March 13, 2004
The University of Denver ski team finished third at the NCAA National Championship Meet today, after leading the pack for the first two days of the four-day event. The Pioneers struggled in the men's slalom yesterday and could not recover in the nordic classic races today. Denver still owns the NCAA record for ski titles with 17, and won three straight titles in 2000, 2001, 2002.
New Mexico won the 2004 NCAA Championship with 623.0 overall net points, Utah was second with 581.0 and Denver finished third with 568.0 points. Colorado improved from seventh to finish fourth with 564 points.
"I am disappointed with our finish," Director of skiing Kurt Smitz said. "New Mexico is a tough competitor and we battled them all year, but to finish third is a bit disappointing. Overall, we had a lot of good things happen at this national championship.
In today's nordic classic races, Denver's best finish was turned in by Karin Camenisch who was 12th in the women's 15K classic race in a time of 54:24.6. Tara Hamilton was right on her heels in 15th place in a time of 54:45.9. Niina Karvonen finished 35th. The men were led by Martin Bartnes. Amund Hansen was 17th and Erland Hoff finished 20.
Denver finished the national championship with one individual national title (Pia Rivelsrud-Slalom) and six All-America honors. Denver won the giant slalom events.
NCAA Championship Team Scores-1. New Mexico 623; 2. Utah 581; 3. Denver 568; 4. COLORADO 564; 5. Vermont 533.5; 6. Alaska-Anchorage 504; 7. Middlebury 495.5; 8. Dartmouth 391; 9. Nevada 383; 10. Alaska-Fairbanks 219; 11. Colby 210.5; 12. Northern Michigan 198.5; 13. Williams 178; 14. New Hampshire 149; 15. Montana State 127; 16. Western State 110; 17. Boise State 67; 18. Whitman 62; 19. Harvard 40; 20. Bates 27; 21. Michigan Tech 11; 22. Wisconsin-Green Bay 1; 23. St. Lawrence 0.
Women's 15K Classic: 1. Sigrid Aas, Alaska Fairbanks 53:04.7; 2. Mandy Kaempf, Alaska 53:12.8 3. Trine Lundamo, New Mexico 53:21.6; 4. Jana Rehemaa, CU 53:28.4; 5. Muriele Huberli, CU 53:30.0; 6. Lindsey Weier, New Mexico 53:31.0; 6. Claire Critchley, CU 53:31.0; 8. Sarah Hansen, Alaska 53:46.3; 9. Sari Tuovinen Nevada Reno 53:53.0; 10. Jenny Hansonn, Utah 53:56.8. Denver Finishers: 12. Karin Camenisch 54:24.6; 15. Tara Hamilton 54:45.9; 35. Niina Karvonen 57:33.9.
Men's 20K Classic: 1. Henning Dybendal, Utah 53:11.9; 2. Tor Erik Schjellerud, CU 53:16.7; 3. Geir-endre Rogn, New Mexico 53:21.7; 4. Zach Violett, Alaska 53:22.7; 5. Erling Christiansen, CU 53:23.6; 6. Ethan Foster, Vermont 53:28.3; 7. Dirk Grimm, New Mexico 53:28.4; 8. Jesse Carlstrom, Nevada-Reno 53:40.5; 9. Eric Strabel, Alaska 53:47.0; 10. Lowell Bailey, Vermont 53:50.4. Denver Finishers: 15. Martin Bartnes, 54:23.9; 17. Amund Hansen, 55;08.7; 20. Erland Hoff 56:06.0.
