STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. — It’s tough to score a lot of points in collegiate skiing when you don’t field a full squad for an event. Emilie Cedervarn and Mats Resaland sure tried to make up for it.
Cedervarn followed up her seventh place finish in the 5K freestyle with a third place finish in the 15K classical race, giving the Lobos their first podium finish of the season. Resaland followed his seventh place finish with a fourth place finish in the 20K classical race, the best male Nordic finish of the season for UNM.
Overall, the Lobos remained tied for fifth place at the Spencer James Nelson Memorial/University of Colorado Invitational, tied with Montana State with 228 points. Host CU leads the meet with 362 points, increasing its lead over second-place Utah to 25 points. Alaska Anchorage and Denver are tied for third with 251 points.
In the men’s race, which went off first, UNM had four competitors, and again it was Resaland leading the way. Mats, a 2014 Academic All-American as well as NCAA All-American, was just 0.4 seconds out of finishing second. The fourth-place finish was the seventh career top-5 finish for the senior, and it gave him the team lead in men’s Nordic points this season with 94. Aljaz Praznik just missed a top-10 finish, coming in 11th place. Graduate student Christian Otto finished 16th, rounding out UNM’s scorers. Kyle Beling was the only other Lobo in the race, finishing 22nd.
In the women’s race, it was Cedervarn who once again shined in her first collegiate competition. The mid-year transfer easily outdistanced Colorado’s Petra Hyncicova for third place, UNM’s top Nordic finish of the season. The Lobos have been without Eva Sever Rus and Anni Nord, who combined last year for 10 podium finishes between the two of them.
“It’s really hard to score points when you leave an NCAA team at home,” said head coach Fredrik Landstedt, referring to Sever Rus and Nord, who both represented the Lobos at the NCAAs last season. “An awesome race by both Mats and Emilie today. I thought everyone that raced today fought hard and did really well.”
The Spencer James Nelson Memorial University of Colorado Invitational no moves to Eldora and the mountain as the alpine teams have their turns. The slaloms will go first, starting at 8:15 a.m. on Sunday.
Remaining Schedule of Events
Sunday, Jan. 25:
Men’s Slalom (LaBelle/International; 8:15 a.m. first run, Noon second run)
Women’s Slalom (LaBelle/International; 9:45 a.m. first run, 1:30 p.m. second run)
Monday, Jan. 26:
Women’s Giant Slalom (LaBelle/International; 8:15 a.m. first run, 12:45 p.m. second run)
Men’s Giant Slalom (LaBelle/International; 10 a.m. first run, 2 p.m. second run)
RMISA GS Qualifier
Tuesday, Jan. 27:
Men’s Giant Slalom (LaBelle/International; 8:15 a.m. first run, 12:30 p.m. second run)
Women’s Giant Slalom (LaBelle/International; 10 a.m. first run, 2:15 p.m. second run)
SCORING: For the second season, the RMISA has the same scoring system utilized by the NCAA. Each school can designate six potential scoring skiers with the top three counting toward the team score. Points are awarded as follows for a maximum of 30 skiers: 40-37-34-31-29-27-25-23-22-21-20-19-18-17-16-15-14-13-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. Any finisher from a school that has already scored three skiers do not receive team point credit, with the next placement assigned to the next finisher from a school who has not yet utilized all three scoring spots.
Notes: Along with UNM, Denver only had two females in the classical race … in the alpine, the Lobos will be without Patrick Brachner, who is now out for the season, but they add Carl-Johan Oster, who like Cedervarn joined the team last week.