New Mexico Leads Own Invitational

Friday, February 5, 2010 – by Curtis Snyder, RMISASkiing.com

Results Available On Schedule/Results Page

RED RIVER & TAOS, N.M. – On the strength of three wins and three other second-place performances in four races, the University of New Mexico leads its own invitational here Friday as half the meet is complete. The nordic teams competed in the classical discipline while the alpine squads raced in the giant slalom. The Lobos racked up 470 points and lead the meet by 42 points.

Colorado earned the other race victory and had 10 overall top 10 performances to secure second place with 428 points. Montana State had six top 10 finishes on the nordic side and sits in third with 363 points while Utah had six top 12 performances on the alpine side and is just a point behind Montana State with 362 points. Denver sits fifth with 349, while Alaska (292) and Wyoming (103) round out the field.

New Mexico’s men’s squads simply dominated. Its men’s nordic squad finished 1-2-4 to rack up 138 points, just three off the maximum a team can get and a RMISA season high for a team in any classification this season. The Lobos’ men’s alpine squad finished 1-2-10 to rack up 127 points. The Lobos won those two races. The Colorado women’s alpine team was equally as dominant with its scorers finishing 1-3-6 for 128 points, while the Buffs had five of the top 11 and six of the 15, as well. Montana State picked up the win in the women’s classical race, edging out Denver by two points, 111-109.

In the women’s 5-k classic race, New Mexico’s Polina Ermoshina won the race in a time of 16:56.0. She was followed by Denver’s Antje Maempel, who finished just nine seconds behind in 17:05.0, with Montana State’s Casey Kutz also making it to the podium in a time of 17:37.0. Alaska Anchorage’s Laura Rombach finished fourth and Nevada’s Maria Graefnings rounded out the top five. Montana State’s Kaelin Kiesel finished sixth and Rachelle Kanady 10th to enable the Bobcats to pick up the race win.

In the men’s 10-k classic race, New Mexico’s Martin Kaas won in a time of 28:55.4 with teammate Pierre Ness just six seconds back in a time of 29:01.0. Montana State’s Ryan Scott also takes a podium appearance in third with a time of 29:02.2. Tor-Hakon Hellebostad gave New Mexico three of the top four in a time of 29:09.7 while Colorado’s Jesper Ostensen took fifth in 29:16.9. Montana State and Colorado finished tied for second with 107 points apiece, still 21 points behind New Mexico’s total of 138.

CU’s Katie Hartman got her first win of the season and second of her career, ironically both have come in the same meet as she got her first career win in 2008 at New Mexico. She had the top time in both the first and second run and finished well over a second ahead of the rest of the field in a time of 2:08.77. New Mexico’s Anne Brusletto finished second in 2:10.13 and Denver’s Lindsay Cone third in 2:10.76. Colorado’s Erika Ghent took fourth while Utah’s Sofia Smith rounds out the top five. For the first time this season, four teams scored 100 or more points in a race as CU won by 21 points. New Mexico (107), Denver (103) and Utah (100) all hit the century mark.

Petter Brenna continues his dominant streak in men’s alpine action by winning the race in a time of 2:04.61, just two-tenths ahead of teammate Thomas Schwab (2:04.81). Utah’s Kyle Kung hit the podium in a time of 2:05.76, edging out Colorado’s Gabriel Rivas from the honor by two-hundredths of a second (2:05.78). Kung’s teammate, Thomas Zumbrunn, rounds out the top 5. New Mexico (127), Utah (112) and Colorado (107) finished 20-plus points ahead of the next contender in the race.

Next up will be the conclusion of the New Mexico Invitational Saturday with the running of the freestyle races on the nordic side and the slalom races on the alpine side.