Boee, McCabe Win Classic Races As Utes Lead RMISA Meet

Monday, February 22, 2021 • by Curtis Snyder, RMISA

MIDWAY, Utah—Coloado's Magnue Boee and Utah's Novie McCabe picked up classic wins here at Soldier Hollow Monday, with McCabe's win helping push the RMISA Invitational at Westminster & Soldier Hollow essentially out of reach with six of eight races complete in the meet.

McCabe picked up her third win of the season and first in classic, and has now hit the podium in her first five college races. She edged out teammate Julia Richter by just 4.3 seconds to get the win, as the Utes put four in the top five with Sydney Palmer-Leger taking fourth and Mariah Bredal fifth. Denver's Vera Norli was the only non-Ute in the top five in third place. Those five were the only five in the field who broke the 15-minute mark in the 5K interval start race.

Those Utes enabled Utah to outscore every other team by at least 37 points and put the meet essentially out of reach. They scored 108 points out of a possible maximum of 111 points, and Denver was second with 71 points and Colorado third with 69.

Boee picked up his fifth straight win and sixth on the season, as he continues a dominant performance. He scored an impressive 44.5-second victory over Utah's Sam Hendry while Alaska Anchorage's Sigurd Roenning rounded out the podium, and the Utes and Buffs each put one more in the top five with Bjorn Riksaasen in fourth and Oyvind Haugan in fifth.

Utah edged Colorado in the team standings, 95-93, on the strength of the Utes' third finisher, Luke Jager, taking sixth, and the Buffs third finisher, Ryan Jackson, taking eighth. UAA's Espen Person was seventh giving UAA a solid 77 points in the race for third place.

The action continues Tuesday here at Solider Hollow, the second of four days of action between Monday and Saturday. The RMISA Invitational at Westminster & Solder Hollow will conclude Tuesday with the women's 10K and men's 15K freestyle races. That will close out the regular season and then teams will remain in Midway for the RMISA Championships Friday and Saturday.

RMISA Invitational at Westminster & Soldier Hollow Team Standings (Through 6 of 8 Races): 1. Utah 553; 2. Colorado 444; 3. Denver 384.5; 4. Montana State 369; 5. Alaska Anchorage 318; 6. Westminster 300.5; 7. Colorado Mountain 128; 8. Alaska Fairbanks 118; 9. Wyoming 69.

Team Notes: Utah was leading after the alpine portion of the meet and now holds a 109 point lead over second-place Colorado, who was third after the alpine portion of the meet. Westminster was second, but doesn't have a Nordic team and fell to sixth ... This is Wyoming's first competition in 2021 and the Cowboys/Cowgirls are expected to also compete in this week's RMISA Championships ... Utah now has 14 individual wins on the season, and Colorado eight, as the two teams sit 1-2 on that list and have won 22 of the 34 races so far this season ... Denver's looking stronger as the season continues and was boosted by Hanna Ray competing in her first collegiate race on Monday, finishing in 10th place ... With three podiums on the day, Utah now has 41 on the season, including 24 in Nordic action and 15 in classic races ... With eight top 10 finishes, Utah went over the century mark and now has 101 on the season, with 50 in men's races and 51 in women's; Colorado is second with 69 (35-34).

Men's 10K Classic Top 10 Individual Results (33 collegiate finishers): 1. Magnus Boee, CU, 25:13.7; 2. Sam Hendry, UU, 25:58.2; 3. Sigurd Roenning, UAA, 26:06.3; 4. Bjorn Riksaasen, UU, 26:12.5; 5. Oyvind Haugan, CU, 26:29.0; 6. Luke Jager, UU, 26:31.4; 7. Espen Persen, UAA, 26:31.6; 8. Ryan Jackson, CU, 26:36.1; 9. Ola Jordheim, UU, 26:44.2; 10. Bernhard Flaschberger, DU, 26:45.8.

Men's Classic Team Results: 1. Utah 95; 2. Colorado 92; 3. Alaska Anchorage 77; 3. Alaska Fairbanks 56; 4. Denver 52; 5. Montana State 49; 6. Wyoming 33.

Men's Individual Notes: Colorado's Magnus Boee won his fifth straight race and sixth in seven races this season ... His five straight wins is the most since Mads Stroem won the last six races of the 2016 season ... He also moved into the top 20 at Colorado for career wins with nine ... Utah's Sam Hendry finished in second place behind Boee for the third straight race, he now has four podium appearances and a win in five races this season ... UAA's Sigurd Roenning picked up his third podium of the season in five starts, and his second classical podium, and he now has 14 podium appearances in 28 career races for the Seawolves ... Utah's Bjorn Riksaasen picked up his third top five of the season and third in a row (he had four top five finishes in his first 33 career races), and hasn't finished lower than eighth all season, and in 36 career races now has seven top five finishes ... CU's Oyvind Haugan was fifth for his fourth top five in five races this season (he was sixth in the other race), his first season of college racing ... Utah's Luke Jager was sixth for htis third top 10 of the season and now has a fifth and sixth classic finish this year, he now has nine career top 10 finishes in 12 career races ... UAA's Espen Persen's seventh place finish was the best of his season and third top 10, to go with a pair of ninth's earlier in the season, he now has 12 top 10 finishes in 16 career races ... CU's Ryan Jackson finsihed in the top 10 for the second straight race, his first two of 2021, and he has seven top 10 finishes in 18 career races ... Utah's Ola Jordheim gave the Utes four in the top 10 of the men's race, his seventh top 10 this season in seven races, and 26th career top 10 in 30 career races ... DU's Bernhard Flaschberger was 10th and now has six top 10s in seven races this season, and 15 in 16 career races.

Women's 5K Classic Top 10 Individual Results (34 collegiate finishers): 1. Novie McCabe, UU, 14:24.3; 2. Julia Richter, 14:28.6; 3. Vera Norli, DU, 14:47.6; 4. Sydney Palmer-Leger, UU, 14:49.3; 5. Mariah Bredal, UU, 14:53.6; 6. Mariel Pulles, UAF, 15:00.0; 7. Astrid Stav, UAA, 15:02.3; 8. Weronika Kaleta, CU, 15:04.4; 9. Anna-Maria Dietze, 15:05.9; 10. Hanna Ray, DU, 15:10.1.

Women's Classic Team Results: 1. Utah 108; 2. Denver 71; 3. Colorado 69; 4. Alaska Fairbanks 62; 5. Montana State 55; 6. Alaska Anchorage 43; 7. Wyoming 36.

Women's Individual Notes: Utah's Novie McCabe is continuing her stellar rookie campaign, picking up her third win of the season in her fifth race, taking second and third in the other two for five podium appearances to open her college career ... Utah's Julia Richter took second, her third straight podium and fourth on the season, and she has now finished in the top eight in all seven races, and she has 11 career podium appearances in 24 career races ... Denver's Vera Norli picked up her first podium of the season in third place, and her second career podium in her 18th career race, she has two straight top-five finishes and six straight top 10s ... Like McCabe, Utah's Sydney Palmer-Leger is also having a fantastic rookie season with her fourth-place finish giving her four top-five finishes in five races this season, and she hasn't finished lower than eighth all season ... Utah's Mariah Bredal gave the Utes four in the top five, which is where she's lived this season with six top fives in seven races, and 13 career top five finishes in 41 career races ... UAF's Murlie Pulles picked up sixth place, her second straight top 10 and third top 15 in three races this season, and she now has five top 10 finishes in 10 career races ... UAA's Astrid Stav, another rookie, picked up seventh place and now has five top 10s in five finishes this season ... The fourth rookie in the top 10 was CU's Weronika Kaleta, who was eighth, giving her six top 10s in seven races in her first season, and five in a row ... CU's Anna-Maria Dietze had her fifth top 10 finish of the season in ninth place, and she's finished in the top 11 in all seven races, and in the top 10 in 10 of 18 career races ... The fifth rookie is in the top 10 is DU's Hanna Ray, but she's doing more than that, she made her collegiate debut with a 10th place finish.