Colorado Extends Lead At MSU Invite

Saturday, January 16, 2010 – by Curtis Snyder, RMISASkiing.com

Results Available On Schedule/Results Page

BIG SKY & BOHART RANCH, Mont. – New Mexico individuals won three of the four races contested Saturday but the University of Colorado extended its lead from 42 points to 60 points here at the Montana State Invitational Saturday as six of the meet’s eight races are now complete.

With nordic action complete, all that’s left is the slalom races, which are slated to begin Sunday morning.

Colorado now has 691 points and has scored at least 99 points in each of the six races to date, including race victories in all four nordic races (men’s and women’s classic and freestyle). On the strength of its four individual wins in the six races to date, New Mexico sits in second place with 631 points while Denver is third (611) followed by Utah (539), Alaska Anchorage (526), Montana State (463) and Nevada (445).

In women’s freestyle action, Denver’s Antje Maempel won her second race of the young season, finishing the 5k course in a time of 13:36.92. She was followed by Colorado’s Eliska Hajkova, who finished second to Maempel in both races this season as she crossed the line in 13:53.46. New Mexico’s Polina Ermoshina finished third (14:07.34), Nevada’s Maria Graefnings fourth (14:10.15) and Alaska Anchorage’s Laura Rombach fifth (14:11.85).

Colorado won the race, racking up 113 points. Joanne Reid finished sixth and Alexa Turzian 11th for the Buffaloes, joining Hajkova in the point-scoring column. Denver was a close second with 110 points, including 50 points for Maempel for the victory. The Pioneers also has finishes of seven, Kate Dolan, and 15th, Mari Elden.

New Mexico’s Martin Kaas earned his second win of the season, as well, winning the 10k freestyle race in a time of 24:52.74, less than a second ahead of second place Vegard Kjoelhamar from Colorado (24.52.92). Alaska Anchorage’s Michael Schallinger finished third (25:12.49) with the Buffs’ Jesper Ostensen fourth (25:24.39) and Utah’s Miles Havlick rounding out the top five in 24:29.50.

Colorado won the race, scoring 123 points while New Mexico (101) and Utah (100) also hit triple digits. Colorado’s Matt Gelso finished seventh to give CU a 2-4-7 finish, while teammate Patrick Neel also finished ninth, but didn’t score team points. Utah had three top 11 finishers as Rolf Figi (10th) and Martin Liljemark (11th) helped the Utes reach triple digits for the race.

New Mexico’s Malin Hemmingsson won the women’s giant slalom race, her second win of the year as she has one victory in each a slalom and giant slalom race. Denver’s Lindsay Cone earned her second podium appearance of the season as did Utah’s Eva Huckova, who finished third. Colorado’s Erika Ghent and Katie Hartman rounded out the top five.

On the strength of Hemmingsson’s win along with a sixth place finish by Anne Cecilie Brusletto and eighth by Stefanie Demetz, New Mexico won the race racking up 120 points. Colorado finished second with 111 as Sara Hjertman finished ninth to join Ghent and Hartman on the scorer’s list. Denver also reached triple digits with 101 points in the race, while Utah just missed out scoring 99 points.

Petter Brenna from New Mexico won the men’s GS race in 1:43.76 with Denver’s Leif Haugen just 17 hundredths of a second behind in 1:43.93. Utah’s Max Lamb also earned a podium appearance with the Pioneer’s A.J. Arvin and New Mexico’s Thomas Schwab rounding out the top five.

Denver won a tight race, racking up 119 points as Andreas Kilde finished ninth to give the Pioneer’s three in the top nine. New Mexico, also with two top five skiers, finished with 116 points while Denver scored 105 and Colorado just missed triple digits with 99 points.

The Montana State Invitational wraps up Sunday with the alpine slalom races.