Jan. 6, 2005
PARK CITY, Utah - The No. 2 ranked University of Denver ski team completed competition at the Utah Invitational in Park City and Solider Hollow, Utah this evening and won the team title with 568 total points. The Pioneers edged out No. 4 Colorado (488) and No. 1 Utah (486) to win the title.
The men finished fourth in the slalom with 61 points. Dominik Schweiger (Wangle, Austria) had the fastest time in the morning run (48.38), but finished second (1:41.22) earning 29 points, while fellow Pioneer Ian Dunlop (0) took 14th place earning 17 points and Benjamin Kuruvilla (Vail, Colo.) finished 16th earning 15 points.
The Denver women took first and second place in the giant slalom to win the event title and earn 77 points. Florence Roujas (Embrun, France) captured first place (2:10.43) and earned 30 points with All-American Pia Rivelsrud (Aalesund, Norway) finishing only five hundredths of a second behind her in second place (2:10.53) to earn 29 points. Rivelsrud blazed down the mountain with the fastest morning run time (1:04.83) and Roujas had the fastest second run (1:04.94) to win the event. Lindsay McClure (Hood River, Ore.) rounded out the scoring for the Pioneers in 19th place with 18 points.
Denver won the men's 10K freestyle race to sweep the Nordic events. John Stene (Trondheim, Norway) earned 27 points and finished in fourth place (28:29.7) just 3.1 seconds behind the winner Daniel Sonntag of Utah. Rene Reisshauer (Oberhof, Germany) finished right behind Stene in fifth place and earned 26 points, while Pioneer Haavard Selseng (Sogndal, Norway) placed ninth and earned 22 points round out the scoring for Denver. Alaska Anchorage and Colorado finished in second and third place with 73 and 70 points, respectively.
In the women's 5K freestyle race, the Denver women placed third overall with 72 points behind Utah (78) and New Mexico (73). Tara Hamilton (Anchorage, Alaska) led the Pioneers with a fourth-place finish (16:27.0) and earned 27 points, while Bodil Ryste (Trondheim, Norway) and Julia Swieder (Oberhof, Germany) and contributed points for the Pioneers and finished in eighth place with 23 points and ninth place with 22 points, respectively.
The Pioneers will be back in action next weekend at the Alaska Invitational in Jackson, Wyo., beginning Thursday, Jan. 13.
Utah Invitational Team Scores - 1. Denver 568; 2. Colorado 488; 3. Utah 486; 4. Alaska Anchorage 452; 5. New Mexico 421; 6. Montana State 373; 7. Nevada 329; 8. Western State 242; 9. Whitman 191; 10. Boise State 66.
Men's Slalom - 1.Timothee Theaux, Western State, 1:40.12; 2. Dominik Schweiger, Denver, 1:41.22; 3. Luke Patterson, Nevada, 1:41.44; 4. Einar-Marius Elvrum, Alaska Anchorage,; 5.Don Brockett, Montana State, 1:41.80; 6. Christian Ringvold, Alaska Anchorage, 1:41.86; 7. David Duncan, Alaska Anchorage, 1:41.98; 8.Cory Harris, Montana State, 1:42.27; 9.Gregory Besse, Western State, 1:42.43; 10.Tahir Bisic, Colorado, 1:42.39. Other Denver Finishers: 14. Ian Dunlop, 1:43.17; 16. Benjamin Kuruvilla, 1:47.54.
Women's Giant Slalom - 1. Florence Roujas, Denver, 2:10.48; 2.Pia Rivelsrud, Denver, 2:10.53; 3.April Mancuso, Utah, 2:11.15; 4. Rachel Roosevelt, Colorado, 2:12.20; 5.Lina Johansson, Utah, 2:12.51, 6.Lucie Zikova, Colorado, 2:12.73; 7.Smaranda, Muteanu, Montana State, 2:13.26; 8.Erika Hogan, Colorado, 2:13.77; 9. Kimberly Stephens, Utah, 2:14.34; 10.Quincy Young, Nevada, 2:15.56. Other Denver Finishers: 19. Lindsay McClure, 2:16.23
Men's 10K Freestyle - 1.Daniel Sonntag, Utah, 27:11.5; 2. Erling Christiansen, Colorado, 27:12.0; 3. Zachary Violett, Alaska Anchorage, 27:13.0; 4. John Stene, Denver, 27:14.6; 5. Rene Reisshauer, Denver, 27:25.5; 6. Inge Kristoffersen, New Mexico, 27:27.9; 7. Kjetil Dammen, Alaska Anchorage, 27:33.7; 8. Tor Erik Schjellerud, Colorado 30:09.8; 9. Haavard Selseng, Denver, 27:45.7; 10. Benjamin Sonntag, Alaska Anchorage, 28:09.7. Other Denver Finishers: 24. Kyle Ahern, 30:09.2; 26. Dominic Henriques, 30:41.5.; 28. Zach Hill, 30:45.9; 34. Hennie Kashiwa, 31:24.6; 35. Dan Clark, 31:41.9.
Women's 5K Freestyle - 1. Mandy Kaempf, Alaska Anchorage, 15:13.1; 2. Trine Lundamo, New Mexico, 18:08.3; 3. Sandra Gredig, Utah, 16:14.4; 4.Tara Hamilton, Denver 16:27.0; 5.Ashley McQueen, Utah, 16:29.6; 6. Andrea Roberts, New Mexico, 16:34.6; 7. Barbro Hatlevik, Utah, 16:35.2; 8. Bodil Ryste, 16:36.2; 9. Julia Swieder, Denver, 16:50.0; 10. Emily Robins, Montana State, 16:55.1. Other Denver Finishers: 22. Courtney Dauwalter, 17:49.7; 28. Kara LaPoint, 18:11.5.
