Izquierdo-Bernier Wins NCAA Nordic Classic Title

NCAA Championships Day 3 Results

OFFICIAL SCHEDULE
 

NCAA Championship Notes | Lobo Skiing Record Book

STOWE, Vt. — There’s a phrase of “always the bridesmaid, never the bride”, and while he did finish second four times this season in Nordic races with just one win, he saved his best for last. Fulfilling a preseason promise he made to his coach, Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier stayed within a group of 11 skiers throughout the final race, and then pushed through over the final 1.5k to enjoy the accolades of a run to the finish, winning the first NCAA men’s Nordic Classical title in The University of New Mexico’s history.
 
The Lobos overall dropped remained in sixth place, eight points clear of seventh place Northern Michigan, which has no competitors on Saturday in the slalom.  UNM would need to make up 58 points over the final two events, the men’s and women’s slaloms, to move past Denver into fifth.
 
With the men going second, all eyes were initially on Kornelius Grøv of New Mexico, and would he be able to break the UNM single-season record for wins with six, having won four freestyle and one classic.  Izquierdo-Bernier played second-fiddle for much of the season, with four seconds and one win.
 

PAINT IT CHERRY & SILVER!!!!

RICARDO IZQUIERDO-BERNIER IS YOUR NATIONAL CHAMPION!!!!!!#GoLobos pic.twitter.com/Ovd4wC2G1Q

— UNMLobosSkiing (@UNMLoboSkiing) March 8, 2019

Early on, it was a massive pack of skiers as they headed out for first of four loops over the 20K course, and Grøv was right there among the leaders, sitting in third in the early splits.  Unfortunately for Grøv, the wear-and-tear of all the wins and all the podiums caught up to him, and he fell from the pack.
 
“Kornelius really had a lot of pressure on his shoulders after the year he had,” said head Nordic coach Christian Otto.  “It’s unfortunate but he turned in one of the greatest seasons in school history, and he should be very proud of his season.”
 
With Grøv falling back (he would eventually tumble to 35^th and then find another gear and move 11 spots to finish 24^th), it was Izquierdo-Bernier on his own.  Around the 7k mark, it was a pack of 11 skiers that moved all around the leaderboard, but all staying within a few seconds of each other.  Izquierdo-Bernier would be seventh at one split, third at another.  His disadvantage was he had no teammate to work with, unlike schools like Northern Michigan and Utah which had multiple skiers in the front.
 
It didn’t matter.  Staying near the front, he made his move to the front three with 1.5k to go, and then he made his move.  With that massive kick in the final climb, Izquierdo-Bernier opened up plenty of space over Sigurd Roenning of Alaska-Anchorage, and then with his coaches deliriously mobbing themselves in the background, he coasted over the finish line, an emphatic pump of the first to punctuate the senior’s final race.
 
“I’ve never seen someone train so hard and be so determined to reach his goal,” said Otto.  “During the race he looked at me and nodded that he had it under control.”
 

Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier becomes the first men’s Nordic Classic National Champion in UNM history, and just the third men’s Nordic NCAA Champion ever at UNM (first since 2003) #GoLobos pic.twitter.com/BNz4Yf9wWt

— UNMLobosSkiing (@UNMLoboSkiing) March 8, 2019

Izquierdo-Bernier scored all 40 points, and Grøv got seven for his 24^th place finish, giving UNM 47 points, good for fourth overall in the race.  Johan Eirik Meland did well to move up in the standings, coming in 34^th, out of the scoring zone.
 
The women’s race went first at 8 a.m., and in that one, UNM didn’t nearly pull of the drama, but it was still a clutch race.  Julie Spets had perhaps her best overall race of the year, moving up from 25^th place at the halfway mark to eventually cross the line in 15^th place, earning a key 16 points for the Lobos.  That tact of being way down at the half and moving up was a theme for the Lobo women.
 
Dariya Kuznetova was all the way down in 37^th at one point in the race, but much like her teammates, she picked up a second wind in the back half of the race, and incrementally climbed the standings, moving to 34^th, 31^st, and then into the scoring zone, finishing in 27^th, picking up four more points.  Izquierdo-Bernier might have won a title but Nordic coach Christian Otto was equally pleased with how the women raced.
 
“Julie had her best race of the season.  I couldn’t be prouder of her for how she raced today.  Dasha (Dariya) is like Ricky in that she is one of the hardest workers on the team, and she made it count.  Her goal was to race top 30 and she succeeded that, getting us some much-needed points.”
 
Savanna Fassio finished outside the scoring zone for UNM, but she had a nice finish, moving up to 35^th over the final 3k of the race.
 
With six events done, it’s just the slalom left for UNM, and now it’s a question of can anyone else join Izquierdo-Bernier as a national champion.  Five members of the slalom squad have finished in the top-six in a slalom race this year, meaning UNM is a dual threat to take a potential title and affect the final standings.
 
NOTES: Izquierdo-Bernier won the first men’s title since the 2003 season when Jimmy Vika won the Nirdoc freestyle title … Izquierdo-Bernier is the first Lobo men’s Nordic to earn two First Team All-America honors in the same year since Martis Kaas did it in 2010 … the win mean UNM won at least on men’s Nordic race at all six meets this season, winning six of 12 overall.