Feb. 19, 2008
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The New Mexico ski team will compete in the 2008 NCAA West Regional meet, Feb. 22-23, in Montana. The Alpine squad will race at Bridger Bowl, while the Nordic group will compete at Bohart Ranch. These will be the same sites as the NCAA Championships on March 5-8.
The Lobos will be fighting to improve their NCAA qualifying finishes and get a solid team finish. UNM has finished second in the regional standings in three of the last four seasons.
“We seem to have been bit by the injury bug this season,” said Lobo head coach Fredrik Landstedt. “We lost Jon Masdal and Amy Beresford for the season, and Simon Reissmann for regionals. Fortunately, we are getting Tor-Hakon Hellebostad back this week.”
Masdal, a sophomore Alpine skier, suffered a back injury right before the season and is expected to earn a medical hardship for 2008. Beresford, a senior Alpiner, suffered a knee injury in mid-January after the Utah Invitational.
Reissmann and Hellebostad are both expected to be ready for the NCAA Championships in March. Newcomers to the Nordic squad in 2008, Reissmann suffered a shoulder injury while training last week, while Hellebostad has been ill for the past month.
“We have about the same number of qualifers as last season,” said Landstedt. “This weekend gives us one more opportunity to get a few more qualifed for the finals.”
2008 Alpine Notes … Malin Hemmingsson won her first giant slalom race on Feb. 1 at the Western State Invitational. Hemmingsson is tied for fourth in alpine career wins on New Mexico’s all-time women’s list with Ida Lundeberg (1987-90) and Caroline Schicht (2001-03) … Tor Fodnesbergene won his sixth alpine race with a win in the slalom at the Utah Invitational on Jan. 20. Fodnesbergene is tied for first on the New Mexico all-time men’s alpine wins list with Stefan Lanzier (1997-99) and Lars Loseth (2004-07). He also holds first place on the all-time slalom wins list with four … Thomas Schwab and Christoffer Norell recorded their best finishes of the season at the UNM Invitational in the slalom.
2008 Nordic Notes … Polina Ermoshina has placed in the Top 10 in six races so far this season. She tied her career-best finishes in both events at the UNM Invitational … Simon Reissmann has placed in the Top 10 in four races … Casey Dyck recorded a career-best finish in the freestyle at the UNM Invitational … Crystin Jaques and Martin Kaas recorded season-bests in both races at the UNM Invitational.
2008 NCAA West Regionals … The Lobos have finished second at the NCAA West Regional meet in three of the last four seasons … The Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association will hold its annual honors banquet on Thursday, Feb. 21 at the site of the regional meet … The all-RMISA teams will be announced early next week.
Up Next: The Lobos will compete in the NCAA Championships on March 5-8 in Bridger Bowl/Bohart Ranch, Mont. Current UNM qualifiers include Malin Hemmingsson, Karin Ohlin, Tor Fodnesbergene, Thomas Schwab, Christoffer Norell, Simon Reissmann, Tor-Hakon Hellebostad, Melanie Zemp and Polina Ermoshina.