montana State (64), 6. Alaska Anchorage (44), 7. Colorado Mountain (37)
Team Notes: Utah won its third-straight meet of the season ... the Utes won their fourth men's alpine race of the season and their second in the giant slalom ... Westminster came in second place with 74 points after placing two skiers in the top 10 and also scoring in 15th place with Francesco Gori ... Colorado and Denver tied for third with 71 points, with the Buffaloes placing each of their three skiers in the top 13.
Individual Notes: Skiing in his fourth race of the season, Denver's Tobias Kogler won his second straight event after previously winning GS#1 at the meet ... Kogler now has eight career victories, with six coming in the giant slalom ... Kogler had the fastest first run at 55.69, which was 11-hundreths of a second faster than the next skier, Filip Forejtek of Colorado ... Gustav Voello reached the podium for the third time this season for Utah in second place after previously winning both GS races at the Denver Invitational on Jan. 11 ... Colorado's Filip Forejtek registered his fifth podium in seven finished races this year, finishing in the top five in all of them ... WMC Mikkel Solbakken finished fourth and been in the top five in seven of his eight races this year, including all four GS events ... Montana State's Louis Muhlen-Schulte produced the fastest second run at 57.17.
| Date | Race |
|---|---|
| Jan. 17 | Women's 5K Freestyle |
| Jan. 17 | Men's 10K Freestyle |
| Jan. 18 | Women's 15k Classic |
| Jan. 18 | Men's 20K Classic |
| Feb. 11 | Women's Giant Slalom #1 |
| Feb. 11 | Women's Giant Slalom #2 |
| Feb. 12 | Men's Giant Slalom #1 |
| Feb. 18 | Men's Giant Slalom #2 |