January 6, 2009 (Anchorage, Alaska) – The 2009 collegiate ski season opened here Monday afternoon, with two sophomore newcomers pacing the University of Colorado into second place after two events of the Alaska-Anchorage Invitational. The Nordic teams were first up to begin the new year, and host Alaska-Anchorage raced out to the first day lead with 159 points, followed by the Buffaloes (131), Denver (116) and Montana State (112), with Nevada and Utah tied for fifth (105).

Monday’s freestyle races were within the U.S. National Cross Country Ski Championships, with the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association (RMISA) results pulled from the overall results, which included top skiers from all three NCAA ski regions. Two CU newcomers emerged as the top collegians in both the men’s and women’s competition, Vegard Kjoelhamar in the men’s 10K and Alexa Turzian in the women’s 5K. The races were actually delayed due to cold, as the cutoff level to start a race is four degrees below zero. Two previous days of races were cancelled due to the extreme cold, but the weather relented a bit Monday afternoon and the races proceeded.

Kjoelhamar, a sophomore from Jar, Norway, was fourth overall but claimed the college win in 25:41.9, as the next best finisher was some 32 seconds behind him. He paced four Buffaloes in the top 10, as fellow sophomore Jesper Ostensen claimed third in 26:20.8, with junior Matt Gelso seventh (26:55.3) and sophomore transfer Patrick Neel ninth (27:06.8). Neel transferred to CU from Western State last year and had to redshirt; WSC wound up eliminating skiing as a sport last summer.

Freshman Reid Pletcher had a solid collegiate debut, finishing 14th in 27:33.4; rounding out the CU men’s contingent were seniors Josh Smith (21st, 28:22.0) and Karl Nygren (28th, 29:05.9). Another CU freshman, Ian Mallams, skied individually as he is ticketed to redshirt this winter; he would have placed 32nd in 29:29.5.

Turzian, a transfer from Middlebury, made her western debut in style as she finished seventh overall but as the top collegian, with three of the six skiers ahead of her members of the U.S. National Team. She completed the 5k loop in 15:29.3, some 31 seconds faster than the next collegian, Denver’s Antje Maempel. Senior Maria Grevsgaard was the only one other female Nordic performer here for Colorado, and decided to race while ill, and despite stomach-flu like conditions, still skied to a 12th place finish in 16:36.7. Grevsgaard has 19 career victories, the school’s all-time record, including 11 with two NCAA titles last winter.

“Vegard had a fantastic race, and he even had some problems with his hands and the cold, but we were thrilled with him being the top collegian and fourth overall,” CU Nordic coach Bruce Cranmer said. “He, Jesper and Matt had solid races, not where they wanted to be among the entire field, but these kinds of temperatures really affect everyone and their ability to race differently. But most everyone here struggled in some manner. But 1-3-7 and five in the top 14 among western colleges was a solid performance.”

“Alexa also had a good, solid performance,” Cranmer added. “Maria was sick, with something similar to stomach flu, and she’s been weak. But even if she was super healthy, it would have been hard because of the temperatures here. She originally wasn’t going to race but decided to anyway and almost had a top 10 finish.”

“We’re not at our best right now, but you don’t really want to be. You want to build momentum and get stronger as the season progresses, so I feel this is a good start for us.”

The Nordic portion of the Alaska-Anchorage Invitational will conclude Tuesday beginning at Noon with the classical races, the same distances as run Monday in the freestyle events. The alpine races will be held Friday (men’s giant slalom and women’s slalom) and Sunday (women’s GS and men’s slalom). In-between, the Seawolf Invitational will begin, with alpine events on Thursday and Saturday and Nordic races on Saturday and Sunday; the Seawolf meet replaces the Western State Invitational, which was cancelled from the schedule when the school dropped skiing last summer.

UAA Invitational Team Scores
1. Alaska-Anchorage 159
2. Colorado 131
3. Denver 116
4. Montana State 112
5 (tie). Nevada and Utah 105
7. Whitman 45
8. Wyoming 24.

Women’s 5K Freestyle
1. Alexa Turzian, CU, 15:29.3
2. Antje Maempel, DU, 16:00.7
3. Sadie Bjornsen, UAA, 16:04.5
4. Jaime Bronga, UAA, 16:10.6
5. Amy Glen, UAA, 16:12.6
6. Annelise Bailly, DU, 16:22.8
7. Melina Park, MSU, 16:25.9
8. Claire Rennie, MSU, 16:29.5
9. Ase Carlson, UN, 16:32.2
10. Annelies Cook, UU, 16:32.3
Other CU results:
12. Maria Grevsgaard, CU, 16:36.7

Men’s 10K Freestyle-
1. Vegard Kjoelhamar, CU, 25:41.9
2. Simon Reissmann, UNM, 26:14.1
3. Jesper Ostensen, CU, 26:20.8
4. Max Treinen, UAA, 26:28.0
5. Raphael Wunderle, UAA, 26:37.1
6. Lex Treinen, UAA, 26:43.5
7. Matt Gelso, CU, 26:55.3
8. Mike Hinckley, DU, 26:57.5
9. Patrick Neel, CU, 27:06.8
10. Didrik Smith, UU, 2715.4
Other CU Results:
14. Reid Pletcher, 27:33.4
21. Josh Smith, 28:22.0
28. Karl Nygren, 29:05.9