NCAA Championships – Results Through Two Events
CANNON MOUNTAIN, N.H. — The Lobos might be shorthanded at the NCAA Skiing Championships, but so far, so good. Karoline Søvik Myklebust finished ninth in the giant slalom and Katharine Irwin tied for 10th, both earning second team All-America honors as the New Mexico women finished third in the giant slalom. Overall, the Lobos are sixth at the NCAA Skiing Championships, hosted by the University of New Hampshire.
The Lobos also got a solid finish from Sydney Staples, who came in 14th overall as the Lobos earned 59.5 points in the women’s giant slalom, finishing third to Montana State and Denver, who shared the GS team title with 85 points each.
Myklebust and Irwin were sitting 5-6 after their opening runs with Staples in 18th as she was hurt by her seeding, which was 27th as the race course deteriorated quickly in the morning. However, Staples put together a top-10 second run to move to 14th, while Myklebust and Irwin stayed true to their slots, remaining in the top 10.
On the men’s side, UNM picked up just 15 points, hurt by the injury and scratch to NCAA title contender Vegard Busengdal, who was injured in a practice run on Monday when he caught an edge, hit the retaining fence and skidded into one of the snow cannons that is used to make fake snow at Cannon Mountain.
That meant that Isak Klein had to fly out to New Hampshire to replace him. Despite not arriving at the NCAA site until late Tuesday and not getting any practice on the course, Klein finished 22nd and was UNM’s top finisher on the men’s side. Rob Greig finished 25th after earning All-America honors last year in the event, and Patrick Brachner’s day never really got started after catching a ski on gate three and skiing out.
Overall UNM got just 15 points on the men’s side, which was enough with the women’s total to put UNM comfortably in sixth place, safely ahead of seventh place Vermont, which has 49 points.
The NCAA Championships continue tomorrow with the 5K/10K Nordic individual starts at the Jackson Ski Touring Center. The women’s race will start at 8 a.m. Mountain, and the men’s race at 9:30 Mountain. UNM’s shorthandedness extends to the Nordic side, where Eva Sever Rus, a four-time All-American, is out with a back injury. Kati Roivas, who was injured in a training accident and has just one finish in the last six races, did qualify, as did Brenna Egan, who is competing in her first NCAAs.
NOTES: UNM’s women’s alpine squad didn’t earn an All-America honor last season … the All-America honor for Myklebust is her first since the 2014 season when she finished seventh in Utah … the Lobos last year were also in sixth place after the giant slalom.