Denver picks up second win of the season in Colorado Invitational

Denver picks up second win of the season in Colorado Invitational{mosimage}It was a blue-bird powder day at Eldora, but no one was getting face shots in Corona Bowl, least of all the Denver skiers who were looking for their second win of the season in the Colorado Invitational, February 20 and 21. And they got it thanks to an alpine team that can win even when their top skier, Lars Ola Kjos, is a DNF in both GS and slalom. Colorado didn’t give it away though. The Buffs used home altitude, uh, field advantage to outscore Denver in the nordic races by 41 points and pull briefly into the lead.

Denver’s Dominik Schweiger led the Pioneer charge in men’s GS, and not even Tommi Virrett’s (Nevada) smokin’ second run could budge him from the top of the result sheet. April Mancuso’s GS win was one of only a few bright spots for the undermanned Utah team. Neither Lauren Lattimer nor Ben Thornhill finished, so Utah scored with only two skiers in both men’s and women’s GS. With Pia Rivelsrud in second and Sophie Ormond a distant fifth, the Pioneer women didn’t exactly dominate GS, but they skied well enough to win the event. By the time the course was a rutted luge run, Denver had put 49 points on Colorado and 38 on New Mexico.

Over at the nordic center, everyone was struggling with the lack of oxygen molecules at 9,300 feet. And then there were those darn hills. Every skier who described the course used the word “hard” or its many synonyms. “It was a tough course,” said Claire Critchley of the classic race. “It was hard because of the high altitude, and being uphill at the end, you don’t get any rest.” No one skied it better than the home team though. Led by Jana Rehemaa in second place, the Lady Buffs took back 20 points from the Pioneers. Tor Erik Schjellerud then won the men’s race for Colorado and helped put his team three points farther ahead of Denver.

The next morning, the nordie Buffs inflicted serious damage. Schjellerud, Henrik Hoye, and Erling Christiansen (back from illness) went 2-4-5 in men’s freestyle to put Colorado up another eight points on the leaders. Then the Colorado women of Critchley, Muriele Huberli, and Rehemaa were 3-4-5 and added another 20. Race winners were Henning Dybendahl (Utah) and Mandy Kaempf (Alaska-Anchorage). Colorado now held a 12-point lead over Denver with one run of slalom to go.

But slalom is not Colorado’s strongest event, particularly on the men’s side. And that’s where Denver excels. After the morning run, the Pioneers were sitting 38 points ahead of Colorado (26 of those points on the men’s side). What team can make up that kind of deficit? Not one with its skiers starting back in the weeds in a slalom featuring soft snow. Colorado freshman Fritz Ernemann started 45th and managed to finish 13th. But it wasn’t enough. Schweiger made a come-from-behind move second run to take his second victory of the weekend and help the Pioneers to the overall win. Rivelsrud won the women’s slalom for Denver over a full second ahead of Colorado’s Erika Hogan.

As the teams head to the Western Regionals February 27 and 28 at Crested Butte, Colorado, Denver and New Mexico have each won two invitationals. In total points accumulated, Denver leads New Mexico, 2,272 to 2,214. Colorado is in third with 2,082.