NCAA: DU's Cole breaks leg at Utah Invitational

The University of Denver’s John Buchar won the men’s giant slalom and Rene Reisshauer captured the men’s 20K classical at the University of Utah Invitational on Friday afternoon.
The University of Denver’s John Buchar won the men’s giant slalom and Rene Reisshauer captured the men’s 20K classical at the University of Utah Invitational on Friday afternoon.
    However, the wins were overshadowed by the loss of Adam Cole to a broken leg. In 2007 Cole became the first DU skier to win both slalom and giant slalom at the NCAA National Championships.
    As the women were gathering to prepare for their race and watch the men, Cole fell halfway through the first run and suffered a compound spiral fracture of his left tibia/fibula. Cole was sent to a nearby hospital for emergency surgery.
    “We obviously were concerned about Adam,” DU alpine head coach Andy LeRoy said. “But I was impressed at how well our skiers maintained their focus after watching their leader and captain taken down on a sled. Even though their hearts were with Adam, they all kept their minds on the race and competed extremely well.”
    Host Utah leads at the midway point, as the Utes have 297 points, good for a 15-point edge over Denver (282).  Colorado is in third with 264, and Alaska-Anchorage is a distant fourth with 235.  Utah is trying to win its first meet since it claimed the 2003 NCAA Championships.
    Buchar’s win was his third in as many races this season, and a DU skier has won each of the last sixth races dating back to the Western Regionals last season. Francesco Ghedina also earned a spot on the podium with a third-place finish, and freshman Seppi Stiegler was seventh, helping the men capture the slalom.
    “Our guys skied extremely well,” LeRoy said. “Buchar has been unbelievable in winning the first three races of the season, and Ghedina is showing once again why he’s a three-time First Team All-American. We have been excited to see what Seppi could do, and he showed it today with a great performance.”
    Reisshauer won the classical by 37.1 seconds with a time of 1:01:28.4. John Stene (Trondheim, Norway) finished fifth and Harald Lovenskiold (Oslo, Norway) was 18th, as Denver finished second in the classical behind Colorado. It marked the first time since the 2006 Western Regional and only the second time since Reisshauer, Stene and Havard Selseng (Sogndal, Norway) began skiing for the Pioneers to begin the 2005 season that DU failed to win a classical race.
    In the women’s 15-kilometer classic race, Colorado senior Maria Grevsgaard cruised to her ninth career victory, as she won by well over three minutes in posting a 51:49.8 time around the Soldier Hollow course layout.  Utah’s Kjersti Boe was a distant second in 55:10.4, but led a 2-3-5 finish which enabled the Utes to edge the Buffs as a team.
    Colorado senior Lucie Zikova won her second straight slalom in as many races this winter, as she used the fastest second run time of the day to post a 1:33.35 two-run time for a nearly second-and-a-half win over Alaska’s Stefanie Klocker (1:34.76).

University of Utah Invitational
Men’s 20K Classical—1. Rene Reisshauer, DU, 1:01:28.4;  2. Kit Richmond, CU, 1:02:05.5;  3. Matt Gelso, CU, 1:02:49.0;  4. Raphael Wunderle, UAA, 1:02:52.8;  5. John Stene, DU, 1:03:19.8;  6. Jesper Ostensen, CU, 1:03:21.4;  7. Snorri Einarsson, Utah, 1:03:22.0;  8. Simon Reissmann, UNM, 1:03:30.3;  9. Even Sletten, Utah, 1:03:56.7;  10. Max Treinen, UAA, 1:03:57.0.  
 
Women’s 15K Classical—1. Maria Grevsgaard, CU, 51:49.8;  2. Kjersti Boe, Utah, 55:10.4;  3. Sara Schweiger, Utah, 55:27.0;  4. Karoline Borgnes, CU, 56:04.5;  5. Zoe Roy, Utah, 56:20.6;  6. Lenka Palanova, CU, 56:27.0;  7. Polina Ermoshina, UNM, 56:47.1;  8. Annelise Bailly, DU, 56:56.5;  9. Clair Rennie, MSU, 57:24.9;  10. Annelies Cook, Utah, 57:53.6.

 Men’s Giant Slalom—1. John Buchar, DU, 2:04.99;  2. Scott Hume, UN, 2:05.88;  3. Francesco Ghedina, DU, 2:06.03;  4. Jonathan Hverven, UAA, 2:06.50;  5. Kyle Kung, Utah, 2:07.17;  6. Scott Veenis, Utah, 2:07.20;  7. Seppi Stiegler, DU, 2:07.73;  8. Egil Ismar, UAA, 2:07.94;  9. Hermann Lager, Utah, 2:08.22;  10. David Apap, UN, 2:08.31.
 
Women’s Slalom—1. Lucie Zikova, CU, 1:33.35;  2. Stefanie Klocker, UAA, 1:34.76;  3. Claire Abbe, DU, 1:35.23;  4. Eva Huckova, Utah, 1:35.82;  5. Chirine Njeim, Utah, 1:37.19;  6. Mikaela Grassl, Utah, 1:37.26;  7. Kristina Repcinova, UAA, 1:37.52;  8. Rachel Roosevelt, CU, 1:37.55;  9. Karine Falck Pedersen, DU, 1:37.78;  10. Jaana-Maarit Vaelimaeki, UN, 1:38.22.