February 6, 2010 (Red River, New Mexico) – At the Enchanted Forest Nordic Center in Red River, the University of New Mexico’s Nordic team took advantage of it’s home course, to put themselves in the overall lead after day one. On the strength of three wins and three other second-place performances in four races, the University of New Mexico leads its own invitational here Friday as half the meet is complete. The Nordic teams competed in the classical discipline while the alpine squads raced in the giant slalom. The Lobos racked up 470 points and lead the meet by 42 points.

Colorado earned the other race victory and had 10 overall top 10 performances to secure second place with 428 points. Montana State had six top 10 finishes on the Nordic side and sits in third with 363 points while Utah had six top 12 performances on the alpine side and is just a point behind Montana State with 362 points. Denver sits fifth with 349, while Alaska (292) and Wyoming (103) round out the field.

New Mexico’s men’s squads simply dominated. Its men’s Nordic squad finished 1-2-4 to rack up 138 points, just three off the maximum a team can get and a RMISA season high for a team in any classification this season. The Lobos’ men’s alpine squad finished 1-2-10 to rack up 127 points. The Lobos won those two races. The Colorado women’s alpine team was equally as dominant with its scorers finishing 1-3-6 for 128 points, while the Buffs had five of the top 11 and six of the 15, as well. Montana State picked up the win in the women’s classical race, edging out Denver by two points, 111-109.

In the women’s 5km classic race, New Mexico’s Polina Ermoshina won the race in a time of 16:56.0. She was followed by Denver’s Antje Maempel, who finished just nine seconds behind in 17:05.0, with Montana State’s Casey Kutz also making it to the podium in a time of 17:37.0. Alaska Anchorage’s Laura Rombach finished fourth and Nevada’s Maria Graefnings rounded out the top five. Montana State’s Kaelin Kiesel finished sixth and Rachelle Kanady 10th to enable the Bobcats to pick up the race win.

CU was still minus top frosh Joanne Reid, who missed two weeks of school to participate in the Nordic Junior World Championships in Hinterzarten, Germany. She was America’s top junior there in the distance events, but CU Coach Bruce Cranmer wanted her to catch up in school and not bring her from sea level to 10,000 feet to compete.

In the men’s 10km classic race, New Mexico’s Martin Kaas won in a time of 28:55.4 with teammate Pierre Ness just six seconds back in a time of 29:01.0. Montana State’s Ryan Scott also takes a podium appearance in third with a time of 29:02.2. Tor-Hakon Hellebostad gave New Mexico three of the top four in a time of 29:09.7 while Colorado’s Jesper Ostensen took fifth in 29:16.9. Montana State and Colorado finished tied for second with 107 points apiece, still 21 points behind New Mexico’s total of 138.

“Today was nothing super special, but we did all right,” CU’s Cranmer said. “The elevation here is brutally high, but a relatively flat course. That’s not Alexa’s game or strong suit, and Eliska has never raced this high before. A couple of kids have some illness issues. Just hard to say why we didn’t do as well as we did the first two races, other than maybe the guys skied a little conservative and a couple of the girls had some illness issues. Hopefully, we’re just saving the best for last. But four guys in the top 10 is still a good effort. If we’re a little off our game here, it’s not that big a deal. It’s still too early to peak.”

Next up will be the conclusion of the New Mexico Invitational on Saturday with the running of the freestyle races on the Nordic side and the slalom races on the alpine side. This marks the halfway point of the 2010 season.

With files from University of Colorado, University of New Mexico.

Men and Women’s Results here .

Results (brief)

Women
1. Polina Ermoshina (UNM) 16:56.0
2. Antje Maempel (DU) 17:05.0
3. Casey Kutz (MSU) 17:37.0
4. Laura Rombach (UAA) 17:41.9
5. Maria Graefnings (UNR) 17:43.5

Men
1. Martin Waater Kaas (UNM) 28:55.4
2. Pierre Niess (UNM) 29:01.0
3. Ryan Scott (MSU) 29:02.2
4. Tor-Hakon Hellebostad (UNM) 29:09.7
5. Jesper Oestensen (CU) 29:16.9

Team Standings

Women
1. Montana State111
2. Denver 109
3. New Mexico 98
4. Nevada 90
5. Colorado 86
6. Alaska-Anchorage 81
7. Utah 75
8. Wyoming 52

Men
1. New Mexico 138
2. Montana State 107
3. Colorado 107
4. Denver 90
5. Utah 75
6. Nevada 68
7. Alaska-Anchorage 66
8. Wyoming 51