January 21, 2011 (Midway, Utah) – The reigning Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Skiing Association Skiiers of the Week Maria Grafnings and Miles Havlick got off to an impressive start this weekend by winning their respective freestyle races in the Utah Invitational at the Soldier Hollow Resort. The Utes are currently second in the U. of U. Invite team standings, following first-place Colorado by 10 points heading into Saturday’s final race.

Utah totaled the most points in the women’s 5k freestyle event as Grafnings won her third consecutive race to start this season with a time of 14:10.4, which was 11 seconds ahead of the runner-up finisher. Zoe Roy joined Grafnings on the podium with a third-place finish after crossing the finish line in 14:31.7. Marta Larsen rounded out Utah’s scoring with a seventh-place finish in 15:15.1. Sarah MacCarthy turned in a 20th-place finish in 15:54.5, while Mali Noyes was 25th in 16:17.2. Parker Tyler took 30th with a time of 16:43.9 and Madeleine Talkington took 31st in 17:03.0.

The Utes were second in the men’s 10k freestyle race thanks to Miles Havlick taking his second victory this season, and his first in the freestyle discipline, after turning in a time of 26:21.0, which was 1:09.0 faster than the second-place finisher. Tom Smith took 13th with a time of 27:30.0 and Ian Havlick completed the Utes’ scoring in 16th place with a time of 27:40.2. Rolf Figi finished 17th with a time of 27:46.8 and Didrik Smith was 24th at 28:46.4.

The Utah Invitational concludes tomorrow at the Soldier Hollow Resort with the classical races. The women’s 15k event will begin at 9 a.m., followed by the men’s race at 10:30 a.m.

Full results HERE.