Kincaid Park, Anchorage, Alaska — Emilie Cedervärn had three podium finishes in her four collegiate races this season, but she was missing one thing: a win. She is missing that no more. Cedervärn outdistanced Utah’s Veronika Mayerhoffer by 12 seconds for the first win of her collegiate career, pacing the Lobos to third place after the opening day of the four-day Seawolf Invitational.
Cedervärn had finished in second place in the previous two races, the classical and freestyle races on her home course in the Enchanted Forest at the Jade Enterprises/UNM Invitational. The junior was joined on the podium by her teammate Eva Sever Rus, who finished in third. That might spell major trouble for the rest of the NCAA.
Sever Rus is the defending NCAA champion in the freestyle, and after being hampered by a bad back through the opening portion of the season, she looks to be fully healthy. Sever Rus picked up her second top 10 finish, but her 11th career podium after 10 last year.
Between the imposing tandem of Cedervärn and Sever Rus, the Lobos picked up 74 points just from them. Anni Nord, who has been under the weather but like Sever Rus benefited from the nearly three week break between meets, finished 12, just ahead of teammate Jessica Gnüchtel who was in 14th. UNM’s women’s Nordic squad nipped Utah’s 95-93.
The women helped offset the men’s squad, which saw two racers not compete in Christian Otto (illness) and Aljaz Praznik (shoulder). Mats Resaland picked up a top-10 finish by coming in ninth place. Resaland had picked up a win on his last time out at the Jade Enterprises/UNM Invitational. While UNM was missing both Otto and Praznik, the squad got a lift with the return of All-American Aku Nikander, who competed in his first meet of the season, coming in 11th.
Kyle Beling picked up a 24th place finish, his best freestyle finish, picking up 14 points, his first collegiate points.
The meet continues on Tuesday with the Nordic classical races. The women’s race begins at noon Mountain Time, and the men’s race at 1:30 p.m.