NCAA's: Buchar, Zikova win NCAA GS titles

BOZEMAN, Mont. — It was a powder day at Bridger Bowl, but University of Denver junior John Buchar and University of Colorado senior Lucie Zikova didn’t let that distract them. The two alpine skiers who have been dominant in the West this season, won the NCAA giant slalom titles on Thursday.
    Buchar claimed the men’s GS race in 1 minute, 39.85 seconds, just ahead of Greg Hardy from the University of Vermont (1:39.87). Hardy is the 2005 NCAA GS champion. Rounding out the men’s podium was Hardy’s teammate Erik Gilbert.
    Zikova added giant slalom gold to her collection of NCAA slalom medals — silver in 2007, gold in 2006. She bested Eva Huckova from the University of Utah by 0.23 seconds. In third was University of Vermont freshman Lyndee Janowiak.
    In the team standings, DU moved ahead of both Utah and CU by almost 30 points. Utah stands in second place, with CU falling to third. Middlebury fell to fourth, while Dartmouth fell to fifth, trailing Middlebury by 12 points. UVM leapt from 12th to sixth on the tails of its strong women’s alpine team.

BOZEMAN, Mont.—It was a powder day at Bridger Bowl, but University of Denver junior John Buchar and University of Colorado senior Lucie Zikova didn’t let that distract them. The two alpine skiers who have been dominant in the West this season, won the NCAA giant slalom titles on Thursday.
    Buchar claimed the men’s GS race in 1 minute, 39.85 seconds, just ahead of Greg Hardy from the University of Vermont (1:39.87). Hardy is the 2005 NCAA GS champion. Rounding out the men’s podium was Hardy’s teammate Erik Gilbert.
    Zikova added giant slalom gold to her collection of NCAA slalom medals — silver in 2007, gold in 2006. Her time of 1:44.88 bested Eva Huckova from the University of Utah by 23/100s. Huckova had the second fastest run and finished with an overall time of 1:45.11. In third was University of Vermont freshman Lyndee Janowiak in 1:45.87.
    In the team standings, DU moved ahead of both Utah and CU by almost 30 points. Utah stands in second place, with CU falling to third — despite Zikova’s win, ever-steady Lisa Perricone fell second run and tallied only a few points for the Buffaloes. Middlebury fell to fourth, while Dartmouth fell to fifth, trailing Middlebury by 12 points. UVM leapt from 12th to sixth on the tails of its strong women’s alpine team.
    Racing began at Bridger Bowl Thursday morning after yet another night of snowfall. On a soft course, Hardy took full advantage of his No. 1 bib, screaming down a clean course to take the first-run lead. He was the only skier to break 50 seconds first run. Buchar trailed by over a half-second.
    “[John] has been the strongest skier on our circuit all year,” DU’s head alpine coach Andy LeRoy said. “It’s nice to see him come through in the championship.”
    Buchar won the first three Western Invitational GSs this season. He also took one slalom win.
    “He knew he had to push it [second run],” LeRoy said. And he did, taking the fourth fastest run. Hardy’s second run was the 15th fastest, giving Buchar the win by two-hundredths. “It could have been anybody’s race,” LeRoy added, crediting Hardy for a great performance.
    With Francesco Ghedina in fourth and Seppi Stiegler in 22nd, DU jumped into the lead, with CU and Middlebury both 13 points behind. Meanwhile, UVM jumped from twelfth to seventh after the men’s race, thanks to Hardy and Gilbert going 2-3. Starting 26, Gilbert didn’t seem to stand a chance. Most skiers starting higher than 15th were doing battle on the course. Not Gilbert. He sat in third, a hundredth behind Buchar, then held onto bronze after his second run.
    Zach Brown finished 19th — a good result given that he had arrived in Bozeman just the day before NCAAs began after Ethan Korpi was injured in training.
    UVM head alpine coach Bill Reichelt was ecstatic. “It was great. Greg has been struggling all year, and Gilly was hurt at the beginning of the season. He broke his jaw and was unable to train for five or six weeks.”
    Reichelt didn’t even know if Gilbert would qualify. But he did and then managed to find his speed.
    “He’s just so athletic and so talented,” Reichelt said of Gilbert’s stunning first run. “He’s got a great head too. He knew the adjustments he had to make [on a soft, rutted course]. He was smiling at the finish like he’d won the race.”
    UVM moved farther up the ranking when the women took three of the top six spots. Janowiak continued her breakout rookie season by earning NCAA bronze, followed by Kara Krow in fifth and Jilyne McDonald in sixth.
    DU solidified its lead with Jenny Lathrop taking fourth and Molly Ryan in 10th.
    But the day was Zikova’s, who claimed her fifth collegiate win of the season and her 15th win since joining the CU ski team. She is the second winningest skier ever for the Buffs, behind Maria Grevsgaard, who has claimed 18 total wins as a Lady Buff. Zikova took the first run by 0.38 seconds over Huckova. Although the Ute nipped her for best time on the second run, Zikova held on for the win.
    NCAA racing resumes on Friday with the men’s and women’s mass-start classic races at Bohart Ranch.

Men’s Results
Rank    Bib    Name                School        Time

1.     5    John Buchar            DU        1:39.85
2.    1     Greg Hardy            UVM        1:39.87
3.    26    Erik Gilbert            UVM        1:40.42
4.    7      Francesco Ghedina        DU        1:40.70
5.    8      Alec Tarberry            MID        1:40.74
6.    15     Egil Ismar            UAA        1:40.88
7.    30     Vincent Lebrun-Fortin    CBC        1:40.92
8.    12     Eric Mann            WIL        1:40.95
9.    3      Gregory Berger-Sabbatel    NEV        1:41.07
10.    6     Sean McNamara        UNH        1:41.11

Women’s Results
Rank    Bib    Name                School        Time

1.     7    Lucie Zikova            CU &nbsp
;      1:44.88
2.     2    Eva Huckova            UU        1:45.11
3.    6     Lyndee Janowiak        UVM        1:45.87
4.    5     Jenny Lathrop            DU        1:46.06
5.    9     Kara Crow            UVM        1:47.05
6.    4     Jilyne McDonald        UVM        1:47.15
7.    3     Malin Hemmingsson        UNM         1:47.23
8.    8     Courtney Hammond        DAR        1:47.94
9.    11    Megan Hughes        MID        1:48.05
10.    29   Molly Ryan            DU        1:48.38

Team Scores
1.   UNIVERSITY OF DENVER               DU    316.5           
2.   UNiVERSITY OF UTAH                 UU    288.0           
3.   UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO             CU    282.0           
4.   MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE                 MID   279.0           
5.   DARTMOUTH COLLEGE                  DAR   267.0           
6.   UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT              UVM   252.0           
7.   UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO           UNM   199.0           
8.   UNIV OF ALASKA-ANCHORAGE           UAA   177.5           
9.   NORTHERN MICHIGAN UNIV             NMU   153.0           
10.   UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA               NEV   144.0           
11.   UNIV OF ALASKA-FAIRBANKS           UAF   135.0           
12.   COLBY COLLEGE                      CBC   126.0           
13.   UNIV OF NEW HAMPSHIRE              UNH   125.0           
14.   WILLIAMS COLLEGE                   WIL   115.0           
15.   BATES COLLEGE                      BAT    81.0           
16.   MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY           MSU    74.0           
17.   COLLEGE OF ST SCHOLASTICA          CSS    25.0           
18.   MICHIGAN TECH UNIVERSITY           MTU    15.0           
19.   UNIV OF WISCONSIN-GREEN BAY        UWGB   14.0           
20.   GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS COLLEGE          GAC    13.0           
21.   WHITMAN COLLEGE                    WHT     7.0