PARK CITY, UTAH — Mateja Robnik narrowly missed a podium finish, coming in fourth in the women’s giant slalom, helping UNM to fourth place after the opening day of the University of Utah Invitational.
Robnik was one of two Lobos to record a top-10 finish, with Sydney Staples finishing 10th. For Staples, it was her second straight top-10 finish after having just one all of 2014. The Lobos picked up 74 points on the day, good for fourth place. The top four teams are tightly bunched, with Colorado in the lead with 88 points, Utah next with 84, and Denver in third with 82.
Courtney Altringer was UNM’s third scorer with an 11th place finish, just missing a 14th career top-10 finish. Rounding out the finishes for UNM was Sara Ottesson in 25th and Taylor Grauer in 26th. Karoline Myklebust did not finish the opening run.
Robnik’s near podium finish was still good for her second top-5 finish of the season and the 14th of her career. Just as impressive is the start to the season for Sydney Staples, who had just one top-10 finish last year (4th at Montana State in the GS) but already has two top-10s this season.
Altringer was her usual steady self with her 11th place finish (she was 13th in the GS qualifier on Tuesday). For Altringer it was her 23rd top-20 finish in her career.
The women’s alpine team now has a day off with the men’s giant slalom tomorrow. The women will hit the slopes again with a tentative start of 9:30 a.m. in on Sunday in the slalom.
NOTES: Robnik’s run of 1:15.70 was the second fastest run of the second-go … Staples finished 10th overall despite not finishing in the top 10 in either individual run. She was the only top-10 finisher to accomplish that feat.
Utah Invitational
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)