NCAA Overall Results – Day One
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. — For sophomore Rob Greig entering his first NCAA Championships, his story was fairly easy to write. Good runs for him were common place, but two good runs were what he was after. Mission accomplished. Greig put together two superb runs to finish tied for 10th at in the men’s giant slalom, earning him Second Team All-America status and helping lead UNM to sixth place after the opening day of the 2016 NCAA Championships, hosted by the University of Colorado.
The men’s alpine team finished fifth on the day, and the women’s team finished tied for fifth. Montana State shocked everyone by winning both the men’s giant slalom and the women’s giant slalom, leading the championships with 148 points after day one. Denver, looking for an NCAA leading 23rd national title, is second with 138, and 2016 RMISA champs Utah are third with 123. Then it gets tight with Dartmouth fourth with 92, Colorado fifth with 88.5, UNM sixth at 80.5, Vermont in seventh with 76 and Alaska-Anchorage eighth with 68.
In a bizarre day for skiing that saw the sun peak out early in the first men’s run and then a heavy snowfall with large flakes that made the top of the mountain invisible later, it was a tricky day and course to navigate. On the men’s side seven skiers couldn’t finish, including 2015 giant slalom national champion Robert Cone of Middlebury. Handling the course was not an issue for Greig.
His opening run was good for seventh place, giving him a pretty nice cushion from those below him, which allowed him to make a small mistake in the heavy downfall in his second run but keep him in a tie for 10th. Greig’s previous best giant slalom finish was 11th on the same mountain at the RMISA GS qualifier. Greig’s All-American status is even better when looking at his GS season, which featured the lone top 20 finish and four DNFs in six races, including the RMISA Championships.
Behind Grieg was Carl-Johan Öster, who saw his streak of top 10 finishes end at six. Öster was 25th after his first run but came back to form with a solid second run, finishing in 18th place. Tyler Theis who finished in the top 30 in the GS twice this season, scored valuable points for UNM with a 26th place finish on the mountain he competed on as a kid in Steamboat Springs.
On the women’s side, it was almost an All-American day for Courtney Altringer, who blitzed the bottom of the course to take the lead at one point, but she got clipped by a trio of Utah skiers, pushing her to 11th, one spot out of All-America status. It was similar to 2015 when Sydney Staples finished 11th in the slalom. Still, Altringer, who didn’t qualify for the NCAAs last season, tied for her second-best giant slalom finish of the season, scoring 20 points for UNM.
Katharine Irwin, an NCAA rookie, struggled in her first run, finishing 21st, but she laid down a nice time to finish 15th overall. Staples was the unfortunate recipient of a long delay to restart the course, and finished 25th overall, but still getting UNM a needed six points that pushed UNM into sixth place.
Action continues tomorrow at 9 a.m. at Howelson Hill with the women’s 5K freestyle Nordic race, and then at 10:30 a.m. with the men’s 10K race. Both will be interval starts.
Notes: UNM didn’t have a men’s alpine All-American last season … UNM has now has a men’s GS All-American in six of the last seven seasons … Altringer was trying to become a UNM’s 10th female two-time GS All-American, missing by 0.24 seconds … UNM made a deadline scratch in Nordic, as Aljaž Praznik was swapped out for qualifier Niklas Rombock after Praznik was deemed too sick to compete. He was also scratched last year for Christian Otto for the exact same reason.
Men’s GS Unofficial Team Scores
Montana State 79, Denver 71, Utah 57, Dartmouth 55, New Mexico 38.5, New Hampshire 36, Vermont 34, Alaska Anchorage 33, Middlebury 33, Colorado 29.5, St. Michael’s 19, Plymouth State 8
Women’s GS Unofficial Team Scores
Montana State 69, Denver 67, Utah 66, Colorado 59, New Mexico 42, Vermont 42, Dartmouth 37, Alaska Anchorage 35, New Hampshire 27, Colby 25, Middlebury 15, Williams 11, St. Michael’s 4
NCAA Standings (through 2 of 8 events)
Montana State 148, Denver 138, Utah 123, Dartmouth 92, Colorado 88.5, New Mexico 80.5, Vermont 76, Alaska Anchorage 68, New Hampshire 63, Middlebury 48, Colby 25, St. Michael’s 23, Williams 11, Plymouth State 8