February 9, 2008 (Taos, New Mexico) – A strong overall Nordic performance and two individual wins paced the University of Colorado ski team to the lead here Friday at the midway point of the New Mexico Invitational. Colorado scored over 80 points in three of the four disciplines on the first day of the event and totaled 304.5 points by day’s end, good for a 12.5-point lead over Denver (291); host New Mexico is in a distant third with 248 points.

Senior Maria Grevsgaard won her seventh consecutive race this winter, claiming the 5-kilometer classical by over 38 seconds with a winning time of 17:33.1; New Mexico’s Polina Ermoshina was the runner-up in 18:11.6.

Already CU’s all-time individual race victory leader, the number growing to 15 with this win, she now has the second longest individual winning streak by a CU skier in history with seven. The school record for the most consecutive wins is eight by Nordic skier Line Selnes in 1998, her only year in the CU program. Those eight came in the first eight races of the year, the school mark for the most consecutive wins to start a season which Grevsgaard is also threatening.

Grevsgaard must be rubbing off on her teammates, as the Buffs had five finishers in the top nine and all six in the top 12; sophomore Kristin Ronnestrand finished fourth in 18:28.1, senior Jenny Hamilton sixth in 18:46.7, junior Lenka Palanova in eighth in 18:57.3, and freshman Karoline Borgnes ninth in 19:05.1. Senior Mia Gaw was just outside the top 10, snaring 12th in 19:11.6.

The women easily won the race with 82 points, with New Mexico second with 64; the CU men finished second in the 10-kilometer race with 81 points to DU’s 84, as the top seven finishers were from one or other.

DU’s John Stene won in 31:13.5, topping Buff senior Kit Richmond (31:14.4) by less than a second in the interval start format (skiers took off 30 seconds apart). Freshman Jesper Ostensen was fourth in 31:28.4, and junior Karl Nygren sixth in 31:39.1; sophomore Josh Smith was just outside the top 10, grabbing 11th in 32:06.5. Soph Matt Gelso skied for the first time in three weeks, as he recovered from a bout with serious illness; he was under coaches’ orders to ski relaxed just to start to get back into race condition, yet still finished 14th in 32:28.4. Sophomore Joaquin Goodpaster rounded out the CU effort, claiming 20th in 33:34.9.

“We’ve had some very good days in the past where we’ve stacked people up there before, but this is probably one of our best when you consider where everyone finished (eight in the top 15 between the two),” CU Nordic coordinator Bruce Cranmer said. “It speaks well for everyone. This wasn’t a high-end, super important race for everybody, but it was important to go out there and ski well. People are coming back from some sickness, and we’ll have a week off before regionals for them to keep getting better. You want to have your best races ahead of us, and at this point I feel we’re starting to come around and beginning to peak. It wasn’t the best field, other teams are battling sickness as well and a few top skiers weren’t here, but this is encouraging.”

“I don’t want Maria to feel like she has to perform every weekend and win every race,” he added. “It’s not important for her to keep a streak alive forever. We’d rather see her lose a race if it means winning at NCAA’s. She’s handled all this well because she’s having fun. She just puts on her number (bib) and just goes.”

The meet concludes Saturday with the freestyle cross country races and the slalom races in alpine. This is the final competition ahead of the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association championships, which doubles as the NCAA West Regional. It is scheduled for February 22-23 in Bozeman, Mont.

Western State Invitational Concludes

Last weekend’s Western State Invitational was to be concluded here on Thursday with a make-up in the men’s giant slalom race, which was postponed from last Friday due to poor visibility. The GS was in fact run Thursday, but the coaches did not decide on how to score the WSC meet until Friday morning, and then cited NCAA Rule 2.4, “Alpine Discontinuance.” Because the men’s giant slalom was not completed by the provisional discontinuance date of Feb. 3 (one day after the original end date of the WSC competition), the team scoring reverts to a doubling of the completed discipline, i.e., men’s slalom. The giant slalom was still completed as the results are used for NCAA qualification points.

Colorado led the WSC meet by four points through seven events, but had a poor men’s slalom; when points for that event were doubled, Utah was the big winner and finished with 585 points, with Denver second (569.5) and the Buffaloes third (560.5).

The Buffs did not place any one in the top 10 Thursday, but did have the 11th through 14th finishers with all seven skiers placing in the top 22. Hughes led CU with an 11th place finish in 2:00.32 (Denver’s John Buchar won in 1:58.11), but the story for the Buffaloes was Duran. He started 41st, moved into 19th after the first run, and from that position posted the fastest second run time of 59.16 to finish 12th in 2:00.32.

“I have to comment on Pat Duran’s efforts in the GS,” Rokos said. “His second run in was outstanding. Coming back from injury and being handicapped by a difficult start position every race, starting between 40th and 50th, getting a course far from comparable to what the top guys get and winning the run is absolutely fabulous for him and should be a strong confidence builder.”

New Mexico Invitational Team Scores
1. Colorado 304.5
2. Denver 291
3. New Mexico 248
4. Alaska-Anchorage 226.5
5. Nevada 224; 6. Utah 201
7. Montana State 158
8. Whitman 83; 9. Western State 80
10. Wyoming 22

Results

Women’s 5km Classic

1. Maria Grevsgaard, CU, 17:33.1
2. Polina Ermoshina, UNM, 18:11.6
3. Antje Maempel, DU, 18:19.6
4. Kristin Ronnestrand, CU, 18:28.1
5. Sarah MacCarthy, Utah, 18:46.5
6. Jenny Hamilton, CU, 18:46.7
7. Chelsea Holmes, UN, 18:51.1
8. Lenka Palanova, CU, 18:57.3
9. Karoline Borgnes, CU, 19:05.1
10. Kaelin Kiesel, MSU, 19:06.5

Men’s 10km Classic

1. John Stene, DU, 31:13.5
2. Kit Richmond, CU, 31:14.4
3. Havaard Selseng, DU, 31:20.8
4. Jesper Ostensen, CU, 31:28.4
5. Mike Hinckley, DU, 31:37.9
6. Karl Nygren, CU, 31:39.1
7. Rene Reisshauer, DU, 31:41.8
8. Raphael Wunderle, UAA, 31:54.7
9. Simon Reissmann, UNM, 31:57.8
10. Andy Liebner, UAA, 32:02.0

Western State Invitational Team Scores

1. Utah 585
2. Denver 569.5
3. Colorado 560.5
4. New Mexico 405
5. Montana State 394
6. Alaska-Anchorage 389
7. Nevada 381
8. Whitman 188
9. Western State 175
10. Wyoming 38.