BEAVER CREEK, Colo.—The RMISA members travel to Colorado this weekend for the RMISA Championships, a meet that also doubles as the NCAA West Regional meet. The alpine events will be held at Beaver Creek Resort with the Nordic events at Maloit Park.
The meet kicks off on Friday, Feb. 24 with the men's and women's giant slalom. Saturday sees both disciplines in action with the men's and women's slalom in alpine and the women's 5-km and men's 10-km classical events in Nordic. The Nordic teams continue on Sunday, March 11, with the women's 15-km and men's 20-km freestyle races.
Utah won the regular-season points championship with 2482.5 points. The Utes won the final two meets of the season (the Seawolf Invitational and UAA Invitational) and finished third . Denver finished second in the regular-season standings after finishing second in all four meets this season. Colorado won the first two meets, the Utah Invitational and Montana State Invitational, to finish third overall.
In men’s Nordic, Utah’s Kevin Bolger was the regular-season MVP with two victories and six podium finishes. Denver’s Moritz Madlener and Dag Trolleboe along with Colorado’s Petter Reistad have also been consistent this season. Madlener has two victories and four podium finishes while Trolleboe has two wins and three podiums. Reistad has one victory and four podium finishes. Utah’s Martin Bergstroem also has multiple podium finishes (two) with four top five finishes. Other skiers with podium finishes this season are Denver’s Lars Hannah and New Mexico’s Arnaud Guyon while Denver’s Eivind Kvaale has three top five-finishes. Also not to be counted out is Colorado’s Mads Stroem, who has 14 wins in 35 career races, including three NCAA championships. Stroem has been working his way back after having his appendix removed on Jan. 7.
The women’s Nordic MVP was won by New Mexico’s Krista Niiranen, who has one win and four podium finishes. Colorado’s Petra Hyncicova has three victories this season with four podium finishes. Utah’s Merete Myrseth is also a multiple-race winner with two wins on the year and Colorado’s Jesse Knori also has a race win. Several skiers have multiple podium finishes: Utah’s Guro Jordheim (four podiums), Colorado’s Christina Rolandsen (three podiums) and Colorado’s Ane Johnsen (two podiums). Montana State’s Anika Miller also has a podium finish. Other skiers with several top five finishes include Alaska Anchorage’s Casey Wright and Denver’s Jasmi Joensuu while Alaska Fairbanks Nichole Bathe has six top-10 finishes on the year.
Over in alpine, Colorado’s David Ketterer has won four slalom races this year to earn the men’s alpine MVP. He has six total podium finishes. Utah’s Sam Dupratt is the only other multiple-race winner, picking up three giant slalom wins with four podium finishes. Other skiers with wins this year are Montana State’s Addison Dvoracek (one win, two podiums), Montana State’s Garret Driller (one win, three podiums) and Colorado’s Ola Johnasen (one win, two podiums). New Mexico’s Vegard Busengdal ranks second overall with five total podium finishes while Colorado’s Max Luukko (three podiums) and Utah’s Endre Bjertness (two podiums) also have multiple podium finishes on the year.
The women’s alpine MVP was won by Denver’s Tuva Norbye with two wins and four podium finishes. Westminster’s Ann-Kathrin Breuning, who has three wins and four podium finishes while Denver’s Andrea Komsic has two wins and two podiums on the year. Others with victories are Utah’s Chloe Fausa (one win, one podium, Denver’s Monica Huebner (one win, two podiums) and Utah’s Roni Remme (one win, two podiums). Colorado’s Tonje Trulsrud has four podium finishes, Utah’s Julie Mohagen has three podiums and Denver’s Kristine Aasberg has two podiums. Other skiers who have earned podium finishes this year are Montana State’s Benedicte Lyche, Alaska Anchorage’s Charley Field, Montana State’s Jocelyn McCarthy, New Mexico’s Karoline Myklebust, Colorado’s Nora Christensen and New Mexico’s Sydney Staples.
Regular-season MVP’s are awarded based on accumulation of NCAA qualification points for all races.