DENVER, Colo. — Vegard Busengdal picked up his fifth second place finish of the season, and his 37 points were a key as UNM scuffled its way to fifth place overall after the opening two events of the 2017 RMISA Championships. The giant slalom was held at Beaver Creek in Colorado, hosted by the University of Denver.
Montana State has the lead through two events with 172 points, with Denver second at 152.5, Colorado third at 149, Utah fourth at 134, UNM fifth at 124, and Alaska-Anchorage sixth at 110.5.
Busengdal led the men’s team to finish fourth in the giant slalom while the women finished sixth. Busengdal was second after the opening run behind David Ketterer of Colorado, and couldn’t quite catch him in the second leg. Still Busengdal picked up his sixth podium of the season, but that first title of the season remained elusive.
Rob Greig tied for 14th and scored 17.5 points and Patrick Brachner tied for 17th and scored 14.5 points. Rounding things out for the men were Isak Klein in 26th and Tyler Theis in 27th, with Alex Barounos not finishing his second run.
On the women’s side, Karoline Søvik Myklebust was sitting in second place after her opening run, but she foundered a bit on her second run, dropping down to 14th place and scoring 18 points. UNM’s top scorer was Katharine Irwin, who finished 11th after sitting in sixth after the opening run, scoring 20 points. Sydney Staples rounded out UNM’s scoring with 17 points, coming in 15th. Alexandra Sjöström was 26th and Taylor Grauer was 29th.
The 2017 RMISA championships continue on Saturday with four events, the men’s and women’s slalom (www.ussalivetiming.com) and the 5K and 10K Nordic classical (www.summittiming.com).
Lobos Fifth After Opening Day of RMISA Championships
