Lake Placid, N.Y. — One day after Mateja Robnik gave UNM a national title in the women’s giant slalom, Emilie Cedervärn got back to her winning ways, taking the NCAA title in the 15K Nordic Classical. Her win gives UNM two individual titles in the same championship meet for the first time in school history.
The win was Cedervärn’s fifth of the season, the most among RMISA skiers. She entered the race tied with Utah’s Veronika Mayerhoffer with four wins on the season, and it was a battle for the ages by those two that Cedervärn won with a late surge.
Cedervärn and Mayerhoffer were basically never more than two seconds apart for most of the race, with Emilie holding the lead at the end of the first lap and Veronika leading after two of the three lap race. Coming into the final stretch in front of the crowd at the Lake Placid Olympic Sports Complex, Mayerhoffer held a slim lead, helping part when Cedervärn fell coming out of the last downhill turn.
“That last turn I had so much speed that I almost ran her over,” said Cedervärn. “Instead I fell. I was so pissed at myself because I thought I messed things up, but I felt strong and kept trying to go for it. After I fell I felt like I at least have to try all the way in. I had good skis.”
The two athletes went around the back curve which has a slight incline, and Cedervärn went to the second track and made her move at the start of the last straightaway, not taking the lead until around 50 meters to go. In the end, she won the 15K (9.3 mile) race for 1.5 seconds.
“She tried to get rid of me in the last uphill, but I felt strong so I just followed up her back,” said Cedervärn.
She is the 29th individual national champion in school history and the 19th in skiing. She is the second classical champion on the women’s side since the sport became co-ed in 1983, joining Kristina Strandberg who won it in 2000. Since becoming co-ed, this is the first time that UNM has had two national titles in the same championship meet.
Cedervärn set the school record with her fifth Nordic win of the year, moving ahead of Martina Stursova and Ivana Radlova. She is now fifth in career wins as well. Cedervärn won her last three Classical races. She tied Stursova for most Classical wins in a season as well as she has taken to rewriting the UNM record books.
Last year’s third place Classical finisher at NCAAs Eva Sever Rus battled to a 14th place finish, solid considering she entered the final lap in 17th and at one time had slipped to 21st. Jessica Gnüchtel finished out of the points grid at 31st, but UNM overall was third in the event with 57 points.
However, that was just a precursor to the wild and wacky finish of the men’s 20K Classical, which saw Northern Michigan’s Fredrik Schwencke topple a group of four that included a sprint to the finish and a crash just 25 meters out, and then controversy that turned out to be nothing at all.
UNM’s Aku Nikander was smack in the middle of it all. The final four of Schwencke, CU’s Mads Stroem and Rune Oedegaard and Nikander were all in the final group, and coming up the final straight away, it was Schwenke and Stroem, with Schwencke winning at the wire. Stroem was given the lane for a race to the finish by his teammate Oedegaard, who got tangled up with Nikander, both crashing nearly into the scoring tower. Both got up, with Oedegaard finishing third and Nikander fourth. There was also a question of whether or not there was an illegal skate, but the finish held as is, with all the coaches and competitors satisfied.
“There was nothing to protest,” said head coach Fredrik Landstedt. “It looked like Mads’ pole might have hit Aku’s ski, but there was nothing there. That’s just Nordic for you.”
Mats Resaland and Christian Otto finished 13th and 14th for UNM, giving the Lobos 66 points in the Nordic, far more than they picked up two days ago in men’s classical. That helped UNM bolt back into third place with 327 points, well behind Colorado and Utah, who lead with 388 and 381 respectively. Denver is just 37 points back with 290, and Vermont is lurking in fifth with 272.
“Emilie skied a great race, and she and Veronika put on quite a show,” said Landstedt. “I thought she was really smart in how she raced. The men’s team did very well. Aku was in the lead and with the snow it probably would have been better to let someone else take the pack, but Mats and Christian did very well. They picked up some much needed points for us.”
The final two events, the men’s and women’s slaloms take place at Whiteface tomorrow starting at 8:30 a.m.
NOTES: The teams raced at the exact same course from the 1980 Olympics … Cedervärn’s three classical wins are more than the entire UNM women’s skiing program the previous nine seasons (UNM had two) … UNM has now had five All-Americans in the meet (Cedervärn first team twice, Mateja Robnik first team, Aku Nikander first team and Eva Sever Rus second team) … Christian Otto, who wasn’t on the original NCAA list for UNM, scored 35 points in his two races … Cedervärn’s five Nordic wins is the most for the women, and it tied Martin Kaas (2010) and Jimmy Vika (2003).