Utah Takes Lead After Day One Of Seawolf Invitational

Thursday, January 8, 2009 – by Curtis Snyder, RMISASkiing.com

Results Available On Schedule/Results Page

ALYESKA, Alaska – On the strength of a 1-2 finish in the men’s giant slalom race, the University of Utah Utes took a 12 point lead after two of eight races in the Seawolf Invitational hosted by the University of Alaska Anchorage here Thursday.

Utah racked up 147 points in men’s giant slalom and women’s slalom action while Alaska Anchorage has 135 points. UAA compiled the most points in the women’s race to hold onto second place. Right on Alaska Anchorage’s heels are Denver (132), Colorado (131) and Nevada (124) while Montana State (79), New Mexico (77) and Whitman (56) round out the scoring.

The Utes were paced in the men’s race by Nick Cohee, who won with a time of 1:43.69, just three one-hundredths of a second ahead of teammate Kyle Kung (1:43.72). Less than one second separated the top 10 racers, in which there were five skiers from Utah.

UAA’s Alexandra Parker won the women’s slalom to pace the Seawolves in a time of 1:39.99. Colorado’s Katie Hartman (1:40.15) and Carolina Nordh (1:41.20) finished 2-3 for the Buffaloes followed by UAA’s Lacy Saugstad (1:41.63) and Denver’s Claire Abbe (1:41.91) rounding out the Top 5.

The next two days are slated to be identical but as part of different invitational meets. The UAA Invitational and Seawolf Invitational are running concurrently this week. Friday, action will continue with the classical races on the nordic side and women’s giant slalom and men’s slalom races on the alpine side in the UAA Invitational. Saturday will be the exact same four races for the Seawolf Invitational.

Sunday both meets will conclude with the men’s giant slalom and women’s slalom races in the UAA Invitational and the nordic freestyle competition in the Seawolf Invitational.