Theis, Irwin Lead Lobos at RMISA GS Qualifier
Montana State RMISA Giant Slalom Results
BIG SKY, Mont. — Apparently the alpine team saw what Brenna Egan did and decided to one-up her. A day after Egan earned her first career top 10 finish, Tyler Theis pulled off a similar trick, finishing fifth, his first top 10 finish for the junior, and women’s teammate Katharine Irwin finished fourth as the alpine squad had solid marks in the opening race of the RMISA season.
The Lobos competed in the RMISA giant slalom qualifier at Big Sky Resort near Bozeman, Montana. The Lobos will compete in the giant slalom again tomorrow as a part of the Montana State Invitational before the slalom on Monday. This year the RMISA will host to giant slalom qualifiers to get the five needed for NCAA qualification as the Lobo-hosted Jade Enterprises/UNM Invitational, held over Super Bowl weekend in February, consists of two slalom races.
On the women’s side, all four Lobos completed both runs, with Irwin just missing her second career podium finish (she had a third-place finish in 2016 at the Colorado Invitational in the giant slalom). Irwin held second after the opening run, just .11 out of first, and she turned in an even faster run in the second go, but Charley Field of Alaska-Anchorage took the top spot.
Rebecca Fiegl, in her first race, finished 13th for UNM with a pair of consistent runs, and another newcomer, Haley Cutler of Hailey, Idaho finished 17th. Alexandra Sjöström just missed a top 20 finish, coming in 22nd.
There were plenty of story lines on the men’s side, highlighted by Theis, who had never finished higher than 13th in his career, and never better than 21st in the giant slalom, but he changed that narrative in a hurry. Theis had a solid opening run, holding firm in 11th place after a 1:04.94 run, sitting second on the team behind teammate Vegard Busengdal who was fourth.
Theis, however, hammered his second run, blistering the track at 1:08.51, moving him for a time into the lead. He eventual fell to third, but held there as four straight skiers couldn’t quite catch him, including Busengdal, who didn’t finish his second run. He was finally caught by the top two skiers in the opening run, placing him fifth, 16 spots better than his previous career-best in the discipline.
If Theis’ finish was the run that got Lobo hearts racing, it was Youri Mougel’s run that was the heart warmer. Mougel was racing officially for the first time in nearly two years. He tore his ACL at the RMISA giant slalom qualifier in Utah on January 9, 2016, and then tore it again in the preseason last year. Mougel, finally healthy, finished 22nd, coming in just ahead of teammate Rob Greig to be UNM’s number two finisher. Nick Veth finished 27th.
Busengdal, who finished all six giant slaloms last year, coming in the top 10 in all six with three podiums and the RMISA title, didn’t finish his second run, and was clearly on pace for a top 10 finish. UNM’s other two skiers to not complete second runs were Alex Barounos and Isak Klein.
NOTES: Had team scoring been kept, UNM would be in fourth place after the event … Mougel’s only other career finish was 21st at the Utah Invitational in 2016.