New Mexico wins home Invitational

By Published On: February 9th, 2014Comments Off on New Mexico wins home Invitational
Joonas Rasanen on his way to RMISA victory (Jeff Shiffrin)

Joonas Rasanen on his way to RMISA victory (Jeff Shiffrin)

RED RIVER, N.M. – The University of New Mexico earned one race victory, three podium appearances and six top-five finishes en route to capturing its own Invitational Saturday (Feb. 8) at Red River Ski Area and Enchanted Forest Cross Country Ski Area.

“I’m very proud of the team,” said head coach Fredrik Landstedt. “They showed strong today and they wanted to win the home meet and prove to everyone else, and themselves, they can be contenders at the NCAAs.”

Joonas Rasanen won the men’s slalom race, while Karoline Myklebust was third and Mateja Robnik fourth in the women’s slalom race. Mats Resaland was fourth in the men’s 10K freestyle while Anni Nord finished third and Eva Severrus fourth in the women’s 10K freestyle race.

“For Joonas that was awesome to be able to show something like that in the college races,” said Landstedt.  “Joonas is a guy we are looking at to go to the NCAAs and be a contender again.”

The Lobos racked up 655 points as Colorado finished second with 588.5 points. Those two, plus Denver (574.5) and Utah (550) were all within 30 points entering the second half of the meet, but the standings remained the same. Alaska Anchorage finished fifth with 431 points and Montana State was sixth with 374.

Rasanen won his first collegiate slalom race since capturing the NCAA title last March with his two-run time of 1:33.70, about three-tenths of a second ahead of Utah’s Mark Engel, who edged out Westminster’s Nikolai Narvestad by just one-hundredth of a second. Westminster’s Tim Lindgren and Colorado’s Fletcher McDonald rounded out the top five.

The Lobos won the race with 90 points while Westminster (83), Colorado (74.5) and Utah (72) all hit the 70-point plateau.

In women’s action, Denver’s Kristine Haugen also won her first collegiate slalom race since last year’s NCAA Championships where she, like Rasanen, captured the individual title. Haugen’s time of 1:33.19 edged out Westminster’s Tonje Sekse (1:33.28) by about a tenth of a second. Myklebust (1:33.67) and Robnik (1:34.39) were joined by Colorado’s Brooke Wales (1:35.02) in the top five.

The Lobos again won the race with 87 points, edging out Denver’s total of 83.

On the cross-country trails, Alaska Anchorage’s Marine Dusser won the women’s 10K freestyle race in a time of 34:56.2. It’s Dusser’s third race victory of the season, her second in the freestyle discipline. Denver’s Sylvia Nordskar finished second, her seventh finish of first or second in seven races this season. Nord edged out teammate Severrus, who had been making podium appearances a regularity, by 13.3 seconds. Colorado’s Camilla Brautaset rounded out the top five.

The Lobos also won the women’s Nordic race with 82 points while Denver was second with 76.

Colorado’s Rune Oedegaard and Mads Stroem finished 1-2 in the men’s 10K freestyle race, enabling the Buffs to hang onto second place. Oedegaard won his second race of the season while he and Stroem have finished 1-2 in the last two freestyle races, albeit in a different order last time. Alaska Anchorage’s Lukas Ebner was third and Resaland finished fourth, edging out Denver’s Moritz Madlener to round out the top 5.

The Buffs won the race with 94 points, 13 more than the Lobos total of 81.

The regular season is now complete. Next up will be the 2014 RMISA Championships, which double as the NCAA Western Regional. Alpine events will take place at Beaver Creek and Nordic events at Maloit Park with the University of Denver hosting on Feb. 21-22.

Release courtesy of RMISA

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