RMISA Regular Season Team Awards, MVP Honors Handed Out

Thursday, February 19, 2009 – by Curtis Snyder, RMISASkiing.com

RENO, Nev. – Several team and individual awards were presented here Thursday during the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association regional banquet. The banquet is part of the RMISA Championships, which double as the NCAA Western Regional, hosted by the University of Nevada.

The awards presented Thursday:

• RMISA Regular Season Team Champion: Colorado •
• RMISA Regular Season Men’s Champion: Colorado •
• RMISA Regular Season Women’s Champion: Alaska Anchorage •
• RMISA Regular Season Men’s Alpine Champion: Denver •
• RMISA Regular Season Women’s Alpine Champion: New Mexico •
• RMISA Regular Season Men’s Nordic Champion: Colorado •
• RMISA Regular Season Women’s Nordic Champion: Denver •
• RMISA Men’s Alpine Most Valuable Skier: Thomas Schwab, New Mexico •
• RMISA Women’s Alpine Most Valuable Skier: Alexandra Parker, Alaska Anchorage •
• RMISA Men’s Nordic Most Valuable Skier: Vegard Kjoelhamar, Colorado •
• RMISA Women’s Nordic Most Valuable Skier: Antje Maempel, Denver

Colorado repeated as the regular season RMISA Champion, also winning last year’s regular season title by 14½ points over Denver. As for the other six team awards, the only repeat was Denver’s men’s alpine championship. Last season Colorado swept the three women’s championships and Denver swept the three men’s championships.

New Mexico’s Thomas Schwab earned the most valuable skier award in men’s alpine on the strength of six top 10 finishes. In 10 races combined, Schwab finished in the top 16 in every race. A tribute to his consistency, his top finish was fifth at the UAA Invite in the giant slalom race. Schwab was one of eight racers league-wide to finish every race while earning qualification points for his team in men’s alpine.

Alaska Anchorage’s Alexandra Parker finished off one of the most dominant women’s alpine seasons in RMISA history with six victories on the season. She won four out of the five giant slalom races on the season and in slalom action, she won two races and placed second two other times. She is one of just eight women’s alpine skiers to finish all 10 races while also qualifying for the NCAA championships this season.

Colorado’s Vegard Kjoelhamar hung onto the men’s nordic MVP despite racing through some sickness the last meet of the year in Devils Thumb, Colo., as part of the Denver Invitational. In the first six races of the year, Kjoelhamar grabbed two victories, three second place finishes and a fifth place. At DU he managed an eighth place and 13th place finish. Headed into the last meet, the Buffaloes had the top three in the running for the MVP but one didn’t race and the other didn’t finish one of the races at Devils Thumb.

Denver’s Antje Maempel saw an opening at the beginning of the season, took it and held on in what ended up being one of the closest races for the award in RMISA history. Colorado’s Maria Grevsgaard began the season sick and ended up winning just one race in the two Alaska meets and took a 12th place in a race she almost didn’t start. In those same two meets, Maempel won a race and took two seconds and a fifth to earn a solid lead half way through the season. Grevsgaard then returned to form and won the remaining four races of the year, but Maempel responded with two second place and two fourth place finishes to edge out Grevsgaard 386 to 383 in the final tally.