Montana State University leads standings in Seawolf Invitational

Montana State University (MSU) won the alpine skiing portion of the Seawolf Invitational, the first of two RMISA series to be held in Alaska this season. The weather cooperated for Wednesday’s giant slalom, but the slalom, which was originally scheduled for Thursday, had to be postponed due to inclement weather, pushing the Seawolf Invitational slalom to Friday.

MSU’s men were able to power their team into an overall lead on day one with a staggering 170 points, 23 points ahead of next best team, University of Utah. The Bobcats were able to hold on to that lead on Friday; in the slalom, the men and women placed second and third, respectively, totaling 333 points. The University of Utah came in second with 311, followed by the University of Denver, with 283 points.

Bobcats Addison Dvoracek and Morten Unger Bakke took both top spots on the men’s giant slalom podium, followed by the University of New Mexico’s Vegard Busengdal. All three skiers were within a tenth of a second of each other. Dvoracek finished with a time of 1:46:99, just 0.02 seconds ahead of his teammate Bakke and 0.07 seconds in front of Busengdal. MSU’s Garret Driller fought to sixth place after finishing 12th in the first run, making sure he pulled his own weight and brought in valuable points.

In the women’s race, all three podium finishers improved upon personal records. Utah’s Roni Remme won the race with a time of 1:46:64, earning her first giant slalom win on the university circuit. DU’s Tuva Norbye finished in second, her best GS result on the circuit, and Charley Field from the University of Alaska – Anchorage finished third, marking her first time on the podium. They finished 0.87 and 1.17 seconds behind Remme, respectively.

Unlike the giant slalom podiums, the slalom races brought familiar faces to the top of the results sheet. DU’s Andrea Komsic took first with a time of 1:42:76. Utah’s Julie Flo Mohagen finished 1.17 seconds behind her while CU Buff Nora Grieg Christensen took third, 1.86 seconds off the pace.

“The way she skied, by me, she was super,” CU Boulder head coach Richard Rokos said of Christensen’s run.

Driller got the best of CU’s David Ketterer on Friday. The two skiers have repeatedly been featured on RMISA slalom podiums. Driller took the first run by 0.66 seconds, and he held onto the lead even with an 18th-place finish in the second run, earning a combined time of 1:39.27. Ketterer finished 0.83 seconds behind in second place. The German came directly from Austria where he made his World Cup debut and competed for Germany.

“I was a little tired today. I woke up at three (a.m.) because I had a little jet lag,” Ketterer said. “The legs were a pretty heavy in the first race, but it got better over the day, so I was pretty happy to score effectively in the first with that trip on the legs.”

In third place, making his podium debut, was the University of Utah’s Endre Bjertness, 1.33 seconds back. 

Racing continued on Friday afternoon with a second slalom race, kicking off the UAA Invitational. That series finishes Saturday with the giant slalom. The nordic portions of the Seawolf and UAA Invitationals take place from Feb. 7-12. 

Complete results for the both series can be found here.