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New Mexico Wins RMISA Championship Saturday, February 21, 2009 – by Curtis Snyder, RMISASkiing.com Results Available On Schedule/Results Page TRUCKEE, Calif. – On the strength of three top five finishers in the men’s 15k freestyle race, the University of New Mexico Lobos won the 2009 RMISA Championship here with the final two races at the Auburn Ski Club. The RMISA championship also doubles as the NCAA Western Regional.
The Lobos end a 16-year drought at the RMISA Championships winning for the first time since 1992. It is also the team’s first win since the 2004 NCAA Championships. The Lobos finished with 565 points and won by 26 points over Colorado, who finished with 539.
“This was a great weekend for New Mexico,” Lobo coach Fredrik Landstedt said. “The men’s nordic squad had a great day to keep us head of the top three finishers from last year’s NCAA Championships (Denver, Colorado and Utah).”
Simon Reissmann's win in the men's freestyle race gave New Mexico five wins at the championship out of eight races. The Lobos finished 1-3-5 in the race to earn 84 points and secure the championship. Teammate Tor-Hakon Hellebostad finished third and Martin Kaas fifth.
Colorado, who finished second in the championship and the race, put the pressure on by finished 2-4-6 in the race, with Matt Gelso taking the podium in second, Jesper Ostensen fourth and Reid Pletcher sixth and only lose three overall points as both teams scored over 80, UNM 84 and CU 81.
The Buffs attempted the impossible and were impressive in the women’s race, as well, with two top five finishers, but it wasn’t enough as the Lobos held on with Polina Ermoshina finishing third. Denver’s Antje Maempel won the race with teammate Annelise Bailly second, less than five seconds behind. After Ermoshine, CU’s pair of Alexa Turzian and Maria Grevsgaard finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
Denver won the women’s race with 74 points while host Nevada scored 72 on the strength of a 6-7-8 finish in the event. Colorado and Montana State tied for third with 62 points apiece.
Behind the Lobos and Buffs, the race for third and fifth places was extremely tight. The host Wolfpack held off Denver and took home third place with 485 points, just ahead of the Pioneers 483-point performance. Alaska Anchorage took home fifth with 457 points while Utah was just 13 behind the Seawolves at 444 points. Montana State turned 379 points with Whitman rounding out the action with 210 points.
The team’s will now turn their focus to the 2009 NCAA Championships, held March 11-14 in Sunday River (alpine) and Black Mountain (nordic), Maine. Bates College is the host of the event.
After the conclusion of the RMISA Championships, the coaches from the league met to determine how many skiers from each school qualified for the championships. Information on qualification numbers and skiers will be available early next week at RMISASkiing.com.
RMISA/Regional Champions
Individual RMISA/Regional Championships
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