Denver’s Haugen claims third NCAA GS title as Utah’s Bjertness wins his first

Montana State University holds a slim lead over the University of Denver and the University of Utah at the completion of the first day of competition, the giant slalom races, at the NCAA Skiing Championships in Steamboat, Colo.  The Montana State Bobcats placed two skiers in the top five in both the men’s and women’s races, propelling them to a total of 148 points and a 10-point lead over second place Denver.

Endre Bjertness, a sophomore at Utah, collected his third GS victory of the season in the men’s championship race, finishing a slim 0.08 seconds ahead of David Neuhauser of Montana. From bib 32, Neuhauser posted the fastest second-run time to move from sixth place into second. Denver’s Erik Read rounded out the podium in third, as the University of Vermont’s Dom Garand and MSU’s Morten Bakke also finished in the top five.

In the women’s race, Denver’s Kristine Haugen won both runs to pick up her fourth individual NCAA Championship title (her third in GS) finishing 0.59 seconds ahead of Montana State’s Benedicte Lyche. Tonje Trulsrud of the University of Colorado completed the all-Norwegian women’s podium sweep while headlining an underwhelming Buffaloes performance. 

Colorado, the event’s host, was considered by many to be a serious threat to win the national championship, yet they finished the first day in fifth place, 58 points behind Montana State. Dartmouth cracked the top five, finishing the day in fourth place, just ahead of the University of Colorado.

On a day where the weather seemed to cause problems for many skiers, Montana State, Denver, and Utah outlasted the rest of the competition. Women’s giant slalom individual champion, Kristine Haugen, noted the challenge of winning the team title which requires consistent performances across all events.

“I think we are still in a good position, but a lot of our guys didn’t finish as well as they could have,” Haugen said. 

The East was represented in the women’s top five only by Dartmouth’s Foreste Peterson who finished 0.04 seconds behind Montana State’s Stephanie Gartner. Denver’s Monica Huebner, who was in seventh place after the first run, struggled during a lower-visibility second run. 

“The hill itself isn’t so tough, but the weather caused some problems – problems for a lot of teams,” noted Haugen.

The focus now shifts to the opening Nordic race on Thursday with a 5k/10k freestyle (interval start) at the NCAA Skiing Championship.

See full individual results and team scoring from the giant slalom races here.