PARK CITY, UTAH — Juho-Pekka Penttinen finished 13th among RMISA skiers at the RMISA Giant Slalom Qualifier in Park City, Utah, leading a pack of four Lobos, but it was solid second runs by rookie Patrick Brancher and senior Sean Horner that told the story.
Overall, UNM had better second runs by all four of its skiers as the qualifier was a part of the Western Region Elite Series at the Park City Mountain Resort. Along with Penttinen’s 13th place RMISA finish (19th WRES), Patrick Brachner finished 16th (24th WRES), Sean Horner 17th (25th WRES) and Mark Miller 25th (38th WRES). Overall there were 38 RMISA skiers and 128 WRES skiers.
However, the story of the day was the second runs for UNM, which easily outdueled UNM’s opening runs. UNM had just one top 20 run in the opening go in Penttinen’s 1:18.87, but Patrick Bansmer, who celebrated his birthday yesterday on the off day, blitzed the mountain track in just 1:14.36, the 10th best second run time overall but fifth among RMISA skiers. That moved him into the top top, and right behind him was Horner. Sean’s second run with just 0.06 slower than Brachner and was the 6th-best second go among RMISA skiers, putting him in the top-20 as well.
Penttinen’s second run was just outside the top-10, 11th best in the second go, helping him to 13th. Miller got on the horse as well, shaving four seconds off his first time in finishing 25th overall.
With the qualifiers out of the way, the University of Utah Invitational will officially start in earnest tomorrow with the women’s giant slalom at 9:30 a.m.
NOTES: Former Lobo Michael Bansmer finished 26th in the WRES race … Mateja Robnik finished second in the GS qualifier on Tuesday … UNM’s official skiing twitter feed @UNMSkiing will have updates throughout the day … Unofficial live results for tomorrow’s GS will be found here: http://live-timing.com/race2.php?r=140144
Utah Invitational
Jan. 9 – Women’s giant slalom (tentative 9:30 a.m. start)
Jan. 10 – Men’s giant slalom (tentative 9:30 a.m. start)
Jan. 11 – Women’s 5-km classical (11:00 a.m. start); men’s 10-km classical (10:00 a.m. start); men’s and women’s slalom (tentative 9:30 a.m. start)
Jan. 12 – Men’s 15-km freestyle (9:30 a.m. start); women’s 10-km freestyle (10:45 start)