UAA Invitational Through Six Events
ALEYSKA RESORT, Ak. — Rebecca Fiegl led a quartet of Lobos into the top-11 in the women’s giant slalom at the UAA Invitational at Aleyska Resort, as UNM dropped one spot into fifth place after six of eight events. The final two events, the men’s and women’s slalom, will be contested tomorrow by the RMISA alpine squads as the Nordic teams battle in Alaska in the 15K and 20K classical races as a part of the NCAA West/RMISA Championships.
The women’s giant slalom was the second of two events on the day, a cloudy, cold and blustery one, even by Alaskan standards. The Lobos posted four top-11 runs in the opening go, with Fiegl in sixth, Katharine Irwin in seventh, Antonio Wearmouth in 10th and Hailey Cutler in 11th. Amazingly, they all finished in almost the same spots.
Fiegl remained in sixth, registering the sixth-fastest run in each heat, to garner 27 points for UNM. Irwin slipped two spots to ninth, her top GS finish of the season, and she scored 22 points. She was the first of three straight Lobos in the standings, with Cutler and Wearmouth flip-flopping. Cutler was 10th for 21 points, and Wearmouth finished 11th and didn’t score.
Chloe Margue was UNM’s other finisher, coming in 18th. Sona Moravčíková, who was last week’s RMISA Skier of the Week and who has been UNM’s top ladies alpine skier this season, didn’t finish her opening run. Despite Moravčíková not scoring, UNM finished with 70 points to finish second to Colorado in the race.
Things however didn’t turn out as well for the men’s alpine squad, which scuffled throughout the day. The only top-10 finish was registered by Vegard Busengdal and it was a tie for 10th place, scoring 20.5 points. It was one of three ties among the top 20 skiers, highlighting the goofy nature of the day.
Behind Busengdal for UNM was Olav Sanderberg, who missed the top-20, finishing 21st for 12 points, with teammate Tyler Theis right behind him in 22nd, scoring 11 points. Nick Veth was 26th and Thomas Anderson was 29th for UNM, and Alex Barounos didn’t finish his opening run. The Lobo men scored 43.5 points to finish seventh.
Overall, the Lobos are in fifth with 360.5 points, just 1.5 behind host Alaska-Anchorage for fourth.