March 11, 2011
STOWE, Vt. – The New Mexico Lobos moved up to fourth place after the second day of competition at the 2011 NCAA Ski Championships hosted by UVM at Stowe Mountain Resort and Trapp Family Lodge.
The Lobos now have a total of 492 points as they look to make a push for their second national championship in tomorrow’s final day of competition. The University of Colorado is in the lead with 647 points, followed by Utah in second with 562.5 points and Dartmouth in third with 500 points.
UNM senior Tor-Hakon Hellebostad came up huge for the Lobos as he claimed fourth place in the men’s 20K MS Classic race. Hellebostad’s time of 1:05:39.3 was eight seconds shy of the top finisher. Hellebostad earned first-team All-America honors for his performance. Fellow senior Martin Kaas also placed in the top ten for the Lobos as he finished in ninth place with a time of 1:06:14.8, giving him second-team All-America honors. Freshman Christian Otto rounded out the race for the Lobos as he took 12th place with a time of 1:06:42.9. UNM claimed second place as a team in the event after collecting 100 points.
The Lobo women also did their part in helping add to the overall team point total as two skiers placed in the top ten of the women’s 15K MS Classic. Freshman Sofie Jonsson shined for the Lobos as she finished in eighth place, crossing the line in 54 minutes, 58.0 seconds. Jonsson’s teammate Martine Weng trailed closely behind as she finished the race in 10th place with a time of 55:09.7. Both Jonsson and Weng garnered second-team All-America honors for their performances. Fellow Lobo Christina Loevald-Hellberg placed 16th in the race, finishing in a time of 55:34.9. UNM claimed fourth place as a team in the event after collecting 87 points.
The NCAA Ski Championships continue on Saturday with the men and women’s first slalom runs. The action begins at 7:30 a.m. MT time for the men and 8:15 a.m. for the women. The overall awards ceremony will take place at 2 p.m. MT. Each race will be streamed live online for free via NCAA.com.