March 10, 2007
Women’s Slalom Results
Men’s Slalom Results
Lobo women’s Alpine skier Malin Hemmingson gave University of New Mexico head ski coach George Brooks a golden retirement present on the final day of the 2007 NCAA Skiing Championships. The freshman from Hallen, Sweden, won the women’s slalom individual national title, the 10th individual gold medal at the NCAA Championships in school history. The Lobos finished tied for sixth with Middlebury College with 390 points in the overall team standings, ending an eight-year run in the top-5.
Dartmouth won the overall team title with 698 points. The Big Green is the first eastern team to win the NCAA Championship since Vermont won in 1994, holding off Denver (648), defending champ Colorado (592), Utah (536) and Vermont (400.5).
Hemmingson posted a two-run time of 1:45.77, edging the 2006 NCAA Champion Lucie Zikova of Colorado who finished in 1:46.00. It was the second slalom win of the year for Hemmingson and the first individual NCAA title at UNM since Jennifer Delich won the giant slalom in 2004. Hemmingson is also the second Lobo woman to win gold in the slalom at the NCAAs, joining Marte Dolva who accomplished the same feat in 2002. Sophomore Karin Ohlin also skied for the Lobo women today. She stumbled in her second run, posting a two-run time of 2:20.39 and finishing 31st overall.
On the men’s side, senior Lars Loeseth posted his second top-10 at the NCAAs with a sixth-place finish in the men’s slalom. In his four-year career, Loeseth placed in the top-10 in seven of eight races at the NCAA Championships. He is just the fourth Lobo to win All-American honors in each of his four years at UNM. Loeseth’s two-run time of 1:44.47 was just off the pace set by Denver’s Adam Cole (1:43.36). Freshman Tor Fodnesbergene just missed a top-10 finish, placing 11th with a time of 1:45.58. Senior Alex Mach also finished in the top-20, placing 14th (1:46.06).
“We did just about as good as we could hope for considering we only qualified nine skiers for this year’s NCAAs,” stated UNM head coach George Brooks. Brooks announced before the start of the season that he would be ending his 37-year run as head coach of the Lobos following this year’s championships. The only coach in the history of the Lobo ski program saw Hemmingson bring home the 10th individual title in school history on his last competitive day on the job. “I would trade none of the last 37 years for anything,” ended Brooks.