March 10, 2001
MIDDLEBURY, Vt. -- The University of Denver won its second straight national ski title Saturday, March 10, as the Pioneers secured the 2001 NCAA National Collegiate Skiing Championship title thanks to another dominating performance in the men's nordic races and the women's alpine events. The back-to-back victory is the first for Denver since the Pioneers repeated in 1970 and 1971. The national title is Denver's 16th in skiing, the most in NCAA history, one more than Colorado who has15. It is Denver's 21st overall national title (with five ice hockey titles) which ties California, Indiana and UTEP for 13th-place all-time.
Denver finished the four-day meet held March 7-10 at the Middlebury Snow Bowl and Rikert Ski Touring Center in Middlebury, Vermont with 686 gross team points. When each team's lowest three scores were dropped in accordance with the NCAA final scoring formula, the Pioneers' net total of 649 points made for a 44-point victory over Vermont (605) and Colorado, who finished third with 595.5 points and fourth-place Utah (590). In addition, Denver won two individual titles to give the Pioneers a total of 60 in NCAA Championship competition, which is second only to Colorado (69).
"This just goes to show that you can never give up in this sport," said Denver head alpine coach Kurt Smitz. "We skied hard all week and came into the last day in a position that we wanted to be in. It was fun to win last year, but to be honest it was more exciting to win this year. Fighting hard the entire week and defending our title was very special for us. The whole team realized how good it feels to win last year and wanted to enjoy it again. Individual awards show who is the best in a race, but we all share in the team award."
Pacing the women's alpine team was junior Cecilie Hagen Larsen (Rjukan, Norway/Norwegian National Team)
Who led the Pioneers in the Slalom event today with a sixth place finish in 1:30.24. Delich came in just behind Larsen in ninth place with a time of 1:30.78. Metzger was disqualified from the race after catching a tip on gate in the middle of the course and failing to climb back far enough before re-starting down the hill. Larsen also earned a third place finish in the Giant Slalom event on Thursday with a time of 2:06.47. She was joined in the winner's circle by junior Julia Delich (Fernie, B.C./Canadian National Team) who finished the event in sixth place (2:07.22) and freshman Christina Metzger (Barrie, Ontario/Canadian National Team) who placed 11th (2:08.29). The 3-6-11 finish marks one of the best NCAA Championship giant slalom performances by a women's alpine team in school history.
The men's alpine team was guided by junior William Wittusen (Oslo, Norway/Norwegian National Team) who finished the Slalom race on Saturday in 12th place with a two-run combined time of 1:27.42 followed by senior Jayme Smithers (Whistler, B.C./Blackcomb Ski Club) who placed 19th in 1:28.91 and Freshman Phillip Putzer (Val Gardena, Italy/Italian National Team) who placed 22nd with a time of 1:29.81. Smithers set the pace on Thursday in the Giant Slalom with a 15th place finish in 2:02.95 trailed by Putzer who ended the day in 18th place (2:03.09) and junior Wittusen who placed 22nd (2:03.75) in the event.
Paving the way to the title was a record-setting repeat sweep by the men's Nordic team, who claimed the top three spots in the 10K Classical race on Wednesday. It is the first time in NCAA history that a Nordic team has swept the top three places in an event in consecutive years. The men also claimed three of the top 11 places in the 20K Freestyle on Friday.
Graduate student Pietro Broggini (Gallarate, Italy/Italian Army Team) led the way in the 20K Freestyle event with his third NCAA individual title when he crossed the line first in a time of 50 minutes, 44.8 seconds. He was followed by junior teammates Joern Frohs (Mittelsaida, Germany/German Ski Team) and Wolf Wallendorf (Schonau, Germany/German National Team). Frohs finished sixth in 51:02.0 while Wallendorf was 11th in 51:22.6 in a reversal of their placing from Wednesday. Wallendorf recorded his first NCAA individual title on Wednesday with a first place finish in the 10K Classic when he completed the course with a time of 28:37.5 followed by Frohs who finished second in 28:45.5 and Broggini who completed the sweep in third with a time of 28:59.5. All three earned All-America honors.
The women's Nordic team had a great performance as well led by graduate student Irene Eder (Waldzell, Austria/Austrian National Team) who came from behind in the final kilometers of the 15K freestyle to capture fourth place with a time of 46:26.8. She was followed by graduate student Sanna Virtanen (Vantaa, Finland/Finnish National Team) who placed 15th (47:28.6) and freshman Karin Camenisch (Kloster, Switzerland/Swiss Ski Team) who finished 16th (47:29.6). Virtanen recorded All-American honors with her sixth place finish in the 5K Classic in a time of 16:33.3 trailed by Camenisch who came in 13th in 16:46.4 and Eder in 14th with a time of 16:47.4.
Seven of Denver's 12 skiers earned a total of 11 All-America honors by finishing in the top 10 of their respective races. Of the 11 All-America awards, six are first-team plaudits for placing in the top five. Denver's 11 All-American honors tie Colorado for the most of any school while the six first team honors are the second most tied with Colorado behind Vermont who has seven.
Final Team Scores
1. DENVER, 649
2. Vermont, 605
3. Colorado, 595.5
4. Utah, 590.5
5. New Mexico, 496.5
6. Dartmouth, 449.5
7. Middlebury, 368
8. Northern Michigan, 361
9. Nevada, 334.5
10. Alaska-Anchorage, 284
11. New Hampshire, 274
12. Williams, 252
13. Bates, 174
14. Western State, 147.5
15. Montana State, 137
T16. Michigan Tech, 63
T16. Alaska-Fairbanks, 63
18. St. Lawrence, 52
19. St. Olaf, 51
20. Wisconsin-Green Bay, 50
21. Colby, 42
22. Harvard, 20
Denver 2001 All-Americans
Irene Eder 15K Freestyle (4th)
Sanna Virtanen 5K Classic (6th)
Cecilie Hagen Larsen Giant Slalom (3rd), Slalom (7th)
Julia Delich Giant Slalom (6th), (10th)
Pietro Broggini (2) 10K Classic (3rd), 20K Freestyle (1st)
Joern Frohs 10K Classic (2nd), 20K Freestyle (6th)
Wolf Wallendorf 10K Classic (1st)
