MINTURN, Colo. — Erland Nydal and Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier both finished in the top 10, but UNM couldn’t move up on the final day of the Denver Invitational as the team took fifth place in the meet. The Lobos now will prepare for the NCAA West/RMISA Championships February 23-25 in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
Nydal finished seventh and Izquierdo-Bernier finished ninth in the men’s 10K Classical, the finish for Izquierdo-Bernier his best of the season. Nydal scored 25 points for UNM and Izquierdo-Bernier scored 22. Niklas Rombock was UNM’s only other Nordic skier, finishing 18th, scoring 15 points. UNM was without Sindre Tungesvik, who stayed back in Albuquerque under the weather.
Overall, UNM’s men’s squad scored 62 points to finish fifth in the race.
On the women’s side, Andrea Klementová was the top finish, coming in 11th, just outside the top 10, scoring 21 points. However, she was UNM’s only top 20 finisher. Hannah Varjus was the second Lobo across the line at 23rd, scoring 11 points, with Carolyn Lucca 25th and Brenna Egan 26th. Lucca added 10 points as UNM finished with 42, coming in seventh.
The Denver Invitational was the final regular season meet, and now all RMISA teams will turn to the NCAA West and RMISA Championships. There is one final regular season race to go, and that’s the RMISA giant slalom qualifier, the fifth and final GS of the year. That will take place on Thursday, February 22 at Mt. Werner in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
On Friday, February 23, the RMISA championships will officially begin with the slalom at Howelson Hill. On Saturday, February 24, alpine will compete in the giant slalom and the Nordic squads will compete in the 5/10K Classic races. The meet will end on Sunday, February 25 with the 15/20K freestyle races.
Final Denver Invitational Standings PL. Team Pts. 1. Colorado 658 2. Denver 591.5 3. Montana State 584.5 4. Utah 558.5 5. New Mexico 483 6. Alaska Anchorage 311 7. Westminster 230.5 8. Alaska Anchorage 179 9. Wyoming 100 10. Colorado Mountain 53
NOTES: For the RMISA meet, Westminster and Colorado Mountain will not compete … the RMISA meet will take place on the same courses as the NCAA National Championships, which will be March 7-10 … Vegard Busengdal’s fourth place finish in the slalom on Saturday clinched the top spot on the RMISA slalom points list with 340 … Katharine Irwin moved up into second on the giant slalom points list, 10 behind Utah’s Ann-Kathrin Breuning.