DU back on top with refreshed roster, but Utah pulls ahead in overall standings

By Published On: February 10th, 2021Comments Off on DU back on top with refreshed roster, but Utah pulls ahead in overall standings

The NCAA circuit resumed in Utah for back-to-back RMISA Invitationals hosted by Westminster and University of Utah on Monday and Tuesday. Following a pair of slaloms at Snowbird, the University of Utah extended its lead in the overall going into the final RMISA races of the season, while a refreshed roster at the University of Denver (DU) provided the school its first team win of the season. 

Snowbird greeted seven collegiate teams over two days for double slalom races in tough snow conditions. The women kicked off the series with back-to-back races on Monday with University of Denver’s (DU) Amelia Smart taking home both wins. 

Denver had a slow start to the season after the opening DU and University of Colorado (CU) Invitationals last month, with only a fraction of their team racing, including one female Pioneer, Reece Bell. With the University offering online classes to all students this year, a majority of DU’s team took advantage of training and racing opportunities with their national teams in Europe, including U.S. World Championship Team member Katie Hensien. 

DU alpine head coach Andy LeRoy is excited for the many student athletes who have been excelling at the World Cup level this year, although leaving him with a condensed roster on the NCAA circuit. In these races, however, three DU women made their season debut, including former U.S. Ski Team member Galena Wardle, who is bouncing back from a knee injury, and four-time All-American and Canadian World Cup skier Smart, who captured two wins in the Monday slaloms. 

“It was nice to have Amelia back and obviously skiing as well as she is, it’s uplifting and exciting,” said LeRoy. “She knocked out some World Cups and came back at the end of January and trained with us the last couple of weeks. It’s awesome to see her as excited about the World Cup and World Championships as she is to be a Pioneer and score the points for our team.”

Smart recently came back to compete for DU after top-20 World Cup finishes. She was fast the entire day, setting the stage for success in both first runs and maintaining the lead in front of Utah’s Katie Vesterstein, who finished second place just behind Smart in each race, her best career finishes. Vesterstein took ample time between the team’s last race on Jan. 13 to train before the Snowbird races and was just edged out by Smart in the second slalom race of the day, missing first by 0.02 seconds. 

“You could see how she was showing up ready to go today,” said Utah head alpine coach JJ Johnson. “She told me after the second race, she honestly didn’t remember everything on the run, and I said perfect because you got in the zone where stuff is automatic. That was the most power I’ve seen her ski within the past couple of years.”

Both Utah and DU had additional skiers round out the top 15. Smart will remain with DU for the Park City double GS races on Thursday before jumping on a plane back to compete in the World Championships in Italy with team Canada before rejoining DU for the NCAA Championships in New Hampshire. Meanwhile, Montana State University (MSU) sophomore Tegan Wold rounded out the podium with a pair of third-place finishes, landing on the podium three times this season. 

CU also welcomed back two athletes to the collegiate scene, including junior Stef Fleckenstein who had a pair of top-seven finishes to lead the Buff’s women’s alpine team into third place following the Snowbird slaloms. Like Smart, this is Fleckenstein’s first college race in 2021 alongside her teammate Cassidy Gray, making a top 10 finish in her debut. Although one of the top slalom skiers in the nation last year, Fleckenstein missed the first two races of the season due to injury. 

Westminster’s top finisher Julia Toiviainen finished fifth and sixth in the two races after finishing first in three of the four previous races. She recorded some of the fastest runs of the day at Snowbird, including the opening run of the first race, but was not able to hold it together in her second run, slipping to fifth. The University of Utah led the way into the men’s slaloms on Tuesday, six points ahead of Denver with 171, followed by DU, CU, and MSU. 

Men’s races Tuesday

The men had what some consider a particularly frustrating day that was largely determined by start position rather than athletic ability and strength, according to reports. Soft snow formed deep ruts, knee deep in spots, giving the men who started in the top 10 a noticeable advantage in better snow conditions. 

Courtesy of the University of Utah.

The Utah men came charging into Tuesday’s races after a strong first day of races from the women. In snowy conditions that broke through leaving ruts throughout the day, Ute skiers Bjorn Brudevoll and Wilhelm Normannseth took advantage of their month of training in soft conditions and finished 1-2 in both races.

“Because of the long break, it almost felt like the first races of the season again,” Brudevoll said. “We have had a lot of good training days during the break and several of those were on pretty soft conditions. Seeing that both races were kind of rough condition-wise, I think the last couple of weeks with training in similar conditions really paid off.”

Brudevoll and Normannseth, both freshmen from Norway, battled it out for the top spot, each capturing the fastest runs throughout the day. Brudevoll picked up the second and third victories of his career, less than a month after his first-career victory at the CU invitational this year. Normannseth’s runner-up finishes were a new career best of him, after finishing third last month. 

Courtesy of the University of Colorado.

In each race, directly behind the two Utes (My Cousin Vinny reference not intended) was CU’s Filip Forejtek and Westminster’s Francesco Gori. Junior Forejtek came in third in the first race before switching spots in the afternoon with Gori, who reached the podium for the second time in his career. Forejtek made the most of being in the top seven starting position among challenging conditions and earned his fourth podium of the season. Forejtek’s teammate Louis Fausa finished ninth to help take CU to third in the standings.  

Gori led a group of Westminster men into the top 10, including top athlete Mikkel Solbakken in fifth. The DU Pioneers picked up additional points after Smart’s win, Simon Fournier leading the way in his debut year finishing both races in 13th. MSU’s junior Mühlen-Schulte from South Yarra, Australia, led his team with a 10th-place finish, now recording five top-10 finishes. 

The alpine teams will remain in Utah to wrap up their regular RMISA season Thursday and Friday. The women will race two GS at Park City for the Utah Invitational on Feb 11, followed by the men on feb 12.

Share This Article

About the Author: Karina Schwartznau

Born and raised in Bonney Lake, Washington, Karina grew up ski racing for Crystal Mountain and PNSA. She competed for 14 years across the world until settling in Salt Lake City, where she attended the University of Utah and achieved degrees in Marketing and Entrepreneurship. She currently resides in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.