Denver steamrolls competition at MSU Invitational

Pioneer Kristine Haugen (Denver Athletics)

The University of Denver Pioneers collected four individual wins on the opening day of the Montana State Invitational Saturday (Jan. 12) and then continued to do serious damage to the RMISA circuit on Sunday, winning the meet by the largest margin (180 points) since skiing went coed in 1983. Surprisingly, it was the first Denver team victory since the 2010 NCAA Championships as well as their first regular season meet win since the 2008 New Mexico Invitational.

“Today was a pretty fantastic day for the team, perhaps the top regular season performance in my eight years at Denver,” Denver head nordic coach Dave Stewart said on Saturday. “To take four of the top five spots for the women and three of the top five for the men and come away with the individual win for both men and women, it’s difficult to top that.”

Sophomore Kristine Haugen and freshman Sylvia Nordskar, both of Norway, topped the podium for the Pioneers in the giant slalom and 5km classic, respectively, to kick off Saturday’s victories. Nordskar was followed on the podium by another Denver skier, Silje Dahl Benum, in second. New Mexico’s Eva Severrus broke up the Pioneer domination by finishing third.

“Hearing how the nordics did today and with the results we had yesterday, you really couldn’t do anything else than put the hammer down and give it your best,” Haugen said. “It is great to get a win, and it feels even better when the rest of your team is performing well too in both nordic and alpine. I am so proud to be a part of this ski team and can’t wait to see how the rest of the season goes.”

Colorado’s Brooke Wales finished second in the GS, and she was followed by Utah’s Chloe Margrethe Fausa in third.

The Pioneer men matched the women, with junior Trevor Philp of Canada finishing first in the giant slalom and freshman Moritz Madlener of Germany winning the 10K classic.

“It’s great to be part of such a thriving team,” Philp said. “I’m excited to get the win today, and it’s even more motivating being closely backed by multiple other Pioneers in each race.” 

His nordic counterpart agreed with the positive team spirit of the Pioneers.

“Winning as an individual today was awesome,” Madlener said. “But the great team result today and the spirit here motivate me even more to win more races in the future.”  

New Mexico’s Mats Resaland was second in the 10km classic, and Alaska’s Lukas Ebner finished third.

Pioneer newcomer Sebastian Brigovic picked up his first of two podium results on the weekend with a second-place result in the men’s GS followed by Westminster’s Tim Lindgren in third. Colorado freshman Tanner Mottau was the top Buffalo in sixth.

While Denver had a less glamorous Sunday with regard to victories, Espen Lysdahl still brought home an individual win in the men’s slalom, beating out his teammate Sebastian Brigovic by a quarter-second. That put an end to Trevor Philp’s winning streak of the four alpine races this season leading up to Sunday. Philp still managed to finish fifth behind Colorado’s Fletcher McDonald, who turned in his career-best GS performance on Saturday in eighth and hit the podium for the Buffaloes in the slalom. Westminster’s Tim Lingren finished fourth.

Colorado’s Jessica Honkonen turned out the fastest time in the women’s slalom, besting Haugen by .24 of a second. Westminster’s Tonje Sekse was third.

In Sunday’s freestyle races, Alaska’s Dusser took the women’s win while her teammate Ebner grabbed the victory for the men, demonstrating that the Seawolves have fast leadership at the top.

The 180 point team victory for Denver is the largest on record in the West, topping a 160 point victory for New Mexico over Colorado (961-801) in the 2010 New Mexico Invitational. Under a different (but similar) scoring system, the Pioneers racked up 737 total points at MSU, a number that when adjusted to 977 under the scoring system used during the last four years, also marks an RMISA record over the 961 scored by New Mexico in 2010.

Halfway through the season, Stewart is optimistic about his team’s upcoming competitions.

“This year’s team has been training very well, setting team records in all of our time trials this fall and raising the level of DU skiing,” he said. “When you know what these athletes are capable of, it is very rewarding to see it come together on race day for an exceptional team result.”

RMISA contributed statistics for this story

Team scoring from Montana State Invitational