Day One Results
Red River, N.M./Crested Butte, Colo. — The University of New Mexico ski team put up several career-best marks, and the squads were led by a pair of podium finishes, one by Vegard Busengdal in the slalom and one by Sindre Tungasevik in Nordic as UNM picked up at least 60 points in all four events for the first time this season. UNM sits fourth in the meet with 274 points, 18.5 points behind third place Utah at the UNM/Drew Judycki Memorial/Jade Enterprise Invitational.
The event was split between two sites. Normally the Nordic events are hosted at the Enchanted Forest in Red River, but a lack of snow early in the season forced the meet to move to Crested Butte, Colo. It didn’t matter for UNM’s Nordic squads as they turned in its best performances of the year.
In Red River, the first of two slalom races were held, and the men’s race was razor thin at the top. Colorado took the event with 89 points, with Denver in second with 87 and New Mexico in third with 85. Busengdal led the way with his second-place finish, which marked his 11th career podium, and his seventh career slalom podium.
Busengdal’s finish scored 37 points, but he was just one of four Lobos to finish in the top 11. Rob Greig turned in a career-best finish, coming in sixth, netting UNM a career-best 27 points in the race. Coming in 10th place with his first career top 10 was Youri Mougel, whose best finish prior to the race was 15th. That scored UNM 21 points, and it knocked out Tyler Theis from the scoring column.
Theis, who has a pair of fifth place finishes this season in the giant slalom, had his best slalom finish of 11th, but Mougel kept him from scoring. Nick Veth finished 28th, Isak Klein was 36th and Alex Baronous recorded a second-run DNF.
On the women’s side, Rebeeca Feigl recorded her fifth straight top 10 mark, coming in fifth, tying her career-best. Feigl scored 29 points for UNM to lead the squad, which finished fifth in that race. Feigl’s fifth place finish wasn’t a given after a harrowing opening run that saw her outside of the top 10 in 12th place.
Following Feigl was Alexandra Sjöström, who finished 14th after sitting 19th at the break, and Katharine Irwin finished 17th after sitting 22nd. Haley Cutler took a tumble on her opening run and recorded a DNF. While the fall looked bad, she was about to ski off on her own power and was cheering her teammates on during the second run.
In Crested Butte, the Lobos picked up their first podium of the season, as Sindre Tungesvik finished third, just a second out of second. Tungesvik, who in the last meet had a crazy adventure that encompassed two countries, five airports and no luggage or skis, recorded UNM’s best Nordic mark on the men’s side since 2016 when Aljaž Praznik took third at the Montana State Invitational 20K Classic. It was UNM’s best finish in a men’s freestyle race since Mats Rudin Resaland and Praznik went 1-2 in the 10K freestyle at the UNM Invitational.
Erland Nydal, in his first Lobo race, finished 14th, and Niklas Romback finished 16 as the Lobos overall were 4th in the event, after not finishing higher then seventh in any race this season. Overall the men scored 69 points to finish fourth in the race.
It was similar on the women’s side where every Lobo turned in a season-best. Andrea Klementová earned her first career top-10, coming in ninth place, and Carolyn Lucca had her best finish as well in 11th.
Brenna Egan, who recorded a 10th place finish at the U.S. Championships in the sprints, picked up her best finish in a collegiate scoring race, coming in 14th. Hannah Varjus, UNM’s newest team member, was just behind her in 16th. UNM totaled 60 points to finish fifth in the women’s race.
The second half of the UNM Invitational will take place tomorrow. In alpine, the men’s race will begin at 8:45 with the women’s race at 10 a.m. The second runs will be tentatively are set for noon and 1 p.m. The Nordic events will begin at 9 a.m., and will be a 5K classical. The men’s race will go at 9 a.m. and the women’s race will be at 10 a.m.
NOTES: UNM’s previous high as a team for Nordic this season was 34 points on the men’s side and 40 on the women’s side … Feigl now has three fifth place finishes this season … Greig’s previous top finish was eighth last year at an RMISA slalom qualifier.
