January 25, 2012 – The western collegiate RMSIA series kicked off in Steamboat Springs at the Hawelsen Hill Nordic Center with the Colorado Spencer Nelson Memorial Invitational on Jan. 13-14 and then moved on to Tabernash, Colo. at Devil’s Thumb Ranch for the Denver Invitational competitions Jan. 20-21. Here’s a wrap up as Utah is out front with the next event in Alaska.

Rune Oedegaard (CU) swept the men’s Nordic races on Day 2 at the Denver Invitational © RMISA

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. – The University of Utah extended its lead over the host Colorado Buffaloes to 64 points after the start of the Nordic season Friday here with the freestyle races at the Hawelsen Hill Nordic Center as part of the University of Colorado Spencer Nelson Memorial Invitational.

Utah earned the top two spots and three in the top five to score 136 points in the men’s 10K freestyle race and after the Buffaloes countered by winning the women’s race, although not by as big of a margin, the Utes look in good shape to win the event with one day remaining.

Utah has scored 702 points to the Buffaloes 638, who then hold an 80 point advantage over third place Denver (558). There the scoreboard tightens up, as the Pioneers hold just 10 points over fourth place New Mexico (548) with Alaska Anchorage just another 22 points back with 526. Sixth place Montana State was nearly as impressive as the Utes Friday and scored a combined 224 points to stand at an even 500.

In two drastically different set of results, in the women’s race six of the seven Nordic teams each put a skier in the top six, whereas in the men’s race, Utah and Montana State each put three racers in the top six.

Utah’s Didrik Smith won the men’s interval start race in a time of 24:40.1. His teammate, Miles Havlick, finished just over a second back at 24:41.4. Montana State then took spots 3-4 with Michael Schallinger earning the final podium spot in a time of 24:51.9 while teammate Tyler Reinking was a few seconds back at 24:59.1 Utah’s Tom Smith rounded out the top five in a time of 25:13.5 while the Bobcats’ David Norris was his squad’s third finisher in a time of 25:48.8.

Utah scored 136 points, just six away from a perfect score, while Montana State put up an impressive 122 points. The Buffaloes were third in the race some 32 points back at 90.

Colorado’s Joanne Reid won the women’s race by almost 10 seconds and was the only skier under the 15 minute mark, as she finished the 5K race in a time of 14:52.5. Alaska Anchorage’s Jaime Brogna took second in a time of 15:01.9 with New Mexico’s Linn Klaesson also hitting the podium with a time of 15:05.4. Montana State’s Jessica Yeaton finished fourth in a time of 15:17.7 with Utah’s Rose Kemp in fifth (15:21.4) and Denver’s Kate Dolan (15:32.9) taking sixth, giving each of the six NCAA teams in the RMISA one finisher in the top six.

The Buffaloes won the race by a narrow margin, earning 108 points to edge out both Alaska Anchorage and Montana State, who also hit triple figures at 102 points.

The CU Invitational concludes Saturday with the 10K women’s and 15K men’s classical races at Hawelsen Hill. Meanwhile in alpine action, the Denver Invitational gets underway with the giant slalom races at Winter Park.

Results HERE. 

Utah Wins CU Invitational; Takes Lead At DU Invitational
Saturday, January 14, 2012

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS & WINTER PARK, Colo. – The University of Utah had a great all-around day, doing enough in Nordic action at Steamboat Springs to hang on to win the University of Colorado/Spencer Nelson Memorial Invitational, and then throwing yet another great alpine day in the books to lead the Denver Invitational at the conclusion of the giant slalom events.

The host Buffaloes put pressure on Utah in an attempted comeback, but it fell short although CU chipped 40 points off the lead Utah possessed through six events. Utah finished with 896 points to the Buffs total of 872. Alaska Anchorage surged to third with 741 points, followed by Denver with 732 points. Montana State edged out New Mexico by a point (707-706) for fifth place and then associate RMISA members Westminster College (293), Wyoming (183) and Colorado Mountain College (87) round out the standings.

The CU men won the 15K classical race, racking up 122 points off the strength of a 3-4-6 finish. In the women’s 10K classical race, the Buffaloes scored 112 points, second to Alaska Anchorage’s amazing performance of 130 points which included a 1-2 finish. Utah had a solid performance on the men’s side with 105 points, good for third behind CU and Montana State, and then finished fifth in the men’s race, although just four points out of third in a cluster in the middle of the pack.

Indeed, the story of the day on the CU Invitational front was that of Alaska Anchorage and Montana State. The Seawolves surged into third place to finish ahead of Denver by nine points while Montana State finished out a strong Nordic performance that allowed the Bobcats to edge out New Mexico for fifth place. Montana State racked up 431 points on the Nordic side, just one point behind leader and host Colorado (432).

Jamie Brogna won the women’s race in a time of 31:53.0 with teammate Laura Rombach taking second in 32:22.4. CU then finished 3-4 with Joanne Reid (32:35.1) and Eliska Hajkova (32:42.2) followed by Utah’s Rose Kemp, who rounded out the top five in a time of 32:45.5.

Montana State’s David Norris won the men’s race in a time of 40:14.6, who edged out Utah’s Miles Havlick in a sprint at the end by just four-tenths of a second (40:15.0). Like the women’s race, CU finished 3-4 with Rune Oedegaard taking third in 40:32.8 and Vegard Kjoelhamar four seconds back at 40:36.8. Montana State’s Tyler Reinking rounded out the top five in a time of 40:43.2.

Meanwhile while the Nordic teams wrapped up the CU Invitational, the alpine teams got the next meet, the Denver Invitational, underway at Winter Park with giant slalom races. Utah won both races, racking up an impressive 133 points in the women’s race and 107 in the men’s race.

With 240 points, Utah leads Colorado by 21, which finished second in both races and has 219 points. Alaska Anchorage is third with 192 points while the host Pioneers are fourth with 184 points.

Much like the team standings, the Utes won both races with the Buffaloes finishing as a runner up in both races. In the women’s race, Tii-Maria Romar won in a time of 1:58.91 while Shane McLean was the only other skier under two minutes with 1:59.60. Utah and Colorado then continued the see-saw standings as the Utes Jamie DuPratt took third (2:00.73) with CU’s Erika Ghent fourth (2:00.89) and Utah’s Julie Bordeau rounded out the top five with a time of 2:01.01.

On the men’s side, Utah’s Nick Cohee won the race in a time of 1:56.01 with Colorado’s Adam Zika taking second (1:56.31). New Mexico’s Armin Triendl also hit the podium in a time of 1:56.56 while Westminster College’s Petter Brenna taking fourth (1:56.91), edging out Denver’s Espen Lysdahl, just three-hundredths back at 1:56.94. All five skiers were within a second.

Next up for the Denver Invitational will be the slalom races on Sunday at Winter Park with action beginning at 9:30 a.m. MT. The DU meet will conclude next week at Devil’s Thumb Ranch in Tabernash, Colo., with Nordic action.

Results HERE.

Utes Extend Lead At Denver Invitational
Friday, January 20, 2012

TABERNASH, Colo. – The University of Utah ski team had three podium finishers in Friday’s classical races to extend its lead here at Devil’s Thumb Ranch through six races in the Denver Invitational. Parker Tyler won the women’s race while Miles Havlick took second and Didrik Smith third in the men’s race to all but ensure the Utes of a second title in as many western meets this season.

With their performances, the Utes extended a 27 point lead over second place Colorado to a 72 point lead with Saturday’s freestyle races closing out the Denver Invitational and the first third of the season.

Through the six events, Utah has compiled 694 points to the Buffaloes 622. Host Denver is in third place with 570 points while Alaska Anchorage and New Mexico are both over the 500-point plateau with 553 and 534, respectively. Montana State sits sixth with 459 points.

The Pioneers opened the day winning the 5K interval start women’s race with 118 points, barely beating out Alaska Anchorage, who compiled 117 while the Utes were right there with 112.

The women’s race individually was much closer than the men’s race. Tyler’s winning time of 21:57.1 was the only sub-22 minute mark but the podium winners were all within 5.8 seconds. DU won the race on the strength of a 2-3 finish by Kate Dolan (22:01.8) and Makayla Cappel (22:02.5). Alaska Anchorage’s second place finish was on the strength of a 4-5-6 finish as Jaime Brogna took fourth in 22:16.2, Steffi Hiemer fifth in 22:18.4 and Laura Rombach sixth in 22:42.6. The top 10 racers were all within a minute.

Unlike the women’s race both in terms of both team scoring and individual times, the men’s race was much more one-sided. The Utes ran away with the race, finishing 2-3-7 to compile 126 points, 11 ahead of second place Colorado, who was paced by Rune Oedegaard, who won the race by 32.8 seconds.

Oedegaard’s winning time of 32:52.7 was about a half-minute ahead of the two Utes in second and third, Miles Havlick (37:26.5) and Didrik Smith (32:29.2). Those two were about 30 seconds ahead of fourth place Lasse Moelgaard (37:52.9) and fifth place Tyler Reinking (37:54.7).

The Nordic teams are back in action here Saturday morning beginning with the men’s 15K freestyle race, set for a mass start at 9 a.m. MT, followed by the 10K women’s race, also a mass start, set for 10:30 a.m.

Results HERE.

Utah Wins Denver Invitational
Saturday, January 21, 2012 – by Curtis Snyder, RMISA

TABERNASH, Colo. – The University of Utah continued its western dominance Saturday by winning the 2012 Denver Invitational here at Devil’s Thumb Ranch, the Utes second win in as many meets this season.

Neither Utah team won its race as the meet concluded with the 10K women’s and 15K men’s freestyle races, both with a mass start, but the men still accumulated 124 points, enabling the team to reach the impressive 900-point plateau for the meet, a feat only accomplished eight times since the scoring system changed three years ago.

Colorado edged out Utah on the men’s side behind Rune Oedegaard’s win, his second straight as he swept the men’s Nordic races. He’s the first skier this season to sweep races in the RMISA, both alpine and Nordic, and the first men’s Nordic skier to sweep races since former Buff Matt Gelso accomplished the feat in the midst of a five-race win streak at the 2010 RMISA Championships.

Oedegaard’s winning time was 48:14.5 and he edged out a pair of Utah skiers by less than five seconds. Didrik Smith was second in 48:18.6 and Miles Havlick third in 48:19.2 Montana State’s Tyler Reinking took fourth in 48:27.8 while the Buffs Vegard Kjoelhamar rounded out the top five in a time of 48:48.0.

CU’s edged out Utah by two points, 126-124, on the strength of finishing 1-5-6 vs. the Utes’ 2-3-8.

In women’s action, Alaska Anchorage’s Jaime Bronga won her second race of the year, out sprinting Colorado’s Eliska Hajkova at the finish to win with a time of 36:59.5 to Hajkova’s 37:05.1. The Seawolves dominated the race, racking up 133 points on the strength of a 1-3-5 finish. Laura Rombach also hit the podium in a time of 37:23.6 while New Mexico’s Clara Chauvet edged out Steffi Hiemer for fourth place.

The Seawolves surged into third place past the host Pioneers on the strength of the women’s race. Utah’s 902 points won the meet by 57 as the Buffaloes remained in second with 845. The Seawolves finished with 770 points, just 18 points ahead of Denver’s total of 752. New Mexico also hit the 700-point plateau with 705.

Next up on the RMISA schedule is a trip to Alaska for a pair of meets. A total of eight races will take place between February 6-11 (Feb. 8-11 for alpine action). The first of each race will be calculated in the Alaska Anchorage Invitational while the second race of each discipline will be the Seawolf Invitational.

The last time the RMISA went to Alaska was in 2009 for a double meet when the Seawolves won one and the Buffaloes the other.

Results HERE.