Boulder, Colo. — Seven Lobos were named to the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association All-Conference team today, including three first teamers in Emilie Cedervärn, Mats Resaland and Mateja Robnik.
Joining them on the second team were Sydney Staples, Aku Nikander, Aljaz Praznik and Eva Sever Rus. Denver led the way with 10 All-RMISA student-athletes, and Colorado and Utah had nine each. Alaska Anchorage and Montana State each had three.
The All-RMISA teams are selected based on the final NCAA Qualification lists, which includes the regular season races and the RMISA Championships. The first five on the list are named first team and then next five are second-team selections. The RMISA MVPs, which were determined and announced at the RMISA banquet in Alaska on February 26, were based on the four regular season meets, totaling 10 races for alpine and eight for Nordic.
Denver’s Sebastian Brigovic was awarded the Men’s Alpine MVP Award and teammate Monica Hübner won the Women’s Alpine MVP. On the Nordic side, Colorado’s Rune Oedegaard was named Men’s Nordic MVP and Utah’s Veronika Mayerhofer took home the Women’s Nordic.
Resaland, Cedervärn and Robnik earned first team honors for the first time in their careers. Resaland, a second team pick last year, was UNM’s top point scorer on the season for men’s Nordic with 250, and he broke the 1,000-point mark in his career at the RMISA Championships. He picked up a win on the season in the freestyle at the Jade Enterprises/UNM Invitational a win that marked the only time all season in 10 races that Rune Oedegaard or Mads Stroem of Colorado didn’t win.
Cedervärn has been a revelation, winning her last four races. Had she competed the opening weekend she had a shot at RMISA Nordic MVP honors. Still, she led the entire team for the season with 293 points, and she became the first Nordic in school history to sweep the freestyle and classical at an away event, and she did it twice in the span of six days.
Robnik, a second team pick last year, has led the alpine squad with 219 points, scoring in eight of her 10 races on the season. She picked up a win at the Seawolf Invitational in the giant slalom, and then came in second in the slalom at the RMISA Championships.
Among the second team selections, Aljaz Praznik and Sydney Staples earned their first honors. Praznik has been rock steady throughout the season, although he struggled with a shoulder injury in Alaska that hampered him a bit. Yet, he is the only other person not named Oedegaard, Stroem and Resaland to finish in the top two this season (coming in second behind Resaland in the Jade Enterprises/UNM Invitational). His 164 points were second-most on the men’s Nordic side.
Staples entered the season with just one career top-10 finish, but raced her way to second team All-RMISA honors after scoring in six of eight regular season races and recording seven top-10 finishes. Staples earned herself her first career trip to the NCAAs with her breakout season.
Joining Praznik and Staples on the second team were Aku Nikander and Eva Sever Rus. Sever Rus, a first team pick last season, earned second team honors this year after missing the first three races of the season. Sever Rus had a pair of podiums and is the reigning NCAA freestyle champion.
Nikander missed more time than Sever Rus, missing the opening six races of the season while back in Finland. He arrived in time for the last two meets, scoring 105 points with a podium finish at the RMISA Championships. Nikander is the reigning U.S. Open champion.
All six RMISA teams that field NCAA ski teams qualified a full complement 12 skiers for the upcoming NCAA Championships, to be held in Lake Placid, N.Y., March 11-14.
Men’s Alpine
First Team
Trevor Philp, Denver; Sebastian Brigovic, Denver; Espen Lysdahl, Denver; David Neuhauser, Montana State; Dominic Demschar, Utah
Second Team
Taylor Shiffrin, Denver; Erik Read, Denver; Endre Bjertness, Utah; Garret Driller, Montana State; Roger Carry, Colorado
Women’s Alpine
First Team
Monica Hübner, Denver; Chloe Fausa, Utah; Thea Grosvold, Colorado; Kristine Haugen, Denver; Mateja Robnik, New Mexico
Second Team
Ana Kobal, Utah; Brooke Wales Granstrom, Colorado; Sydney Staples, New Mexico; Kristiina Rove, Utah; Jessica Honkonen, Colorado
Men’s Nordic
First Team
Rune Oedegaard, Colorado; Mads Stroem, Colorado; Moritz Madlener, Denver; Niklas Persson, Utah; Mats Resaland, New Mexico; Clement Molliet, Alaska Anchorage
Second Team
Aljaz Praznik, New Mexico; Noe Bellet, Utah; Aku Nikander, New Mexico; Sawyer Kisselheim, Montana State; Dag Frode Trollebo, Denver
Women’s Nordic
First Team
Emilie Cedervärn, New Mexico; Veronika Mayerhoffer, Utah; Sylvia Nordskar, Denver; Petra Hyncicova, Colorado; Sloan Storey, Utah
Second Team
Maja Solbakken, Colorado; Eva Sever Rus, New Mexico; Manon Locatelli, Alaska Anchorage; Mackenzie Kanady, Alaska Anchorage; Ane Johnsen, Colorado