February 06, 2012 (Anchorage, Alaska) – Following Day 1 on Saturday the University of Colorado held a slim three-point advantage over the University of Utah after the men’s and women’s classical races as part of the UAA Invitational, the first of eight days of races that will encompass two meets.

Colorado and Utah duked it out, with the CU men and Utah women winning races with similar scores, as the CU men racked up 125 points to the Utah women’s total of 124.   The CU women and Utah men’s teams each took third place, again both with similar scores, as CU women scored 106 points and Utah men 104.

Colorado’s total of 231 points is just three ahead of Utah’s 228, while Montana State is in the mix with 208 points.  The host Seawolves are fourth with 187 points, followed by Denver (171) and New Mexico (157).

CU and Utah swept the podium in the women’s race, as CU’s Eliska Hajkova won her fifth career race in a dominating 10.2 second win in a time of 16:34.7.  Utah’s Maria Graefnings was second in 16:44.9 and her teammate Rose Kemp took third in 16:56.4.  Graefnings returns to the RMISA circuit for the first time this season after racing in Sweden attempting to make her home countries national team.

Hajkova and Graefnings picked up where they left off a season ago, as the two finished 1-2 in eight of 12 races last season.  Last season, Graefnings won the first five showdowns between the two before Hajkova surged near the end of the season to win both races at RMISA Championships.  At NCAA Championships, the two split the races, both finishing with an individual NCAA Championship and a second place.

Host Alaska Anchorage’s Jaime Bronga took fourth in a time of 17:06.1 with Montana State’s Ase Carlson rounding out the top five in a time of 17:14.4.  Utah won the race with 124 points, with Alaska Anchorage edging out Colorado for second, 107-106.  Montana State amassed 93 points, while New Mexico scored 82 and Denver 79.

In men’s action, Montana State’s David Norris won his second race of the year in a time of 14:06.3, edging out both CU’s Rune Oedegaard (14:08.0) by just 1.7 seconds and right in the mix was Utah’s Miles Havlick (14:08.8) just 2.5 seconds behind Norris in one of the tightest podiums in recent history.

Norris matches Oedegaard as the two have both won a pair of races on the young season.  Norris also won the 15K Classical race as part of the season opening CU Invitational and Oedegaard swept the races at the Denver Invitational the following weekend. Utah’s Didrik Smith has the other victory.

Colorado’s Reid Pletcher finished fourth in 14:33.4 while Denver’s Andrew Dougherty rounds out the top five in a time of 14:35.0.

Action continues with the freestyle races set for Monday with the women starting the action at 10 a.m. AT and the men following an hour later at 11 a.m.  Between Saturday and next Saturday, Feb. 11, RMISA teams will complete two invitational’s, the UAA Invitational and the Seawolf Invitational.  With two races for each gender in classical and freestyle Nordic action and giant slalom and slalom alpine action, the first of each will be computed to score the UAA Invite and the second the Seawolf Invite.

Day 1 Results (brief)

Men’s 5K Classical (29 collegiate finishers)
1. David Norris, MSU, 14:06.3
2. Rune Oedegaard, CU, 14:08.0
3. Miles Havlick, Utah, 14:08.8
4. Reid Pletcher, CU, 14:33.4
5. Andrew Dougherty, DU, 14:35.0
6. Andreas Hoye, CU, 14:36.9
7. Michael Schallinger, MSU, 14:37.4
8. Lukas Ebner, UAA, 14:37.9
9. Tom Smith, Utah, 14:39.0
10. Sawyer Kesselheim, MSU, 14:41.1.

Women’s 5K Classical (31 collegiate finishers)
1. Eliska Hajkova, CU, 16:34.7
2. Maria Graefnings, Utah, 16:44.9
3. Rose Kemp, Utah, 16:56.4
4. Jaime Bronga, UAA, 17:06.1
5. Ase Carlson, MSU, 17:14.4
6. Linn Klaesson, UNM, 17:15.6
7. Laura Rombach, UAA, 17:17.2
8. Parker Tyler, Utah, 17:29.9
9. Steffi Hiemer, UAA, 17:28.5
10. Kate Dolan, DU, 17:30.4

Full results HERE.

RMSIA Day 2 – University of Utah on Top

The University of Utah won both the men’s 10K and women’s 10K freestyle races here today and surged past the University of Colorado to hold a 22 point lead mid way through the first of two meets held here this week.

Utah’s Maria Graefnings edged out Colorado’s Eliska Hajkova on the women’s side by 6.0 seconds and the Utes Miles Havlick beat Montana State’s David Norris by 7.9 seconds on the men’s side.  The podiums remained the same for both races but Utah’s consistency enabled them to grab the lead in the team standings.

On the women’s side, Graefnings and Hajkova finished 1-2 for the second straight race, the only two in which Graefnings has raced this year, and it’s the 10th time the two have finished 1-2 since the start of last season with Graefnings winning seven and Hajkova three.  The two split individual NCAA Championships a season ago after Hajkova swept the races at the RMISA Championships.  Early last season, Graefnings had won seven of the first eight races of the season overall.

Further showing their dominance, the distance between Hajkova and third place Rose Kemp of Utah was 48.5 seconds, compared to the just 6.0 seconds between the top two.  Alaska Anchorage’s Jaime Bronga took fourth place with New Mexico’s Linn Klaesson rounding out the top five.

On the men’s side, Havlick broke through for his first win of the season after taking home three seconds and a pair of third places in the first five races of the season. It’s his fifth win in the past two seasons.  After Norris, Colorado’s Rune Oedegaard earned another podium appearance about a half-minute off Havlick’s pace, his fifth straight appearance.  Denver’s Andrew Dougherty finished fourth and Utah’s Tom Smith rounded out the top five.

Utah won both races, racking up 122 points on the women’s side and 120 on the men’s.  Colorado took second in the women’s race with 110 points while both Alaska Anchorage (105) and New Mexico (101) hit the century mark.  In men’s action, Montana State took second with 119 points and the Buffaloes also hit triple figures with 107 points.

For the meet, Utah leads with 470 points, 22 more than second place Colorado (448).  Montana State hit the 400-point plateau with 403 and is third place with host Alaska Anchorage sitting in fourth with 369.  Denver is fifth with 346 points and New Mexico rounds out the scoring with 328.

After another off day, the UAA Invite will continue Wednesday as alpine action gets underway with giant slalom races at the Aleyska Ski Resort in Girdwood.  The UAA meet will conclude Friday with slalom races.  Meanwhile the Seawolf Invitational will begin on Thursday as the Nordic teams resume action with freestyle races and giant slalom races on the alpine side will also take place that day.

Day 2 Results (brief)

Men’s 10K Freestyle (28 collegiate finishers)
1. Miles Havlick, Utah, 25:07.3
2. David Norris, MSU, 25:15.2
3. Rune Oedegaard, CU, 25:40.0
4. Andrew Dougherty, DU, 26:04.1
5. Tom Smith, Utah, 26:07.3
6. Tyler Reinking, MSU, 26:07.9
7. Michael Schallinger, MSU, 26:11.4
8. Andreas Hoye, CU, 26:12.5
9. Rolf Figi, Utah, 26:14.3
10. Ian Mallams, CU, 26:18.6.

Women’s 10K Freestyle (39 collegiate finishers)
1. Maria Graefnings, Utah, 29:12.7
2. Eliska Hajkova, CU, 29:18.7
3. Rose Kemp, Utah, 30:07.2
4. Jaime Bronga, UAA, 30:15.6
5. Linn Klaesson, UNM, 30:19.6
6. Joanne Reid, CU, 30:20.3
7. Clara Chauvet, UNM, 30:24.5
8. Steffi Hiemer, UAA, 30:52.5
9. Laura Rombach, UAA, 30:55.3
10. Ase Carlson, MSU, 31:14.8

Full results HERE.