March 08, 2014 (Park City, Utah) – The Denver Pioneers captured their 22^nd national title on an action-packed final day of the 2014 NCAA Skiing Championships. Four individual champions were also crowned on Saturday, as Mads Stroem of Colorado and New Mexico’s Eva Severus won the men’s 20K and women’s 15K freestyle Nordic events, respectively. In the slalom, Denver’s Espen Lysdahl took the men’s slalom title while Kristina Riis-Johannessen of Vermont won the women’s slalom.

Denver tallied 556 points to capture its first NCAA title since winning three straight from 2008-10. The Pioneers won alpine with 306 points and Nordic with 294 points. Denver had all six of its Nordic skiers finish in the top 15 in the classic events on Thursday to earn 169 points and overtake first-day leader Utah. On Saturday, all six slalom competitors placed in the top nine, garnering 176 points (99 by the men and 77 by the women) to seal the title.

Vermont was the runner-up with 487.5 points, and had the second-highest total in alpine (294 points). The Catamounts made a strong charge on Saturday with 111 points in the women’s giant slalom and 82 points on men’s side.

New Mexico had 458.5 points to finish third, coming in third in both alpine (239.5) and Nordic (219). Colorado, last year’s champion, placed fourth with 402.5 points and swept the men’s nordic titles. Host Utah had 392 points to come in fifth, crowning Mark Engel as the men’s giant slalom winner. Dartmouth came in sixth (261.5 points). Northern Michigan (239 points) placed seventh, which is the highest finish by a Central Region team in the championships since the event went co-ed in 1983. NMU was the second-best nordic team with 239 points.

After the course conditions were deemed too dangerous for the men’s and women’s giant slalom on Friday due to rain and three inches of snow the night before, the races were moved to Saturday. As a result, the championships were shortened to a three-day event and half of the eight races were staged on Saturday.

The men’s and women’s Nordic freestyle events were decided Saturday morning at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah. Temperatures climbed into the low 40s under bright sunshine before the end of the women’s race. But with the start time for the men’s race moved up to 9:00 a.m. MST, the course conditions held up well

Freshman Mads Stroem of Colorado took the men’s 20K championship in 43:49.0. He was in fourth place, seven seconds behind leader Scott Patterson of New Mexico, entering the final lap. Stroem made his move going up the hill in the first kilometer after crossing the start/finish area, pulling away in a two-man race with teammate Rune Oedegaard. Oedegaard, who won the classic 10K on Thursday and was the runner-up in the freestyle last year, faded late in the final lap to finish 15th.

Stroem cruised to the finish, coming in seven seconds ahead of Max Olex of Alaska Fairbanks (43:56.3). Mats Resaland of New Mexico was third in 44:00.3.

New Mexico’s Eva Severrus was the women’s 15K freestyle champion, finishing in 40:15.1. She placed at or near the top in every RMISA race this season. Severus held off a late charge from Rosie Frankowski of Northern Michigan, who was the runner-up in 40:16.9. Sylvia Nordskar of Denver placed a distant third (40:32.9).

The top three finishers began to pull away from the field with one 5K lap to go. Severus passed Frankowski and opened up a four-second lead with about three kilometers left. Frankowski made a late charge in the final half kilometer, but Severus was able to hold her off for nearly a two-second victory.

With the nordic events completed, everyone’s focus turned to the completion of the alpine events at Park City Mountain Resort. The course started out firm following an overnight freeze, but started to soften midway through the men’s first run. Despite the course deteriorating a bit on top by the end of the women’s second run, it held up fairly well even though the temperature reached the low 40’s.

Denver’s Espen Lysdahl won the men’s slalom in 1:53.34. The junior from Asker, Norway, had the best time in the first run (57.17) after going off ninth and the top time in the second trip down as well (56.17). It was Denver’s second individual title after Kristine Haugen won the women’s giant slalom on Wednesday.

Pioneer teammates Trevor Philp, a member of Canada’s 2014 Olympic team, placed second (1:54.11) and Sebastian Brigovic, who represented Croatia in Sochi, was ninth (1:56.55). Philip had won four of the previous five races he competed in during the RMISA regular season.

Jonathan Nordbotten of Vermont earned the bronze in 1:54.89. He had some friendly company in the top 10 as well, with teammates Travis Dawson coming in sixth (1:56.21) and Kevin Drury finishing 10th (1:56.62).

In the women’s slalom, Vermont had the ninth podium sweep all-time and the second in the alpine events in NCAA Skiing Championships history. The Catamounts had done it once before in 1989 when they swept the top four spots in the women’s 15K freestyle. The last alpine one-two-three finish was by Wyoming in 1985.

Kristina Riis-Johannessen won the women’s slalom in 1:37.89. She had the best time of the day in the first run (48.21) after going down the hill third and the third-best time in the second run (49.68) to finish .35 seconds ahead of teammate Kate Ryley. Johannessen, a junior from Oslo, Norway, finally earned a gold medal after finishing as the NCAA runner-up in the slalom the past two years. She gave Vermont its second individual title, following nordic skier Anja Gruber’s win in the women’s 5K classic on Thursday.

Ryley was the runner-up in 1:38.24 after having the top time in the second run (49.48). However, her first run of 48.76 was .55 seconds behind Riis-Johannessen. The senior from Toronto, Ontario, won every slalom race on the EISA Circuit this season. Elise Tefre, a junior from Oslo, Norway, placed third in 1:39.24.

More photos below.

Full results HERE.

Quotes

Denver Head Alpine Coach Andy LeRoy

On winning –

“It’s been an incredible four years since we last won one. We got fourth one year, fifth one year and sixth another year. I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you I spent most of the day in tears watching our team close it out the way they did. It’s a long road to come back and be on the top. I don’t think we treated the championship any different than any of the other races, but to see them come out and perform the way they did today, I’m on cloud nine.”

On the difference in his team from the past three years –

“We just put all the pieces together. Not just alpine men or alpine women, or nordic men or nordic women. Just the entire team gave one huge effort, and we knew we could count on everybody. You look back at the week and we didn’t miss a step, not in any race by any gender on any hill or in any event. It’s just fulfilling to feel like everybody contributed. Not one person was a miscount. It’s taken a while to build a team like this. To see it come out and compete like this, it’s pretty satisfying for them, too. I don’t think anyone on this current roster had won a championship before. We relied on that experience when we won three straight in ‘08, ‘09 and ‘10. Coming back out here fresh without anybody who’s closed it out before, and to see them come out and do it like this, it’s just incredible.”

Denver Head Nordic Coach Dave Stewart

On winning the championship –

“It means a great deal to our team. It’s our goal every year to win a championship. We’ve had a rough couple of years. We hadn’t won the last three years and we intend to win this every year. For this team and this group of athletes to finish their four years in this fashion, it’s really special to us.”

On doing well in the Nordic events –

“The first day was awesome. To get out at the start and have a strong day in tough nordic conditions like that, to put 85 points on the field, is huge. We weren’t quite as good today, but we won nordic overall. Nordic is sort of the foundation and in alpine people can ski out. So you’ve got to be in it in nordic, and when your alpine team skis lights out like it did today, it’s very fun. ”

Women’s 15K Freestyle Champion – Eva Severrus (New Mexico)

On how the race played out –

“It was a hard race. I died in that last uphill, but an awesome race. I had good skis.”

On her training this year –

“I came to the U.S. after Christmas so I trained for only two months. The coaches at New Mexico are awesome. It was a great season. I had a hard time when I came to New Mexico because of the high altitude but it was great for our performance.”

Men’s 20K Freestyle Champion – Mads Stroem (Colorado)

On his race strategy –

“I was just trying to save as much energy as possible for that last lap. I know that I’m really strong in that uphill climb, so I was just waiting and waiting and waiting. That first hill on the last lap, I opened up a gap over (teammate) Rune (Oedegaard) on the top. I thought we were going to be one-two. It’s a big advantage being in a group, so I asked him if he wanted to go in front and he said that he had no energy left. So I thought I’ve got to leave him, I had to ski fast. I went really fast in those mid sections.”

Was he surprised by winning the title? –

“I’ve been strong in the big races this year. I was top 15 in nationals in Norway, so I know I’m capable of winning this. In a mass start, anything can happen. So you just have to try to be patient all the way and avoid accidents and stuff. When you’re in first and all alone on that last sprit, that’s kind of fun and it’s really emotional.”

Women’s Slalom Champion – Kristina Riis-Johannessen (Vermont)

On winning the individual title and sweeping the podium –

“I’m just so happy right now. I just knew that I had to crush that second run. I knew I had to step it up and have a really good run, but having my teammates on the podium with me is just unbelievable, and I’m so happy. It was a great team effort today by everyone. It was an awesome day.”

Men’s Slalom Champion – Espen Lysdahl (Denver)

On being a national champion –

“It’s great. It’s been a goal for while, not just individually but also for the team. It’s been a goal for the past three years that I’ve been here. I had good position on both of my runs and I had solid fundamentals in my skiing today. My head was in the right place and I felt that I was just really sound.”

Were the warm conditions an advantage to his team? –

“I think we have a bunch of athletes who are good in all sorts of conditions. It’s definitely an advantage when they set a course like they did for the first run, a little tricky. The snow is kind of peeling. It’s definitely an advantage to have us three skiers who are good in all conditions. But, I’m glad it wasn’t super easy conditions on super easy snow because then I don’t think we would have done as well.”

Photos courtesy of NNF and Bert Boyer in support of US skiers
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