Lake Placid, N.Y. — Mateja Robnik scored an All-American run in the slalom and Sydney Staples just missed, but it wasn’t enough to keep UNM in hardware contention, as the Lobos finished fifth at the 62nd NCAA Ski Championships in Lake Placid, N.Y.Despite coming in fifth, the Lobos were the only team to have two individual national champions in Mateja Robnik in the giant slalom and Emilie Cedervarn in the
The day was overcast, and UNM’s alpine squad was game for the challenge of holding off Denver and Vermont, but both schools recorded five All-America runs each, all finishing in the top 10, to overtake the Lobos on the day.
UNM struggled on the men’s side, with Carl-Johan Öster recording the top finish for UNM at 18th. Sean Horner caught an edge and nearly missed a gate, costing him his original 16th pla
ce first run, finishing 25th. Juho-Pekka Penttinen had to hike twice, finishing 33rd in his final meet.
The Lobo men scored just 19 alpine points, no match for the 102 of Denver and the 84 of Vermont. That put the Lobos in fifth heading into the final fun of the women’s slalom, needing for Vermont to have two skier falter. That was not about to happen.
Instead, Dominique Garand won the event and her teammate Taylor Wunsch was fifth.
However, UNM’s women’s alpine team put forth a terrific effort. Robnik earned a second All-America honor by finishing in eighth, getting on the podium stand with an NCAA honor by just 0.04 seconds. Sydney Staples just missed All-America honors as her second run was the eighth-best of the go and she finished in 11th place. Sara Ottosson, who skied out violently on Thursday in the giant slalom, bounced back nicely with an 18th place showing, up two from her opening position.
For Robnik, it’s her fourth All-America honor of her career, and the third in the slalom. She joined Agnetha Hjorth and Malin Hemmingsson as the only three-time women’s slalom All-Americans in school history. Both Hjorth and Hemmingsson had five total All-American honors, one more than Robnik.
Overall the women’s alpine team finished fourth in the slalom while the men were 10th. Overall, the fifth place showing is the fifth time in the last nine years that UNM has finished fifth or better.
NOTES: UNM’s six All-America honors (two each for Emilie Cedervärn and Robnik, and one each for Eva Sever Rus and Aku Nikander) are three less than last season … the championships were the final races for Robnik, Penttinen, Horner, Christian Otto and Mats Resaland.