NCAA: DU tops CU at New Mexico invite

The University of Denver ski teams picked up Saturday where they left off Friday at the University of New Mexico Invitational, finishing with 592.5 points, 107.5 ahead of second-place Colorado.

TAOS, New Mexico — The University of Denver ski teams picked up Saturday where they left off Friday at the University of New Mexico Invitational, finishing with 592.5 points, 107.5 ahead of second-place Colorado.
            The winning margin was the largest in a Western invitational since the sport went coed in 1983 and the largest overall since Utah won the 2003 NCAA Championship by 131 points.
            Adam Cole finished second in the slalom, just ahead of John Buchar in fourth and Francesco Ghedina in seventh, as the DU men’s alpine team won its second event of the weekend with 80 points, two ahead of New Mexico.
            On the women’s side, Claire Abbe was fourth, Molly Ryan sixth. Lindsay McClure 11th and Jenny Tank 12th. The team finished third with 72 points, behind New Mexico (75) and Colorado (73).
            John Stene was fifth in the men’s 10-kilometer freestyle, while Rene Reisshauer was ninth and Harald Loevenskiold finished 12th, just ahead of Mike Hinckley in 15th. DU was third in the race with 67 points behind Alaska-Anchorage (79) and Nevada (69).
            Annelise Bailly finished third in the women’s 5 km freestyle, followed by Courtney Dauwalter in ninth and Kara LaPoint in 14th, helping the Pioneers finish second with 67 points in the freestyle, just two points behind winner Nevada.
            DU’s 592.5 total points are the fifth most since the current scoring format was adopted in 2000:

Colorado                618          2003        CU Invitational
Denver                   603          2002        MSU Invitational
Colorado                597.5       2006        Western State Invitational
Denver                   597          2004        Nevada Invitational
Denver                   592.5      2007         New Mexico Invitational
Colorado                592          2006        CU Invitational
New Mexico          590          2004         New Mexico Invitational
Denver                   583                          (on three occasions)

    Colorado junior Maria Grevsgaard won for the second straight day and three other Buffaloes posted top-three finishes, but it wasn’t enough.
    “This was our midterm break, or so it seems from looking at the scores,” head coach Richard Rokos mused. “Seriously, perhaps things caught up with us, the long trips, missed school, sickness added up to some fatigue. DU was close to or at full strength, but they also skied very well. They had a big lead after the first day and did not let up, which is the sign of a good team. So we’ll take the next couple weeks to recuperate before regionals and come back with better immune systems and more strength.” 
    In the men’s 10 km freestyle, freshman Matt Gelso took runner-up honors, as he completed two times around the course in a 27:43.7 clocking, trailing Alaska’s Paul Schauer, who won convincingly in 27:27.8.  Gelso easily is the star freshman in either discipline in Western skiing this winter, as the Truckee, Calif., product has seven top three finishes in eight races, including one win.
    In the men’s slalom, CU freshman Drew Roberts finished third, his best result since he opened the season with a slalom victory in the MSU meet. His two-run time of 1:42.31 trailed New Mexico’s Tor Fodnesbergene, who posted a 1:41.23 effort that eked out the win over Denver’s Cole by three one-hundredths of a second.
    In the women’s slalom, despite skiing with a respiratory illness, junior Lucie Zikova managed a third-place finish in 1:44.60. Lobo skiers swept the event on their home hill, as Malin Hemmingsson won in 1:44.02, with Alaska’s Stefanie Klocker second in 1:44.33.
    The teams have a week off before heading to the NCAA Western Regionals in Sugar Bowl, Calif., and Auburn, Calif., on Feb. 23-24.

New Mexico Invitational results

New Mexico Invitational Team Scores—1. Denver 592.5;  2. Colorado 485;  3. New Mexico 480;  4. Utah 439;  5. Alaska-Anchorage 395;  6. Montana State 394;  7. Nevada 387;  8. Western State 285;  9. Whitman 186.5.

Men’s Slalom—1. Tor Fodnesbergene, UNM, 1:41.23;  2. Adam Cole, DU, 1:41.26;  3. Drew Roberts, CU, 1:42.31;  4. John Buchar, DU, 1:42.50;  5. Scott Hume, UN, 1:42.57;  6. Lars Loeseth, UNM, 1:42.62;  7. Francesco Ghedina, DU, 1:42.70;  8. Jon Masdal, UNM, 1:43.09;  9. Kyle Kung, Utah, 1:43.43;  10. Scott Veenis, Utah, 1:43.57.  Other CU Skiers: 13. Josh Bryan, 1:43.84;  15. Miles Cooke, 1:44.23;  24. Stefan Hughes, 1:48.95.  Did Not Finish: Arman Serebrakian (second run), Tony Cesolini (first run). 

Women’s Slalom—1. Malin Hemmingsson, UNM, 1:44.02;  2. Stefanie Klocker, UAA, 1:44.33;  3. Lucie Zikova, CU, 1:44.60;  4. Claire Abbe, DU, 1:45.84;  5. Sarah Schaedler, WSC, 1:46.34;  6. Molly Ryan, DU, 1:46.48;  7. Rachel Roosevelt, CU, 1:46.70;  8. Karin Ohlin, UNM, 1:47.32;  9. Amy Beresford, UNM, 1:47.37;  10. Heidi Hillenbrand, CU, 1:47.76.  Other CU Skiers: 23. Kristin Taylor, 1:52.00;  27. Leslie Fox, 1:54.69;  28. Lisa Perricone, 1:55.19.    

Women’s 5K Freestyle—1. Maria
Grevsgaard, CU, 15:06.2;  2. Jamie Woelk, MSU, 15:23.6;  3. Annelise Bailly, DU, 15:33.1;  4. Paige Brady, UN, 15:38.6;  5. Chelsea Holmes, UN, 15:39.7;  6. Clarie Rennie, MSU, 15:42.8;  7. Mandy Bowden, MSU, 15:49.0;  8. Devon Spika, Whit., 16:00.9;  9. Courtney Dauwalter, DU, 16:08.2;  10. Sarah MacCarthy, Utah, 16:09.9.  Other CU Results: 20. Mia Gaw, 16:50.1;  32. Megan Wilder, 20:00.5.  

Men’s 10K Freestyle—1. Paul Schauer, UAA, 27:27.8;  2. Matt Gelso, CU, 27:43.7;  3. Raphael Wunderle, UAA, 27:44.5;  4. Even Sletten, Utah, 27:46.8;  5. John Stene, DU, 27:56.2;  6. Matt DeCarufel, UN, 27:59.9;  7. Lutz Preussler, UN, 28:05.1;  8. Patrick Neel, WSC, 28:07.2;  9. Rene Reisshauer, DU, 28:12.7;  10. Darrin Markvardsen, UAA, 28:21.7.  Other CU Results: 18. Josh Smith, 29:11.9;  19. Garrett Reid, 29:12.2;  23. Karl Nygren, 29:43.1.