NCAA: Grevsgaard, Hartman boost Buffs to lead

A strong overall Nordic performance and two individual wins paced the University of Colorado ski team to the lead Friday at the midway point of the New Mexico Invitational at Taos, N.M.

A strong overall Nordic performance and two individual wins paced the University of Colorado ski team to the lead Friday at the midway point of the New Mexico Invitational at Taos, N.M.
    Colorado scored more than 80 points in three of the four disciplines on the first day of the event and totaled 304.5 points by day’s end, good for a 12.5-point lead over Denver (291); host New Mexico is in a distant third with 248 points.
    CU senior Maria Grevsgaard won her seventh consecutive race this winter, claiming the 5-kilometer classical by more than 38 seconds with a winning time of 17 minuutes, 33.1 seconds; New Mexico’s Polina Ermoshina was the runner-up in 18:11.6.
    The Buffaloes had five finishers in the top nine and all six in the top 12 to easily win the race with 82 points, with New Mexico second with 64.
    DU’s Annelise Bailly, who has four podiums in six races this year and has been the closest challenger to Grevsgaard, did not race due to illness.
    “Annelise woke up feeling ill, and I would not let her race,” DU nordic head coach David Stewart said. “With such a short season and the NCAA Championships on the horizon, I did not want to risk prolonging a cold by having her race.”
    Denver won the men’s 10 km race with 84 points, with CU second at 81. DU’s John Stene won in 31:13.5, topping Colorado’s Kit Richmond (31:14.4) by less than a second in the interval start format (skiers took off 30 seconds apart). Havard Selseng of DU finished third. After missing last week’s races due to illness, multiple NCAA champion Rene Reisshauer of DU bounced back with a seventh-place finish.
    “Overall today was our best performance of the year,” Stewart said. “That's great, but what is really exciting is that everyone knows they can do better. Stene had his first win but was not satisfied because he knows he can reach another gear.”
    CU skier and U.S. Ski Teamer Matt Gelso skied for the first time in three weeks, as he recovered from a bout with serious illness; he was under coaches’ orders to ski relaxed just to start to get back into race condition, yet still finished 14th in 32:28.4.
    “I don’t want Maria to feel like she has to perform every weekend and win every race,” CU Nordic coordinator Bruce Cranmer said. “It’s not important for her to keep a streak alive forever.  We’d rather see her lose a race if it means winning at NCAA’s. She’s handled all this well because she’s having fun.  She just puts on her number (bib) and just goes.”

Buffs frosh Hartman wins GS
CU freshman Katie Hartman won her first collegiate race, taking the GS with a two-run time of 1:49.64, using the second fastest second run (55.00) to edge teammate Lucie Zikova, who had the runner-up first-run time (53.80) in the morning; she was clocked in 1:49.69 for both.  Junior Lisa Perricone tied for fourth in 1:49.98 as the CU women won the team race with 85.5 points to 77 for Denver.
    In the men’s giant slalom, Nevada’s Shane Collins won a tight one over Denver’s John Buchar.  Collins used the fastest morning run (54.90) on his way to the win in 1:52.63, while Buchar cut all but .06 of a .28 deficit heading into the second run in finishing in 1:52.69.  
    The meet concludes Saturday with the freestyle cross-country races and the slalom races in alpine. This is the final competition ahead of the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association championships, which doubles as the NCAA West Regional. It is scheduled for Feb. 22-23 in Bozeman, Mont.

Wetern State Invitational concluded with Utah on top
Last weekend’s Western State Invitational was to be concluded here on Thursday with a makeup in the men’s giant slalom race, which was postponed from last Friday due to poor visibility. The GS was in fact run Thursday, but the coaches did not decide on how to score the WSC meet until Friday morning, and then cited NCAA Rule 2.4, “Alpine Discontinuance.”          Because the men’s giant slalom was not completed by the provisional discontinuance date of Feb. 3 (one day after the original end date of the WSC competition), the team scoring reverts to a doubling of the completed discipline, i.e., men's slalom. The giant slalom was still completed as the results are used for NCAA qualification points.
    Colorado led the WSC meet by four points through seven events, but had a poor men’s slalom; when points for that event were doubled, Utah was the big winner and finished with 585 points, with Denver second (569.5) and the Buffaloes third (560.5).        
    Denver’s Buchar won the men’s GS race Thursday.

 
New Mexico Invitational Team Scores—1. Colorado 304.5;  2. Denver 291;  3. New Mexico 248;  4. Alaska-Anchorage 226.5;  5. Nevada 224;  6. Utah 201;  7. Montana State 158;  8. Whitman 83;  9. Western State 80;  10. Wyoming 22.

Women’s 5K Classical—1. Maria Grevsgaard, CU, 17:33.1;  2. Polina Ermoshina, UNM, 18:11.6;  3. Antje Maempel, DU, 18:19.6;  4. Kristin Ronnestrand, CU, 18:28.1;  5. Sarah MacCarthy, Utah, 18:46.5;  6. Jenny Hamilton, CU, 18:46.7;  7. Chelsea Holmes, UN, 18:51.1;  8. Lenka Palanova, CU, 18:57.3;  9. Karoline Borgnes, CU, 19:05.1;  10. Kaelin Kiesel, MSU, 19:06.5.

Men’s 10K Classical —1. John Stene, DU, 31:13.5;  2. Kit Richmond, CU, 31:14.4;  3. Havaard Selseng, DU, 31:20.8;  4. Jesper Ostensen, CU, 31:28.4;  5. Mike Hinckley, DU, 31:37.9;  6. Karl Nygren, CU, 31:39.1;  7. Rene Reisshauer, DU, 31:41.8;  8. Raphael Wunderle, UAA, 31:54.7;  9. Simon Reissmann, UNM, 31:57.8;  10. Andy Liebner, UAA, 32:02.0.

 
Women’s Giant Slalom—1. Katie Hartman, CU, 1:49.64;  2. Lucie Zikova, CU, 1:49.69;  3. Jenny Tank, DU, 1:49.76;  4. Lisa Perricone, CU, 1:49.98 and Malin Hemmingsson, UNM, 1:49.98;  6. Molly Ryan, DU, 1:50.12;  7. Rachel Roosevelt, CU, 1:50.28;  8. Lindsay McClure, DU, 1:50.32;  9. Karine Falck Pedersen, DU, 1:50.34; 10. Lauren Eder, DU, 1:50.46.

 
Men’s Giant Slalom—1. Shane Collins, UN, 1:52.63;  2. John Buchar, DU, 1:52.69;  3. Jonathan Hverven, UAA, 1:53.30;  4. Tor Fodnesberge, UNM, 1:53.30;  5. Cameron Barnes, UN, 1:53.55;  6. Scott Veenis, Utah, 1:53.57;  7. Francesco Ghedina, DU, 1:54.10;  8. Christoffer Norell, UNM, 1:54.13;  9. Thomas Schwab, UNM, 1:54.17;  10. Stefan Hughes, CU 1:54.30.

 
Western State Invitational Team Scores—1. Utah 585;  2. Denver 569.5;  3. Colorado 560.5;  4. New Mexico 405;  5. Montana State 394;  6. Alaska-Anchorage 389;  7. Nevada 381;  8. Whitman 188;  9. Western State 175;  10. Wyoming 38.

 
Men’s Giant Slalom—1. John Buchar, DU, 1:58.11;  2. Cameron Barnes, UN, 1:58.47;  3. Francesco Ghedina, DU, 1:58.89;  4. Tor Fodnesberge, UNM, 1:59.25;  5. Thomas Schwab, UNM, 1:59.69;  6. Seppi Stiegler, DU, 1:59.76;  7. Shane Collins, UN, 1:59.78;  8. Chri
stoffer Norell, UNM, 1:59.81;  9. Hermann Lager, Utah, 1:59.84;  10. Tague Thorson, Utah, 2:00.21.