NCAA's: CU's Grevsgaard, Alaska's Korthauer win CL

BOZEMAN, Mont. — It was a happy birthday under sunny blue skies for Marius Korthauer of the University of Alaska-Fairbanks as he skied through the finish line 12-seconds ahead of his nearest competitor in the men’s classic race at the 2008 NCAA Skiing Championships at Bohart Ranch.
    Korthauer celebrated his 24th birthday with his first NCAA championship in the 20-kilometer event. “The track was good and the conditions were perfect today,” Korthauer said. “At the start I had a couple guys go ahead and then I just picked the right spot to go ahead.”
    Kit Richmond from the University of Colorado finished second in the men’s classical race, after finishing 11th in the freestyle event on Wednesday. He was followed by Juergen Uhl of the University of Vermont — a bright spot for UVM’s lean nordic squad.
    On the women’s side, CU’s Maria Grevsgaard made it two in a row winning the women’s classic 15-kilometer race by 55-seconds. On Wednesday, Grevsgaard cruised to victory in the freestyle event by 25-seconds.
BOZEMAN, Mont. — It was a happy birthday under sunny blue skies for Marius Korthauer of the University of Alaska-Fairbanks as he skied through the finish line 12-seconds ahead of his nearest competitor in the men’s classic race at the 2008 NCAA Skiing Championships at Bohart Ranch.
    Korthauer celebrated his 24th birthday with his first NCAA championship in the 20-kilometer event. “The track was good and the conditions were perfect today,” Korthauer said. “At the start I had a couple guys go ahead and then I just picked the right spot to go ahead.”
    Korthauer’s coach said it couldn’t happen to a better guy.
    “He’s a senior, it’s his birthday, it’s his last collegiate race, he finished second earlier this week…the only thing left for him was the gold,” UAF Nordic coach Scott Jerome said.
    Korthauer added NCAA gold to his collection of two silver and two bronze medals earned over the past three seasons.
    Kit Richmond from the University of Colorado finished second in the men’s classical race, after finishing 11th in the freestyle event on Wednesday. He was followed by Juergen Uhl of the University of Vermont — a bright spot for UVM’s lean nordic squad.
    On the women’s side, CU’s Maria Grevsgaard made it two in a row winning the women’s classic 15-kilometer race by 55-seconds. On Wednesday, Grevsgaard cruised to victory in the freestyle event by 25-seconds.
    The women’s race started out in sunny, still conditions, and finished under overcast skies with a brisk wind. The changing conditions didn’t seem to bother the CU junior.
    “My skis were good the whole way so I was okay,” Grevsgaard said. “Actually it gets really warm skiing in the sun so I kind of like the clouds. This race really means a lot to me, so I’m excited to win. Hopefully this will help our team.”
    CU holds an edge in the team competition going into the fourth and final day of the championships. CU leads second place Denver 483 to 465.5 points. Utah is sitting in third with 429.
    “We have to ski well, diligently and fast,” CU head coach Richard Rokos said of Saturday’s slalom competition. “It’s kind of a deadly combination because to ski fast, we have to take chances.”
    “There is no substitute for being [a skier] short, but it’s doable,” he continued. “I am pretty sure we are capable of it. We need some portion of luck on our side for everything to be in our court. We can’t put too much pressure on ourselves, because that’s the easiest way to make mistakes, so we still have to make it fun. We have a lot of support here, it’s almost like a home meet.”
    “Second place is not the preferential scenario,” Rokos concluded. “We just need to focus and go for it. Anything can happen in slalom, and one team’s misery can turn into another team’s gold.”
    Notes: Saturday’s finale on the slalom course at the NCAA Skiing Championships may mark team history. Since the scoring format was changed in 1997, every team leading on day three of the four-day NCAA championship has captured the team trophy. Also, each one of those teams had a full team of 12 skiers qualified to compete. At this year’s championship; however, day three leader Colorado has only 11 skiers qualified for the event. Sitting in second place, just 17.5 points behind CU is mile-high rival Denver, also with only 11 competitors. The difference?  Denver has a full slate of alpine skiers at six, while Colorado has only five. Colorado won the Western Regional in front of Denver and Utah.
    Behind the CU and DU are three schools with a full contingent of racers: Utah (429), Dartmouth (412), and Middlebury (401). Dartmouth is the defending champion.

Men’s Results
Rank    Bib    Name                                        School                Time
1         2       KORTHAUER, Marius            UAF              1:03:07.6   
2         1       RICHMOND, Kit                  CU               1:03:19.7
3         3       UHL, Juergen                     UVM              1:03:20.7
4         8       BANERUD, Martin                NMU              1:03:30.6
5        13       TEPPAN, Vahur                    UAF              1:03:37.6
6        12       OSTENSEN, Jesper               CU               1:03:40.0
7         11       STENE, John                       DU               1:04:22.5
8        32       HELLEBOSTAD, Tor-hakon    UNM 
             1:04:23.1
9        29       GELSO, Matthew                CU               1:04:33.5
10       7       SLETTEN, Even                  UU               1:05:02.4

Women’s Results
Rank    Bib    Name                                        School                Time
1         1       GREVSGAARD, Maria             CU                 55:04.6
2         4       ERMOSHINA, Polina                UNM                55:59.4
3         7       MAEMPEL, Antje                    DU                 56:09.5
4        13       SARGENT, Elsa                     DAR                56:47.0   
5        21       BAILLY, Annelise                  DU                 57:12.0   
6         6       DUNKLEE, Susan                   DAR                57:40.0   
7         9       BRENNAN, Rosie                    DAR                57:46.7   
8         3       TURZIAN, Alexa                    MID                57:54.2   
9        24       HOLMES, Chelsea                   NEV                57:57.6   
10        10       PALANOVA, Lenka                 CU                 58:25.6   

Team Scores
1.   UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO             CU    483.0           
2.   UNIVERSITY OF DENVER               DU    465.5           
3.   UNIVERSITY OF UTAH                 UU    429.0           
4.   DARTMOUTH COLLEGE                  DAR   412.0           
5.   MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE                 MID   401.0           
6.   UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT              UVM   321.0           
7.   UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO           UNM   310.0           
8.   NORTHERN MICHIGAN UNIV             NMU   287.0           
9.   UNIV OF ALASKA-FAIRBANKS           UAF   253.0           
10.   UNIV OF ALASKA-ANCHORAGE           UAA   249.5           
11.   UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA               NEV   198.0           
12.   COLBY COLLEGE                      CBC   155.0           
13.   WILLIAMS COLLEGE                   WIL   140.0           
14.   UNIV OF NEW HAMPSHIRE              UNH   131.0           
15.   MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY           MSU   112.0           
16.   BATES COLLEGE                      BAT   103.0           
17.   MICHIGAN TECH UNIVERSITY           MTU    63.0           
18.   GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS COLLEGE          GAC    59.0           
19.   COLLEGE OF ST SCHOLASTICA          CSS    35.0           
20.&nbs
p;  UNIV OF WISCONSIN-GREEN BAY        UWGB   26.0           
21.   WHITMAN COLLEGE                    WHT    14.0