January 11, 2009 (Anchorage, Alaska) – A second straight sweep in men’s Nordic competition, teamed with another win and a runner-up effort in other disciplines highlighted the University of Colorado ski team performances here Saturday in the Seawolf Invitational. The Buffaloes are in fourth in the meet, one of two being conducted here simultaneously due to a quirky (and that’s being kind) scheduling plan.

Utah is in the lead with 412 points with six of eight races completed, followed by host Alaska (405), Denver (390.5) and the Buffaloes (377.5). Saturday’s four events were all part of the Seawolf Invitational, which concludes Sunday with Nordic freestyle races.

In the men’s 15-kilometer classical race, which featured a mass start, the Buffaloes finished in the exact same order as they did in Friday’s interval race. Sophomore Jesper Ostensen won in a time of 41:52.6, with both his career wins coming in the last two days. Freshman Vegard Kjoelhamar was second in 42:08.2 with junior Matt Gelso third in 42:43.0 and none of the three were really pressured out of position over the last couple of kilometers.

Further research found three previous instances where Buff Nordic skiers had a previous sweep, the last of the 1-2-3-4 variety, but it still occurred almost 47 years ago in the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association championships. Mike Gallagher, John Southard, M.J. Elisha and Pete Wallis led the one through four effort for the Buffs in Winter Park on March 4, 1962. That followed perhaps the most impressive sweep in school history, which came at the 1960 NCAA Championships when John Dendahl, Elisha and Bob Gray captured the gold, silver and bronze respectively to hog the podium and help CU to its second straight national title. That same trio swept the top three spots earlier that winter at Denver’s Winter Carnival (Gray was second and Elisha third).

In the women’s 10k classical, senior Maria Grevsgaard returned to her winning ways as she sprinted away from the rest of the field in the last kilometer and won in a 33:50.4 time; Alaska’s Sadie Bjornsen was behind her in 33:53.2 for runner-up honors. Grevsgaard, who struggled earlier in the week due to be tired from traveling along with flu-like symptoms, won her 20th career race, adding to her all-time CU total.

“In this frozen environment, that’s kind of a warm feeling to know we accomplished that,” CU Nordic Coordinator Bruce Cranmer said of CU’s sweeps in men’s Nordic competition. “We had borderline temperatures again, right around minus 2 or 3 degrees at the start with a decent breeze. In the trees they were fine but in the open areas and the stadium, it got nasty.
“Hopefully it’s the beginning of more of the same,” he added. “And I think we’ll do better in warmer weather. It’s nice to have Maria win again. She’s feeling better and is closer to her old self.”

“It feels really good,” Ostensen said of the sweeps. “The team is really strong this year, and when you go 1-2-3 it just confirms it as well as everything we did this fall to prepare for the season. It was very cool to see the three Buff jerseys finish first two days in a row.”

As for the weather, Ostensen wasn’t overly fazed. “We’ve been here for so many days (seven) so we’re used to it by now. You just have to be careful in this kind of weather, mainly to protect your hands.”

Kjoelhamar won the freestyle to open the UAA invite last Monday, thus CU skiers have won the first three men’s Nordic races out of the gate this winter, the first time that has happened since Ove Erik Tronvoll won the first five for the Buffs back in 1999.

“I think I was really tired from traveling back from Europe and I had a touch of the stomach flu, but that’s all over with now,” Grevsgaard said. “There were a group of us together and we kind of skied together the whole race. My strength is handling the uphill parts of course, and that’s where I made some gaps, but everyone would catch me on the downhills. But after the last climb I sprinted ahead a bit and was able to maintain it to the finish.”

Junior Karl Nygren (15th, 44:11.9), senior Josh Smith (21st, 44:35.3) and sophomore Patrick Neel (29th, 46:20.8) rounded out the CU Nordic contingent Saturday. Freshman Reid Pletcher was held out of competition Saturday with a slightly stiff back to have him better prepared for Sunday, and no other CU woman raced. The lone other female on the trip, sophomore Alexa Turzian, took the day off per medical reasons as she needed the required rest following hip surgery last fall.
“We’re doing what the doctors are telling us to do, one day on, then one off and so forth,” Cranmer said. “So we gave her the day off and she’ll come back and race tomorrow.”

The action will then shift to Colorado next week for the CU Invitational, which will run Wednesday through Saturday in both Eldora and Aspen.
Seawolf Invitational Team Scores (after 6 events)

1. Utah 412
2. Alaska-Anchorage 405
3. Denver 390.5
4. Colorado 377.5
5. New Mexico 358.5
6. Nevada 288.5
7. Montana State 247
8. Whitman 136
9. Wyoming 27

Results

Women’s 10km

1. Maria Grevsgaard (CU) 33:50.4
2. Sadie Bjornsen (UAA) 33:53.2
3. Tyler Parker (Utah) 33:55.5
4. Polina Ermoshina (UNM) 34:02.4
5. Antje Maempel (DU) 34:05.3
6. Jaime Bronga (UAA) 34:11.9
7 Laura Rombach (UAA) 34:36.8
8. Zoe Roy (Utah) 34:39.1
9. Sara Schwieger (Utah) 34:48.1
10. Annelies Cook (UU) 35:13.2.


Men’s 15km

1. Jesper Ostensen (CU) 41:52.6
2. Vegard Kjoelhamar (CU) 42:08.2
3. Matt Gelso (CU) 42:43.0
4. Simon Reissmann (UNM) 42:57.8
5. Raphael Wunderle (UAA) 43:06.0
6. Mike Hinckley (DU) 43:10.9
7. Didrik Smith (Utah) 43:17.7
8. Max Treinen (UAA) 43:18.5
9. Bernhard Ronning (MSU) 43:41.7
10. Christoffer Calleson (UNM. 43:45.3