STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. — November and December collegiate skiing is about tuning up for the nine week season that starts when the calendar turns to 2015. The UNM Alpine squad is about as tuned up as you can get.
In a rare night race that is a fun evening for competitors alike at Howelson Hill in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, the Lobos saw all six of their skiers, three men and three women, register top-10 finishes on Sunday night. Included in that group was a second place finish by Karoline Myklebust and a third place finish from Juho-Pekka Penttinen.
The Lobos raced Mark Miller and Sean Horner along with Penttinen on the men’s side and Mateja Robnik and Taylor Grauer on the women’s side along with Myklebust.
For Myklebust, who had a superb season in 2014, she paired together two fantastic runs. She opened with a 42.37 in the opening run, good for second place. Her second run was even better at 41.05, and although it was good for just fourth in the second leg, overall she remained in second, giving her a podium finish. The University of Colorado’s Thea Grosvold went just fast enough in her second run to nip Myklebust by 0.07 seconds.
Mateja Robnik and Taylor Grauer finished seventh and eighth respectively. Robnik and Grauer were in seventh and ninth after their first runs, and they both shaved over two minutes off their times as the track got faster as the night went on. However, only Grauer was able to move up a spot.
In the men’s run, a pair of Lobos actually in first and second and Mark Miller had the top time of the opening run and Juho-Pekka Penttinen had the second-best run. Sean Horner was 11th after his opening run.
Penttinen slipped to 10th in the second run, but it was still a fast enough time to finish third and earn a place on the podium. Miller wasn’t quite as fortunate. His time was just 17th in the second leg, but his blazing fast 38.83 in the opening leg was the fastest leg of anyone, and it allowed him to finish in a solid fifth position. Sean Horner had a great second run to allow him to move from 11th to ninth, giving UNM six top-10s.
UNM’s ski season opens on January 6-7 with an RMISA giant slalom qualifier in Park City, Utah, and then with the University of Utah Invitational January 9-12.