Colorado sweeps men’s podium to win New Mexico Invitational

RED RIVER, N.M. – Colorado used 1-2 finishes in both men’s races on the opening day to take the lead at the midpoint of the 2016 Drew Judycki Memorial Jade Enterprises New Mexico Invitational at Red River Ski Area and Enchanted Forest over the weekend.

The Buffs racked up 344 points and owned a 28-point lead over Utah (316) with Denver taking third with 278 points heading into Sunday’s races.

The weekend opened up at Enchanted Forest and the men’s 10K classic. Colorado’s Mads Stroem won in a time of 29:36.5, roughly 20 seconds ahead of teammate Petter Reistad (29:56.1). For Stroem, it’s his third win of the season while Reistad finished as runner-up for the second time. Utah then swept the rest of the top five with Niklas Persson taking third in 30:27.9, Kevin Bolger fourth in 30:51.7 and Nick Hendrickson fifth in 30:52.1.

The Buffs edged the Utes by just five points, 99-94. CU’s third scorer was Jackson Hill in 10th place.

On the women’s side, Denver’s Linn Eriksen also won her third race of the season in a time of 19:54.3, the only sub-20 minute time on the women’s side. She won the race by just under 36 seconds over Colorado’s Ane Johnsen (20:30.2). Utah then placed two more in the top five with Veronika Mayerhofer hitting the podium in a time of 20:36.3 and Natalia Mueller taking fourth in 20:38.9. Alaska Anchorage’s Mackenzie Kanady rounded out the top five in a time of 20:40.4.

Denver also placed Aja Starkey sixth and Taeler McCrerey seventh to win the race with 92 points while Utah was second with 83 and Colorado third with 76.

Over at Red River Ski Area, the men completed their day first and Colorado matched its Nordic performance with the top two finishers as Henrik Gunnarsson won his second straight slalom race in a time of 1:38.91 ahead of teammate Max Luukko (1:39.43). Westminster had a pair in the top five as well with Jonas Nyberg taking third in 1:39.58 and Giulio Bosca fifth in 1:40.20. Between them was New Mexico’s Carl-Johan Oester with a time of 1:40.06.

Colorado also had Kasper Hietanen in eighth place as the Buffs put some separation between themselves and the field, scoring 100 points, 32 more than Denver’s total of 68.

But Utah took care of business in the women’s slalom race with two podium performances led by Julie Flo Mohagen, who won in a time of 1:34.59. Mohagan also won her second straight slalom race and has finished first or second in all three slaloms she’s finished this season. New Mexico’s Courtney Altringer took second with Utah’s Roni Remme finishing third.

On Sunday, Colorado used a race win in the men’s 5K freestyle and a sweep in the men’s slalom race to claim seal the deal and claim victory in the New Mexico Invitational.

The Buffs ended up winning the meet by 30 points (676-646) over Utah after holding a 28-point advantage entering the day. Denver finished third with 595 points and host New Mexico was fourth with 462. Montana State surged ahead of Alaska Anchorage, 423-362, to take fifth. Associate members Westminster (229), Wyoming (152) and Colorado Mountain (36) rounded out the team scores.

The men’s 5K freestyle race got things underway Sunday and Colorado’s Stroem made it a meet sweep, taking the race in a time of 13:35.2, just 3.2 seconds ahead of Utah’s Hendrickson (13:38.4). Persson then edged out Reistad by just one-tenth of a second to earn the podium appearance. Montana State’s Sawyer Kisselheim rounded out the top five.

Utah outscored the Buffs by two points, 98-96, in the race to cut the Buffs’ lead to 26 points.

In the women’s 5K race, Eriksen also claimed a meet sweep, winning by 20.1 seconds in a time of 15:43.6 over Mayerhofer (16:03.7) while Montana State’s Cambria McDermott rounded out the podium in third.

Utah edged Denver for the race victory, 95-92. Colorado scored 63 points and Utah took a brief lead in the meet standings by six points prior to the second day of slalom action.

Focus then shifted over to Red River Ski Area where the teams were underway with the slalom races. The Buffs took back control of the meet earning a podium sweep in the men’s race. Ola Johansen won in a time of 1:35.97 with Luukko taking second and Gunnarsson, Saturday’s winner, taking third. Denver then claimed spots 4-6 with Alex Leever (1:37.09), Taylor Shiffrin (1:37.18) and Erik Read (1:37.19).

Colorado scored a perfect 111 points and Denver then scored 87, the next highest total available. Utah tallied 50 points and the Buffs turned a six-point deficit into a 55-point lead through seven of eight races.

Utah wouldn’t go easily though, as the Utes placed two in the top five of the women’s slalom race including Julie Mohagen securing the meet sweep with a winning time of 1:39.29. Denver’s Tuva Norbye took second in 1:40.78 and Westminster’s Anne-Solene Bregou was third. Denver’s Kristine Haugen and the Utes’ Roni Remme were fourth and fifth, respectively.

Denver won the race with 91 points and Utah was second with 87. Colorado scored 62 points and the Buffs’ 55-point lead was reduced to 30.

The regular season is now complete and the teams have just a few days before reporting to Beaver Creek (alpine) and Minturn (Nordic) for the RMISA Championships on Feb. 26-27 which double as the NCAA Western Regionals, hosted by Denver.

Release courtesy of RMISA, photo by CUBuffs.com