ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — THe University of New Mexico Nordic squad will take part in the second half of the Montana State Invitational this Sunday and Monday in Bozeman, Montana. The Nordics will look to close the gap for the Lobos, who sit in seventh place out of eight after the alpine portion of the tournament.
The Nordics will once again be led on the women’s side by Emilie Cedervärn, but she seems to have an awful lot of help. Eva Sever Rus and Kati Roivas has given UNM a deadly three-part combo on the women’s side, as they have five top 10 finishes between them. Should any falter, rookies Brenna Egan and Julia Devaux have shown they can compete and are right there as well.
On the men’s side, the return of a healthy Aljaž Praznik would do wonders for the squad, who have still gotten great performances from a pair of Americans in Austin Huneck and Kyle Beling. The late addition of Petteri Vaherkoski has been a pleasant surprise as he finished ninth in his first race. Niklas Rombock has been consistent as well for UNM.
The Nordic squad has had pressure added to them with the loss of men’s alpine skier Youri Mougel, who is out for the year with an ACL. In addition, Carl-Johan Öster has missed most of the first two meets as well with an abdominal injury.