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Denver Repeats As NCAA Champion; RMISA Schools Comprise Top Four In Final Standings Saturday, March 14, 2009 – by Curtis Snyder, RMISASkiing.com Results Available On Schedule/Results Page RUMFORD, Maine – The University of Denver, which has not won a meet since last year’s NCAA Championships, successfully defended its title here with a strong performance in both nordic freestyle races Saturday at the Black Mountain / Chilholm Ski Resort in central Maine.
RMISA schools finished in the top four slots as Colorado moved from fifth to finish second, just a half-point ahead of New Mexico. Denver’s winning point total was 659 while CU compiled 602.5 and the Lobos 602. Alaska Anchorage used a team win in the men’s freestyle race to move from sixth to fourth with 584 points. Vermont finished fifth followed by Utah in sixth. Dartmouth, Middlebury, New Hampshire and Nevada round out the top 10, in which there were six RMISA schools.
The women raced first on the day and it became apparent that the Pioneers would defend their title with Antje Maempel winning the race and Annelise Bailly finishing fourth. Maempel swept the two nordic women’s races, earning two individual championships. Dartmouth edged out the Pioneers in the race, 113 to 103, on the strength of third, fifth and 10th place finishes. Colorado’s Alexa Turzian finished second with teammate Maria Grevsgaard finishing sixth. New Mexico’s Polina Ermoshina finished eighth and Utah’s Annelise Cook ninth to also earn All-America honors.
Colorado’s Vegard Kjoelhamar won the men’s race by almost 20 seconds, earning the Buffs their second individual champion of the meet and keying the surge from fifth to second. Alaska Anchorage dominated the race with Lex Treinen finishing second, Raphael Wunderle third and Max Trienen fifth. New Mexico’s Martin Kaas finished fourth and Denver’s Mike Hinkley sixth to give the RMISA schools the top six finishers in the race. New Mexico’s Simon Reissmann finished 10th to earn All-America honors along with the rest.
The Pioneers become the first team to repeat as champions since they won three straight titles from 2000-02. DU also won in 2005, closing out this decade with six of the 10 championships. RMISA schools won nine of the 10 titles in the last decade with Utah winning in 2003, New Mexico in 2004 and Utah in 2005. Dartmouth won in 2007 as the only non-RMISA winner.
In fact, since 1995, the RMISA has won 14 of the last 15 team titles. Utah won in 1996 and ’97 and Colorado in 1995, ‘98 and ’99. The Pioneers also edge out the Buffs, who won four titles in the 1990s and Utah, which won five from the start of coed completion in 1983 until 1989.
The RMISA also took the lead in this championship in individual NCAA Championships, podium finishes, first-team All-Americans and overall All-Americans. With Maempel and Kjoelhamar’s individual wins, the RMISA took home five of the eight individual championships and now has 271 individual NCAA champions from its member institutions.
Colorado and Denver both join Vermont with two individual champions during the meet with New Mexico and St. Lawrence garnering the other two victories.
The RMISA also took home five of the six podium finishes Saturday giving them the edge over east schools, 18-6. Eight of the 10 first-team All-America citations handed out were to RMISA skiers, as well, giving the west a 26-14 advantage in that category. The east and west schools split second team All-American honorees Saturday, 5-5, giving the east a 23-17 advantage there, meaning the west took home 43 overall All-America awards to 37 for the EISA.
With Maempel winning both individual championships, she along with Alaska Anchorage’s Raphael Wunderle join New Mexico’s Estelle Pecherand Charmet and the Pioneers’ Leif Haugen as the four skiers to earn two podium appearances in the championships. Those four along with Dartmouth’s Rosie Brennan were the five skiers who earned two first-team All-America honors.
In all, a total of 24 skiers earned two All-America honors in the championships. The 12 that did so in the nordic races along with Maempel, Brennan and Wunderle, the other nine skiers to accomplish the feat were New Mexico’s Polina Ermoshina (1st CL, 2nd FS), Colorado’s Maria Grevsgaard (1st CL, 2nd FS), Denver’s Annelise Bailly (1st FS, 2nd CL), Vermont’s Cailtlin Patterson (2nd CL, 2nd FS), Colorado’s Alexa Turzian (1st FS, 2nd CL) and Dartmouth’s Sophie Caldwell (1st FS, 2nd CL) on the women’s side and Colorado’s Vegard Kjoelhamar (1st FS, 2nd CL), Middlebury’s Simeon Hamilton (2nd CL, 2nd FS) and New Mexico’s Martin Kaas (1st FS, 2nd CL).
New Mexico led the way at the championships with seven first-team All-American awards with Alaska Anchorage and Denver one behind at six apiece, Colorado and Vermont with five each, Dartmouth with three, New Hampshire two and Colby, Middlebury, St. Lawrence, Williams and Utah one each.
The Lobos also led with 11 total All-American honors followed closely by Vermont with 10, Colorado with nine, Denver eight, Alaska Anchorage, Dartmouth and New Hampshire seven each, Middlebury and Utah four, Colby three, St. Lawrence and Williams two and Nevada and Michigan Tech one each.
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