Colorado leads NCAA title chase after Day 1

BOZEMAN, Mont.—On the strength of their nordic skiers, the University of Colorado took a commanding lead after the freestyle races on Wednesday, the first day of the 2008 NCAA Ski Championships, held at Bohart Ranch outside Bozeman. The Buffaloes sit comfortably in first with 186 points, 33 points ahead of Northern Michigan University with 153.
    In an odd twist, Dartmouth College, Middlebury College, and the University of Denver are tied in third with 141. The University of Utah lurks in sixth, one point farther back.
    In the women’s 5-kilometer freestyle race, CU's Maria Grevsgaard and Lenka Palanova hit the field with a 1-2 punch to put the Lady Buffs two points ahead of the next team —Northern Michigan, which was the only women’s team to have all three skiers finish in the top 15.
    The big surprise of the day was Dartmouth junior Glenn Randall, who flew under the radar to win the men’s race in 30:37.3.
    The last time a Dartmouth skier won a NCAA cross-country title was in 1967.

BOZEMAN, Mont.—On the strength of their nordic skiers, the University of Colorado took a commanding lead after the freestyle races on Wednesday, the first day of the 2008 NCAA Ski Championships, held at Bohart Ranch outside Bozeman. The Buffaloes sit comfortably in first with 186 points, 33 points ahead of Northern Michigan University with 153.
    In an odd twist, Dartmouth College, Middlebury College, and the University of Denver are tied in third with 141. The University of Utah lurks in sixth, one point farther back.
    In the women’s 5-kilometer freestyle race, Maria Grevsgaard and Lenka Palanova hit the field with a 1-2 punch to put the Lady Buffs two points ahead of the next team —NMU, which was the only women’s team to have all three skiers finish in the top 15.
Grevsgaard covered the distance in 17:09.8, with Palanova finishing in 17:34.0. This season, Grevsgaard has won every race except one —a freestyle at the New Mexico Invitational, where she finished second. Now a senior at CU, her only other NCAA medal was silver in classic in 2006.
    In the men’s 10-kilometer freestyle, CU’s Jesper Ostensen gathered steam on his second lap of the 10 km course and moved from fifth to third in a time of 17:36.9. Teammate Kit Richmond, who has won the regular-season collegiate freestyle races on the Bohart Ranch course in the past two seasons, finished 11th. Recovering from the flu and tonsillitis, Matt Gelso rounded out CU’s high score in 17th.
    Despite the Buffaloes’ big lead, head coach Richard Rokos was realistic, given that only two alpine men qualified for the championship. “We have a solid cushion right now, but there is nothing solid in concrete. It definitely helps that we’ve overcome that handicap for one day, and it’s all because of how great a job Bruce (Cranmer, nordic coordinator) does coaching those teams and how they performed. The girls really killed it today, and taking the top two spots in the women’s race collected a lot of points for us. But everyone performed well, and it’s both excited and challenged the alpine kids.”
    The big surprise of the day was Dartmouth junior Glenn Randall, who flew under the radar to win the men’s race in 30:37.3. Randall, a physics major who hails from Collbran, Colo., had sporadic freestyle results all season and wasn’t considered a podium contender. But he excels on Western snow, having taken fifth in the NCAA 20 km freestyle race in Steamboat Springs in 2006 — his freshman year.
    “I thought Glenn would have a really good day because the course suits him,” Dartmouth men’s cross-country coach Ruff Patterson said. “But when you start talking winning, that’s a different matter!”
    Randall did indeed find the course to his liking. “It has long grinding hills,” he said, “and I like long grinding hills.”
    He led the first 5 km lap in 14:34.1, six seconds faster than the University of Alaska-Fairbanks’ Marius Korthauer, who remained in second place, losing another five seconds to Randall by the finish.
    “I passed three guys fairly early,” Randall explained, of the interval-start race, “and through the splits knew I was doing well.”
    The last time a Dartmouth skier won a NCAA cross-country title was in 1967 when Ned Gillette beat Clark Matis (CU) and Lewis Matis (Fort Lewis College), who tied for second. Dartmouth finished third as a team that year.
    Also a runner, Randall won the 10,000 meter race at the New England track and field championships in May 2007. After the NCAA Ski Championships, he returns to Dartmouth for three days to take his third quarter finals, then heads to Arizona for track-and-field training camp.
    Asked if he prefers one sport over the other, he said that he focuses on whatever season he is in.
    The Dartmouth women also had a strong day, taking third as a team in the freestyle. Rosie Brennan led the Big Green in sixth, with Susan Dunklee in 12th.
    “Not a bad day,” Patterson said. “We’ll take it!”
    Randall’s win and the women’s team effort is a jump-start for Dartmouth, the defending NCAA champions.
    Nordic powerhouse NMU also scored well, as usual. Led by Morgan Smyth in fourth, the Wildcats finished just two points behind CU in women’s freestyle. In the men’s race, Martin Banerud was in third place after the first 5km but fell to 16th overall. Although the men earned enough points to keep the team in second overall, NMU does not have an alpine team and will fall in the rankings after Thursday’s giant slalom.
    It was a day of near misses for Middlebury. Fresh from World Juniors, Alexa Turzian finished fourth, missing the podium by 21.1 seconds, while Cassidy Edwards was 11th, shy of All-American status by only 5.3 seconds. Simeon Hamilton was the top men’s finisher in 13th. But the Panthers, tied in third place, still had one of its best days ever in NCAA nordic races.
    DU skiers were noticeably absent from the podium in the men’s race. Their best finisher was four-time NCAA medalist Rene Reisshauer in fifth. The Pioneer women fared better, with Annelise Bailly taking third in 17:36.9. With Antje Maempel in 10th, they garnered enough points to keep the team tied for third—a respectable feat given that DU only qualified two nordic women.
    Other surprise finishes: Unheralded Sylvan Ellefson, a junior from Vail, Colo., was solely responsible for the 36 points credited to Bates College. He was one of only two American skiers in the top 10. His finish is the highest for the Bobcats since 2006 U.S. Olympian Justin Freeman placed third in the NCAA 10km classic in 1997.
    With only three nordic skiers at NCAAs, the University of Vermont struggled and finished 12th for the day. The Catamounts’ top finisher was Katrina Howe in 17th.
    NCAA competition turns to alpine racing on Thursday, with the giant slalom at Bridger Bowl.