Denver podium sweep cuts Utah’s lead at Pat Miller Invitational

Denver men’s podium sweep (Denver Athletics)

PARK CITY, Utah – The Denver Pioneers trimmed Utah’s 71 point lead down to 36.5 points as the alpine portion of the Utah Invitational came to a close Sunday at Park City Mountain Resort.

The Utes still hold a 520.5 to 484 point lead over the Pioneers with six of eight races now complete and action returning to the trails Wednesday at Soldier Hollow to close out the first meet of the 2014 season. Nonetheless, Denver’s performance was impressive.

““We came to Utah hoping to build confidence on this hill that will host us for the NCAA Championships come March, and that’s exactly what we did,” said Denver’s alpine head coach Andy LeRoy. “Our women started the day with some really strong skiing, and great results seemed to come easy.  Our men finished the day with the first podium sweep I have had since joining DU eight years ago, and that’s saying a lot considering some of the rosters we have put on the snow over that time.  We still have a lot of things to work on and this celebration will be short lived, but it is nice to know we are heading in the right direction.”

New Mexico sits third with 414.5 points while Colorado (327) edged out Alaska Anchorage (326) for fourth place. Montana State is sixth with 291 points while associate members Westminster College (183), Wyoming (14) and Colorado Mountain College (0) round out the team scoring.

Earning the first podium sweep of the season in the men’s slalom race, Trevor Philp won his second race in as many days, over teammates Espen Lysdahl and Sebastian Brigovic. New Mexico’s Juho-Pekka Penttinen was fourth while Utah’s Mark Engel rounded out the top five.

Denver earned a perfect team score of 111 points in the race while the Lobos were second with 78, 10 ahead of the host Utes (68) while Colorado scored 62 points.

In women’s action, Utah’s Chloe Fausa scored the race victory in a time of 1:56.84, edging out Denver’s Kristine Haugen, who won every GS race last season. Westminster’s Tonje Sekse earned her second podium appearance of the weekend, taking third. Utah’s Kristiina Rove was fourth and New Mexico’s Mateja Robnik rounded out the top five.

Utah won the race with 90 points followed closely by Denver’s 82 points and New Mexico was third with 71 points.

“On both sides, we had a couple of mistakes, on the second run especially,” Utah head alpine coach Jaka Korencan said. “But we did extremely well, especially the women. The women have proven they are one of the top teams in the NCAA right now. On the men’s side, we have a really good team but we needed to attack the course. I don’t think we had the right approach. We’re holding back a little bit and in this strong field you get pushed back. But I’m really excited with how we’re skiing right now. That was probably the best opener that we’ve had in a long time. We need some more miles on the snow now to get that consistency and gain that confidence.”

The Pat Miller Invitational will close out Wednesday with the 20K women’s and 30K men’s freestyle races as part of the U.S. National Championships. Teams will then head north to Montana where races begin on Friday and run through the weekend in the second meet of the season.

Release courtesy of RMISA

Current Team Scores at Pat Miller Invitational (M/W freestyle left to race)

1 Utah 520.5
2 Denver 484
3 New Mexico 414.5
4 Colorado 327
5 Alaska Anchorage 326
6 Montana State 291
7 Westminster College 183
8 Wyoming 14
9 Colorado Mtn. College 0

Men’s Slalom Results

Rk. Bib Skier Team Time Pts.
1 9 PHILP, Trevor DU 1:50.92 40
2 2 LYSDAHL, Espen DU 1:51.41 37
3 18 BRIGOVIC, Sebastian DU 1:51.58 34
4 6 PENTTINEN, Juho-Pekka UNM 1:51.72 31
5 16 ENGEL, Mark UU 1:51.84 29
6 36 REYNOLDS, Charlie* DU 1:52.76 —
7 4 GUNNARSSON, Henrik CU 1:53.00 27
8 21 SHIFFRIN, Taylor DU 1:53.06 —
9 10 SNOW, Scott UNM 1:53.12 25
10 23 MONSEN, Sam MSU 1:53.13 23
11 17 TRIENDL, Armin UNM 1:53.40 22
12 30 BRATH, Joergen UU 1:53.41 21
13 20 JAMPOLSKY, Grant DU 1:53.42 —
14 14 HIETANEN, Kasper CU 1:53.43 20
15 8 HORNER, Sean UNM 1:53.72 —
16 40 NEUHAUSER, David MSU 1:53.87 19
17 13 TROW, Andy UU 1:53.93 18
18 25 GAGNON, Cedrik UAA 1:53.99 17
19 26 LINDGREN, Tim WMC 1:54.04 16
20 27 ZIKA, Adam* CU 1:56.04 —
21 46 CARRY, Roger CU 1:56.74 15
22 39 HARMANEN, Niko UAA 1:56.81 14
23 31 SMITH, Cameron CU 1:57.15 —
24 3 MCDONALD, Fletcher CU 1:57.42 —
25 11 SANDVIK, Eian UU 1:58.05 —
26 57 MCKILLOP, Curtis UAA 1:58.36 13
27 12 MILLER, Mark UNM 1:58.60 —
28 67 OWSLEY, David MSU 2:00.75 12
29 99 KIRCHER, Andrew* MSU 2:02.72 —
Did Not Finish (1st Run)
79 KULLBERG, Kei UAA
61 NORTON, Hughston UAA
56 MOTTAU, Tanner* CU
34 BANSMER, Michael UNM
28 NYBERG, Jonas WMC
Did Not Start (2nd Run)
85 CROASDALE, Connor CMC
86 WATTENMAKER, Owen CMC
5 HAUG, Andreas Willumsen CU
90 CUTLER, Will CMC
35 FLOWERS, Kitt DU
Did Not Finish (2nd Run)
38 JAGOT, Benoit WMC
73 MCCONNELL, Ryan MSU

Women’s GS Results

Rk. Bib Skier Team Time Pts.
1 17 FAUSA, Chloe UU 1:56.84 40
2 7 HAUGEN, Kristine Gjelsten DU 1:57.57 37
3 6 SEKSE, Tonje WMC 1:58.77 34
4 10 ROVE, Kristiina UU 1:59.03 31
5 16 ROBNIK, Mateja UNM 1:59.08 29
6 19 AUFRERE, Marie WMC 1:59.28 27
7 26 MYKLEBUST, Karoline UNM 1:59.38 25
8 1 DELANEY, Devin DU 1:59.40 23
9 18 KNOWLES, Natalie DU 2:00.41 22
10 13 GROSVOLD, Thea CU 2:00.92 21
11 9 HONKONEN, Jessica CU 2:01.78 20
12 14 DUPRATT, Jaime UU 2:01.80 19
13 27 STAPLES, Sydney UNM 2:01.91 18
14 20 KOBAL, Ana UU 2:02.62 —
15 21 BERECZ, Anna UAA 2:03.22 17
16 11 CARROLL, Tianda DU 2:03.24 —
17 22 DANZA, Emily MSU 2:03.77 16
18 49 DRILLER, Tenaya* MSU 2:06.26 —
19 32 LAMOUREUX, Katerine UAA 2:07.24 15
20 46 FRENCH, Bridget DU 2:07.39 —
21 56 RIOPELLE, Marissa MSU 2:09.03 14
22 38 MCVICKER, Victoria UAA 2:12.93 13
23 57 SHEELY, Miranda UAA 2:13.97 —
Did Not Finish (1st Run)
34 WISE, Clare CU
33 FREEMAN, Sarah MSU
29 MONCENIX, Laurie WMC
25 GRAUER, Taylor UNM
12 MCBROOM, Kelly MSU
8 BERTHER, Vanessa UAA
3 WALES, Brooke CU
Did Not Finish (2nd Run)
28 SAMUELS, Lauren UU
4 MCLEAN, Shane CU
23 PALMER, Teagen UU
2 IRWIN, Stephanie MSU
5 ALTRINGER, Courtney UNM
45 HOSTETLER, Katie CU
64 KOPRUCKI, Elizabeth MSU