Utah Invitational Result – Through Two Events
PARK CITY, Utah — Vegard Busengdal finished fourth for his third top five finish of the season and Rob Greig finished 12th as the Lobos moved into a tie for fourth place at the Utah Invitational as the Lobos took fifth in the men’s giant slalom, the second event in the Utah Invitational.
After running separate men’s and women’s giant slalom races over the last two days, both teams will compete in the slalom tomorrow, while the Nordic teams will continue the Montana State Invitational in West Yellowstone tomorrow.
Busengdal finished third in both the giant slalom and the slalom at the MSU Invitational, and now he has added a fourth-place finish, giving him a team-best 99 points on the season. He sat fourth after his opening run, and then he was able to hold there as the skiers bunched themselves up in the second run. Overall his second run with eighth, but he finished just ahead of Utah’s Linus Walch, but 0.01 seconds.
For Greig, an All-America in the giant slalom in 2016, he continued his strong opening to the season with a 12th place finish, scoring 19 points, moving up one slot from his opening run, which had placed him 13th. The craziness for UNM came with its other three finishers on the day. In a mark that’s practically impossible to fathom, UNM’s other three finishers, Alex Barounos, Tyler Theis and Nick Veth all finished their runs with the identical times of 2:16.79 to tie for 23rd. While Veth was the designated non-scorer for UNM (only six skiers are eligible to score in any race), Barounos and Theis split the 11 points for UNM, giving them 61 points.
Isak Klein and Youri Mougel both recorded DNFs in the opening run. Denver won the event with 107 points, and it leads the tournament with 176 points, 31.5 ahead of second place Montana State. Utah is third with 138.5 points and UNM is tied with Colorado at 116, just ahead of Westminster at 113 (Westminster doesn’t have a Nordic squad).
NOTES: Barounos and Theis actually tied earlier this year, splitting 6.5 points in the slalom in Montana … Greig’s 12th place finish was his best GS finish of the season and tied his overall best … Greig is second with 55 points, and Theis third with 41 … Mougel’s DNF was his first of the season.