WINTER PARK and SNOW MOUNTAIN RANCH, Colo. (Jan. 29) - The University of Colorado men's and women's skiing team used a strong final day to handily capture the team title at the University of Denver Invitational, contested Friday and Saturday at Winter Park and Snow Mountain Ranch, Colo. Combined with the Buffs' win two weeks ago at Montana State, it is CU's second-straight team title. Denver won the season-opening Utah Invitational three weeks ago.
The Buffs took command of the team title with a 1-2 finish in the mixed 4x7.5-kilometer cross country skate relay. The team of Henrik Eriksson, Unni Odegard, Magnus Eriksson and Katerina Hanusova breezed to a 2.5-minute win over a second Colorado squad. With a 15-point lead over Denver entering the day, CU's 133 points in the relay all but put an end to the suspense in the team race.
The Pioneers were led by sophomore Cecile Hagen Larsen (Rjukan, Norway), who won the women's slalom race at Winter Park in a two-run combined time of 1:35.26. Sophomore Julia Delich (Fernie, British Columbia), who suffered an untimely fall in Friday's giant slalom, finished eighth for Denver on Saturday.
On the men's side, senior Christian Hutter (Alberschwende, Austria) finished third in 1:24.52 to post Denver's only top-10 finish.
"It was a solid meet," said Denver alpine coach Kurt Smitz. "You always have to take chances in alpine, and we just happened to lose a couple of points because of the risks we took over the weekend. Overall, I feel we're skiing well, and we're gaining in our ability to ski well. It's fairly obvious that there are two schools that are rising above everyone else. CU won DU's meet, so maybe DU can win at CU's meet next week."
All of the teams that competed this weekend move to Eldora next weekend for a meet hosted by Colorado.
DENVER SKIING - Denver Invitational
FINAL Team Totals 1. Colorado, 481
2. DENVER, 454
3. New Mexico, 369.5
4. Utah, 339.5
5. Nevada, 251
6. Western State, 158
7. Alaska Anchorage, 127
8. Montana State, 89.
Alpine - at Winter Park
Men's Giant Slalom 1. Jernej Bukovec (Utah) 1:24.04; 2. Per Klintberg (Alaska), 1:24.19; 3. Christian Hutter (DENVER), 1:24.52; 4. Josh Nolting (Colorado), 1:24.56; 5. Reuben Kuruvila (Nevada), 1:24.59; 6. Lars Bjoerge (New Mexico), 1:24.61; 7. Stefan Lanziner (unat-Austria), 1:24.68; 8. Scott Montalbo (Colorado), 1:25.20; 9. Scott Woodland (Utah), 1:25.32; 10. Bryon Friedman (unat-USA), 1:26.02; 11. Jayme Smithers (DENVER), 1:26.06; 20. Marc Kuehni (DENVER), 1:29.87; 23. Tyler Craig (DENVER), 1:31.35; 49. David Viele (DENVER), 1:56.01.
Women's Slalom
1. Cecile Hagen Larsen (DENVER), 1:35.26; 2. Sabrina Lawrence (Utah), 1:35.44; 3. Linda Wikstroem (Colorado), 1:35.90; 4. Jessica Kortas (New Mexico), 1:36.01; 5. Jenni Wolk (Colorado), 1:36.10; 6. (tie), Annik Boulva (Utah) and Anna Beischer (New Mexico), 1:36.16; 8. Julia Delich (DENVER), 1:36.22; 9. Tove Pashkowski (Colorado), 1:36.25; 10. Aimee-Noel Hartley (Colorado), 1:36.28; 14. Erika Gibbons (DENVER), 1:38.20; 17. Christina Guptill (DENVER), 1:38.89; 21. Martina Sailer (DENVER), 1:39.85; 27. Kristen Kriezel (DENVER), 1:42.00; 38. Dana Alexandrescu (DENVER), 1:46.12.
Cross Country - at Snow Mountain Ranch
Men's and Women's Mixed 4x7.5km Skate Relay 1. Colorado I (Henrik Eriksson, Unni Odegard, Magnus Eriksson, Katerina Hanusova), 1:32:46.2; 2. Colorado II, 1:35:19.8; 3. DENVER II (Kyrill Kretzschmar, Camilla Brinchmann, Jrn Frohs, Sanna Virtanen), 1:35:41.0; 4. DENVER I (Wolf Wallendorf, Britta Wienand, Pietro Broggini, Irene Eder), 1:35:57.7; 5. Utah I, 1:36:24.3; 6. New Mexico I, 1:37:29.0; 7. Western State I, 1:40:59.8; 8. New Mexico II, 1:41:35.8; 9. Nevada, 1:43:17.1.
