Skiing Finished Seventh at NCAAs
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. — The University of New Mexico scored 19 points in both the women’s 15K freestyle and the men’s 20K freestyle, dropping one slot to finish in seventh place in the 2018 NCAA Skiing Championships.
The Lobos caught a very bad break in the men’s race … literally. Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier was looking for a great finish to his first year, but his ski broke. Forced to deal with a broken ski, Izquierdo-Bernier fell all the way to 36th place, although he somehow managed to defeat four other skiers. UNM’s top finisher for the men was Sindre Tungesvik, who was 12th overall and was the only scorer with 19 points. Erland Nydal was the other finisher for UNM in 32nd place.
UNM stayed in sixth place after the men’s race, but in the women’s race, Montana State leapfrogged UNM to move up one slot, with UNM falling to seventh.
Andrea Klementová was UNM’s only finisher in the points, coming in 12th, just like Tungesvik. She picked up 19 points. Carolyn Lucca was 35th and Brenna Egan was 36th.
Overall UNM scored 277 points, finishing just 16 points behind Montana State for sixth and 53 behind Vermont for fifth. The finish was the 36th straight finish in the top-9 for the Lobos, and it was one spot better than the eighth-place finish last year.
Overall, UNM picked up five All-Americans, two first teamers and three second teamers, with alpine registering four and Nordic one.
First Team All-America
Katharine Irwin, Giant Slalom
Vegard Busendgal, Slalom
Second Team All-America
Rebecca Fiegl, Slalom
SIndre Tungesvik, Nordic Classical
Rob Greig, Slalom