Anchorage, Alaska — Mateja Robnik was masterful in the giant slalom again, and this time she beat all comers. Robnik picked up her second career win and continued her torrid season in the giant slalom, taking the GS title at the Seawolf Invitational on the final day. However, it wasn’t enough to offset a bad day in the GS by the men’s side, as UNM fell to fourth overall at the Seawolf Invitational.
Robnik’s only other victory was last year in a giant slalom qualifier. This time she did it in Alaska, and did it coming from behind. Her opening run of 1:14.90 put her in third behind Kristine Haugen of Denver and Brooke Wales of Colorado, but she blitzed the field in her second run, turning in the best time by almost a full minute, giving her a 0.34 second win over Haugen.
Despite the win, the Lobo women only finished fourth in the discipline, picking up 35 points from the combo of Sara Ottosson (14th) and Sydney Staples (15th). UNM sat in third after the women’s giant slalom, and with a huge day on the men’s side, UNM could threaten with a win, and certainly second was within reach.
However, the men’s alpine squad faltered badly, with Carl-Johan Öster recording a DNF in the opening run and Sean Horner doing likewise in the second run. Juho-Pekka Penttinen was UNM’s top finisher with a 20th place showing, and Mark Miller was the other finisher at 23rd. UNM’s 28 points was a season low, after a 39-point effort in Colorado in the slalom.
The poor effort from the men was in stark contrast to the slalom yesterday, when the Lobos had three skiers finish in the top 14.
UNM’s 533 points were the second-most they have accrued in a meet this season, behind only the 579 they scored last time out in winning the Jade Enterprises/UNM Invitational. The Seawolf Invitational was the regular season finale, and now is when the real fun starts as all the teams will basically redo the entire meet again, but this time for the conference and region bragging rights.
The RMISA/NCAA West Regionals begin tomorrow with the Nordic freestyle races at Hillside. The men’s 10K starts at noon Mountain Time, and the women’s 5K at 1:30 p.m. The alpine teams will once again run the giant slalom, with the first run at 1 p.m. Mountain Time and the second run at 3:30 p.m.
Notes: The win by Robnik gave UNM three wins in the Seawolf Invitational, the first time UNM picked up three women’s wins in the same meet. It’s the most wins in a meet since UNM got four wins since the 2005 UNM Invitational when Lars Loeseth won the slalom and giant slalom on the men’s side and Martina Stursova won the freestyle and classical on the women’s side … Utah won the meet with 629.5 points, and Colorado was second at 567.5. Denver was third at 546 with UNM right behind at 533.
RMISA/NCAA West Regionals
Alpine
Location: Alyeska Resort, Race Training Center – Girdwood, Alaska
Feb. 27 – men’s and women’s giant slalom – first run at 11am, second run at 1:30pm – Race Trail
Feb. 28 – men’s and women’s slalom – first run at 11am, second run at 1:30pm –Tanaka
Nordic
Location: Hillside Trails, Anchorage, Alaska / Kincaid Park, Anchorage, Alaska
Feb. 27 – men’s 10K freestyle @ 10am, women’s 5K freestyle @ 11:30am (Ind. start @ Hillside)
Feb. 28 – women’s 15K classic @ 9am, men’s 20K classic @ 11am (Mass start @ Kincaid)