MINTURN/BEAVER CREEK, Colo. – A clearly not 100% Lobo squad battled tough on the opening first of two days of the RMISA/NCAA West Region Championships, and picked up four top 10 marks, one in each race as the Lobos finished the day in fifth place among eight teams.
The major issue for UNM is a Nordic squad still dealing with the after-effects of some illness (Emilie Cedervärn) and injury (Julia Devaux, Aljaž Praznik, Eva Sever Rus). Still, the Lobos skied tough, coming in fifth in both the women’s 5K free and the men’s 10K free.
On the men’s side, UNM was bolstered by the first career top 10 finish for rookie Austin Huneck, who looks to be recovered from his illness that forced him to miss the Drew Judycki/Jade Enterprises/UNM Invitational just six days ago. Huneck’s 23 points were tops for Lobo Nordics on the day. Praznik battled to a 14th place finish and 18 points, and Niklas Rombock scored for his third straight race, coming in 22nd and scoring 13 points. Petteri Vaherkoski, who had scored in all eight previous races, was UNM’s fourth finisher in 26th, and Kyle Beling was 31st.
On the women’s side, Emilie Cedervärn was UNM’s usual top finisher. However, she was an uncharacteristic ninth, owning to the time she missed dealing with an illness. It ran her career string of top 10 finishes to 17-for-17, but it marked just the second time she finished outside the top five, having finished seventh in her first collegiate meet last year. She scored 22 points for UNM, and Kati Roivas was her usual steady self in 12th place for 19 points. Julia Devaux was UNM’s third scorer in 16th place, finishing with 13 points.
Devaux’s finish kept Eva Sever Rus out of the scoring column, ending a streak of 29 straight meets in which she scored a point for UNM, accounting for every meet of her career. Sever Rus finished 17th and Brenna Egan was 29th.
On the slopes, Carl-Johan Öster continued his torrid pace, finished sixth in the giant slalom after crushing the course in his second run, moving all the way up from 16th after his first run, as he posted the best time of the day in either run on his second. UNM needed that as three skiers, Nick Veth, Alex Barounos and Rob Greig all skied out in the first run. That put pressure on Tyler Theis and Patrick Brancher, but both responded with solid runs to come in 23rd and 24th, combining for 29 points.
Overall UNM finished fifth in the men’s giant slalom.
For the ladies, they also had to recover as two NCAA hopefuls in Courtney Altringer and Sydney Staples didn’t finish as Staples was disqualified for missing a late gate, and Altringer skied out on the second run. However, Karoline Søvik Myklebust finished 10th to pick up 21 points for UNM. Rookie Katharine Irwin was 12th and Sara Ottosson was 19th. Taylor Grauer finished 22th in a solid finish. Overall UNM scored 55 points in the women’s GS to finish sixth.
The Lobos have their work cut out for a third place finish for the eighth time in nine years, with the final day starting at Beaver Creek with the 15K and 20K Classical races starting at 10 a.m., and the slalom at Minturn starting at 10 as well.
NOTES: Huneck’s top 10 made him the sixth Nordic and 12th Lobo overall to record a top 10 finish this season … his previous best finish was 12th at the Montana State Invitational in the freestyle … Roivas finished in 12th place in the freestyle for the fourth straight race.
Lobos Fifth at RMISA/NCAA West After First Day
