Denver Three-Peats As NCAA Champions

Saturday, March 13, 2010 – by Curtis Snyder, RMISASkiing.com

Results Available On Schedule/Results Page

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. – The University of Denver Pioneers won their third consecutive and 21st overall NCAA Championship here at Hawelsen Hill, the sight of the 15K women’s and 20K men’s Nordic freestyle races.

Colorado vaulted from second to third on the strength of winning the women’s 15K freestyle, surpassing New Mexico, who entered the race with a 30 point lead. Denver finished with 785.5 points, followed by Colorado (714) and New Mexico (677). Utah took fourth, giving the RMISA the top four teams, with a score of 595.0, with Dartmouth (523) and Vermont (516.5) representing the east in fifth and sixth, respectively.

The RMISA schools dominated the championships, earning the top four spots and six of the top eight spots in the final standings. All seven of the RMISA schools finished in the top 11.

In the men’s 20K classical race, Vermont’s Franz Bernstein won in a time of 49:19.7, beating out New Mexico’s Martin Kaas (49:20.9) and Colorado’s Matt Gelso (49:23.5) in a sprint at the end. Denver’s Harald Lovenskiold (49:26.0) and Montana State’s Bernhard Roenning (49:27.7) also both earned first-team All-America status.

Montana State was the story of the men’s 15K classical race, as they also took sixth and seventh, much as CU’s women’s alpine squad did in the slalom the night before. Tyler Reinking took sixth with Ryan Scott finishing seventh. Middlebury’s Patrick Johnson, Alaska Anchorage’s Lex Treinen and Green Bay’s Santiago Ocariz round out the second team All-Americans.

In the women’s 15K classical race, Denver’s Antje Maemple finished out her career by sweeping the NCAA individual championships for the second straight season. She won in 41:03.0, beating out Colorado’s Alexa Turzian in a sprint a the end, in a time of 41:09.0. Colorado took two podium spots with Eliska Hajkova coming in with a time of 41:42.5. Nevada’s Maria Graefnings took fourth in a time of 42:23.7 while Dartmouth’s Rosie Brennan round out the first-team All-Americans with a time of 42:25.9.

Earning second team All-America were New Mexico’s Polina Ermoshina, Denver’s Mari Elden, Alaska Anchorage’s Jamie Brogna, Montana State’s Kaelin Kisel and Colorado’s Joanne Reid earn second team All-America status.

The west also dominated all of the races and different ways of looking at championships. Denver won the overall championship, the women’s championship, the alpine championship, the men’s alpine championship, the women’s nordic championship and also won the men’s giant slalom and women’s classical championship races.

New Mexico won the men’s championship, the women’s alpine championship and the women’s slalom race. Colorado won the nordic championship and the men’s nordic championship along with the men’s classical race and the women’s freestyle race. Other race winners were Utah in the men’s slalom and Montana State in the men’s freestyle race.

Individually, Denver led the way with three individual national championships while Alaska Anchorage, Colorado, New Mexico, Vermont and Utah each one won, meaning the RMISA took home seven of the eight titles. Denver also led the way with six podium appearances, with Colorado just behind them with five, while Utah and Vermont each had three, Dartmouth and New Mexico two apiece, and Alaska Anchorage, Nevada and Vermont each had one. The west took 19 of the 24 podium appearances.

New Mexico and Denver each had 13 total All-American appearances, with Colorado one back at 12. Vermont had seven with Alaska Anchorage, Montana State and Utah each taking home six All-America performances. Dartmouth (5), Middlebury and Nevada (3) and New Hampshire (2) earned multiple awards while Bates, Green Bay and Northern Michigan each had one.

The west took home 59 All-America honors out of a total of 81 handed out (with one tie for 10th included).