Montana State Invitational Final Results
Bozeman, Mont. — Head Coach Fredrik Landstedt stated yesterday that he felt that his team’s Nordic squad was going to put it all together soon. He might want to buy a Powerball ticket. The Lobo men and women combined for four top five finishes and a fifth racer in sixth place as the two teams swet the day’s Nordic Classical races, moving UNM into fourth place to finish the MSU Invitational.
It was the first women’s Nordic race title since February 27, 2015 when the squad picked up 96 points, winning the RMISA/NCAA West title in the freestyle. It was the men’s first race title since January 31, 2015 when the squad won the freestyle race at the Jade Enterprises/UNM Invitational with 92 points.
The women’s race went off first for the day, with the team’s heading out for a 15K mass start. Emilie Cedervärn had a slim lead through the 10K mark, barely ahead of Denver’s Linn Eriksen, the MSU Invitational freestyle winner and Utah’s Veronika Mayerhoffer. The three battled to the end, but Eriksen pulled away for the win when Cedervärn fell. She recovered but was passed by Mayerhoffer and Cedervärn took third. It marked her third podium of the season. However, it was teammates Eva Sever Rus and Kati Roivas that finalized the win.
Sever Rus seems fully recovered from her stomach bug, coming in fifth, her best finish of the season. She was a model of consistency for the race, passing both the 5K and 10K marks in fifth place as well. Roivas concluded the scoring for UNM with her best career finish of sixth place, 6.4 seconds behind her teammate Sever Rus.
Cedervärn scored 34 points, Sever Rus 29 and Roivas 27 as UNM scored 90 for the race, the teams’ highest total of the season. Rounding out UNM’s team was Brenna Egan with a 25th place finish and Julia Devaux with a 28th place finish.
The 90 points pushed UNM into fourth place, and it put the pressure on the men’s team to stay there. They did that in spades. Aljaž Praznik had his second-best career finish with a third place mark over the 20K course. Praznik and teammate Petteri Vaherkoski did a great job skiing as teammate, altering their positions throughout the race, but almost always staying within the top eight. Vaherkoski picked up a career-best fifth place finish, giving UNM 34 and 29 points from the two.
To win the Nordic Classical, UNM needed for Austin Huneck to finish within two slots of Colorado’s third finisher, which was Jackson Hill. Hill was ahead of Huneck, but he faltered a bit at the end, falling back to 11th place. Huneck meanwhile needed to surpass Montana State’s Erik Axelsson over the final five kilometers, and he did just that, moving from 14th to 13th, and giving UNM 18 more points. That gave UNM 81 for the event, one point more than second place Colorado.
Kyle Beling was 23rd and Niklas Rombock was 26th to round out UNM’s results.
The men’s 81 points also pushed UNM to 501 for the meet overall and kept UNM in fourth place ahead of Montana State, a one-spot improvement from the Utah Invitational last week.
“It was a great day for the Lobos today!” said head coach Fredrik Landstedt. ” I’m really happy with how everyone raced. Kati moved up throughout the race to finish sixth. Our lead guys stayed in the front 15 for the first half of the race. 32F and snow all morning made the wax conditions interesting. It was great to see it come together today.”
After splitting the alpine and Nordic events in the first two meets of the season, everybody gets together in Colorado for the Spencer Nelson/CU Invitational. The slalom will take place on Friday, January 22 and the giant slalom will take place Saturday, January 23, the same day as the Nordic freestyle. The Nordic classical will be on Sunday, January 24. There will also be a RMISA giant slalom qualifier on Sunday as well.
NOTES: UNM did not sweep a race last season … The third place finish was Praznik’s best away from home, as he was second last year at the Jade Enterprises/UNM Invitational.
Overall Standings (Final): Denver 629, Colorado 625, Utah 598, New Mexico 501, Montana State 465, Alaska-Anchorage 406, Westminister 251, Wyoming 123, Colorado Mountain 55.
Men’s Nordic Classical Scores: UNM 81, CU 80, UU 73, DU 73, MSU 65, UAA 49, WYO 33.
Women’s Nordic Classical Scores: UNM 90, DU 81, CU 75, UU 73, UAA 53, MSU 40, WYO 32.
Women’s Nordic Freestyle Scores: UU 88, UNM 83, DU 77, CU 65, MSU 59, UAA 47, WYO 35.
Men’s Nordic Freestyle Scores: CU 94, UU 91, MSU 73, UNM 61, DU 54, UAA 48, WYO 23.
Women’s Slalom Scores: DU 106, CU 71, UU 59, UAA 58, UNM 56, WMC 55, MSU 49, CMC 0
Men’s Slalom Scores: MSU 81,CU 79, DU 75, WMC 74, UU 68, UAA 44, UNM 33, CMC 17.
Women’s Giant Slalom Scores: CU 75, DU 73, MSU 69, UU 69, UNM 61, WMC 60, UAA 47, CMC 17.
Men’s Giant Slalom Scores: DU 90, CU 86, UU 77, WMC 62, UAA 60, MSU 38, UNM 37, CMC 21.