BOULDER, Colo.—The Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association Wednesday announced the recipients of the All-RMISA teams and its MVP’s from the 2015 season.
Denver led the way with two of the four MVP’s and a conference-leading 10 honorees on the All-RMISA teams.
The MVPs were honored at the Regional Banquet in Alaska prior to the start of the 2015 RMISA Championships. The award is given based on the accumulation of NCAA Qualification points given through the regular season, which consisted of four meets and eight races for the Nordic teams and those same eight plus two RMISA Qualifier races on the alpine side for a total of 10 races.
Each of the four MVP awards were given as teammates battled each other for the award in all four disciplines.
Denver’s Sebastian Brigovic was awarded the Men’s Alpine MVP Award, accumulating 281 points on the season, edging out teammate Taylor Shiffrin by 21 points. After not finishing the first race of the season, Brigovic went on to finish in the top eight of the remaining nine races of the season, including six podium appearances and three race wins. He won both alpine races at the Utah Invitational and then won the RMISA GS Qualifier race at Eldora after the conclusion of the Colorado Invitational.
The Pioneers’ Monica Huebner won the Women’s Alpine MVP, racking up an impressive 287 points on the year, 14 ahead of teammate Kristine Haugen as DU had the top two skiers on both alpine MVP lists. Huebner finished nine of 10 races and finished in the top six of every race with seven podium appearances including three race victories and four runner-up performances. She won three slalom races, at Eldora for the CU Invitational, and both slalom races at Red River for the UNM Invitational.
On the Nordic side, Colorado’s Rune Oedegaard was named Men’s Nordic MVP, compiling 274 out of a possible 300 points in a dominant season. In the eight regular season races, he won five of them and finished second in two others, mirroring the performance of his teammate Mads Stroem, who finished second with 265 points. The duo finished 1-2 in seven of the eight races, both struggling by their standards in the freestyle race at the UNM Invitational.
Utah’s Veronika Mayerhofer took home the Women’s Nordic MVP in the race with the largest distance between first and second on the list. She racked up 265 points, 50 ahead of teammate Sloan Storey, who was second with 215 points. Mayerhofer didn’t finish lower than fourth all season, winning three races and earning seven podium appearances. She was also the runner-up three times.
The All-RMISA teams are selected based on the final NCAA Qualification lists, which includes the regular season races and the RMISA Championships. The first five on the list are named first team and then next five are second-team selections.
Denver led the way with 10 skiers earning All-RMISA honors followed by nine apiece from both Colorado and Utah. New Mexico had seven honorees and both Alaska Anchorage and Montana State had three skiers honored.
First Team
Trevor Philp, Denver; Sebastian Brigovic, Denver; Espen Lysdahl, Denver; David Neuhauser, Montana State; Dominic Demschar, Utah
Second Team
Taylor Shiffrin, Denver; Erik Read, Denver; Endre Bjertness, Utah; Garret Driller, Montana State; Roger Carry, Colorado
First Team
Monica Huebner, Denver; Chloe Fausa, Utah; Thea Grosvold, Colorado; Kristine Haugen, Denver; Mateja Robnik, New Mexico
Second Team
Ana Kobal, Utah; Brooke Wales Granstrom, Colorado; Sydney Staples, New Mexico; Kristiina Rove, Utah; Jessica Honkonen, Colorado
First Team
Rune Oedegaard, Colorado; Mads Stroem, Colorado; Moritz Madlener, Denver; Niklas Persson, Utah; Mats Resaland, New Mexico; Clement Molliet, Alaska Anchorage
Second Team
Aljaz Praznik, New Mexico; Noe Bellet, Utah; Aku Nikander, New Mexico; Sawyer Kisselheim, Montana State; Dag Frode Trollebo, Denver
First Team
Emilie Cedervarn, New Mexico; Veronika Mayerhoffer, Utah; Sylvia Nordskar, Denver; Petra Hyncicova, Colorado; Sloan Storey, Utah
Second Team
Maja Solbakken, Colorado; Eva Sever Rus, New Mexico; Manon Locatelli, Alaska Anchorage; Mackenzie Kanady, Alaska Anchorage; Ane Johnsen, Colorado
All six RMISA teams that field NCAA ski teams qualified a full 12 skiers for the upcoming NCAA Championships, to be held in Lake Placid, N.Y., March 11-14.