Lobos Rally To Win Own Invitational

Saturday, January 31, 2015 • by Curtis Snyder, RMISA

RED RIVER, N.M.—The No. 5 New Mexico Lobos rallied to top No. 1 Colorado and held off No. 2 Denver and No. 3 Utah in the process of claiming victory in its own Jade Enterprises New Mexico Invitational, with Nordic freestyle and alpine slalom races on the docket here Saturday.

The Lobos threw down the hammer in the men’s 10K freestyle race and never looked back, eventually cruising to a 28 point victory over the Buffs, 579-551, while Utah edged out Denver by just 3.5 points (505.5-502) for third place. No. 9 Alaska Anchorage finished fifth with 470.5 points and No. 10 Montana State was sixth with 423.

The men’s 10K freestyle race got things started Saturday and for the sixth time in six races this season, teammates swept the top two spots. But for the first time this season, it wasn’t Colorado’s duo of Rune Oedegaard and Mads Stroem. This time it was the Lobos’ Mats Resaland earning his first college victory in a time of 33:02.5, less than two seconds ahead of teammate Aljaz Praznik (33:04.5).

Alaska Anchorage’s Clement Molliet rounded out the podium in a time of 33:15.1 while Utah’s duo of Noe Bellet (33:16.9) and Nick Hendrickson (33:59.2) comprised the top five. Oedegaard finished in 11th and Stroem in 13th for the Buffs.

On the strength of the sweep from Resaland and Praznik, the Lobos took the lead in the meet, winning the race with 92 points, 13 ahead of second place Utah and 27 ahead of the Buffs, turning the 10 point deficit entering the day into a 17 point lead with three races remaining.

In the women’s 5K freestyle race, Utah’s Veronika Mayerhoffer won her third straight women’s Nordic race, matching the feat of Denver’s Sylvia Nordskar, who won the season’s first three races. Nordskar didn’t participate at the UNM meet due to illness. Mayerhoffer won by 41.4 seconds over the Lobos’ Emilie Cedervarn (17:40.5 to 18:21.9) while Colorado’s Maja Solbakken took third in 18:29.7 and Utah’s Sloan Storey fourth (18:30.6) to make the top four of the race the exact same quartet as it was in Friday’s classical race. Alaska Anchorage’s Mackenzie Kanady took fifth in 18:31.0 giving her three top fives in freestyle races this season.

Utah, also finishing sixth and seventh, won the race with 98 points while New Mexico scored 79, Alaska Anchorage 72 and Colorado 69. The Lobos opened up a 27 point lead on the Buffs with action then turning to alpine to see if the Lobos could hold off the Buffs.

On the alpine hill, the action was again dominated by Denver and Westminster, who combined for all six podiums in the men’s and women’s slalom races.

The Pioneers earned the first podium sweep of the 2015 RMISA season as Trevor Philp edged out Espen Lysdahl as the two flipped positions from Friday’s results. Philp’s winning time was 1:33.88, .65 ahead of Lysdahl (1:34.53) and almost a second ahead of Erik Read, who completed the podium sweep for the Pioneers in a time of 1:34.82. Westminter’s Tim Lindgren was fourth in 1:35.15 and New Mexico’s Mark Miller was fifth in 1:35.24.

Denver’s perfect point total of 111 points was 45 ahead of New Mexico (66) with Colorado (62) keeping pace to make things interesting in the women’s race. Through seven of eight events, the Lobos held a 31 point advantage.

Denver’s Monica Huebner won her third straight slalom race of the 2015 season on the women’s side, this time edging out Westminter’s Anna Goodman by just .13, 1:40.81 to 1:40.94. The Griffins’ Ann-Kathrin Bruening alto hit the podium in 1:41.12, just ahead of Colorado’s Thea Grosvold (1:41.24) and Tonje Sekse gave WMC three of the top five in a time of 1:41.41.

Grosvold’s fourth place finish gave the Buffs a last ditch effort to make a run at the Lobos, but the trio of Sydney Staples (eighth), Sara Ottosson (ninth) and Courtney Altringer (10th) all placing in the top 10 ensured the Lobo victory.

Westminster won the race with 100 points and DU was second with 86. Colorado edged UNM 69-66 for the final 28 point margin.

The RMISA teams now have the better part of February off as the next meet will be the UAA Invitational Feb. 23-26 in Alaska, where the teams will then stay for the RMISA Championships Feb. 27-28. Meanwhile, many RMISA skiers will be participating at the World Alpine Championships, the World Nordic Championships and in World University Games throughout the first half of the month.