Feb. 24, 2005
BOZEMAN, Mont. - The University of Denver ski team won its fourth-consecutive race Thursday afternoon with a first-place finish in the New Mexico Invitational. Denver won with 583 points.
The men's giant slalom and the women's slalom were cancelled due to poor visibility in Santa Fe, N.M., two weeks ago, and were rescheduled for today, one day ahead of the start of the NCAA West Regional.
The Pioneers (583) edged the University of Colorado (561) by 22 points. Host and defending NCAA champion New Mexico finished third (526) with Utah fourth (512.5). The order of the top six teams in the standings did not change, but things did get tighter heading into this weekend's regional.
Senior David Lamb (Steamboat Spring, Colo.) was the Pioneers' top finisher in the men's giant slalom with a third-place finish (1:39.54). Junior Todd Ligare (Park City, Utah) finished right behind Lamb with a time of 1:39. Sophomore Ian Dunlop (Hartland, Wis.) finished 10th (1:39.96)
Junior Florence Roujas (Embrun, France) finished fourth (1:30.31), freshman Karine Falck-Pedersen (Slependen, Norway) placed seventh (1:30.85) and sophomore Pia Rivelsrud (Aalesund, Norway) was 10th (1:31.34) in the women's slalom.
The Regional commences Friday with the giant slalom races for the alpine skiers and the classical races for cross country (5K for women, 10K for the men). The slalom events are Saturday, along with Nordic freestyle competition (15K women, 20K men). The NCAA Championships are in Stowe, Vt., March 9-12.
New Mexico Invitational Team Scores--1. Denver 583; 2. Colorado 561; 3. New Mexico 526; 4. Utah 512.5; 5. Montana State 386; 6. Nevada 359.5; 7. Whitman 218; 8. Western State 205; 9. Alaska-Anchorage 153; 10. Boise State 107.
Men's Giant Slalom--1. Lars Loeseth Sunde, UNM, 1:38.63; 2. Alex Mach, UNM, 1:39.37; 3. David Lamb, DU, 1:39.54; 4. Todd Ligare, DU, 1:39; 5. Joel Adams, CU, 1:39.63; 6. Mark Heinrich-Wallace, Utah, 1:39.76; 7. Christian Ringvold, UAA, 1:39.83; 8. Miles Cooke, CU, 1:39.92; 9. Andreas Neuhauser, UAA, 1:39.94; 10. Ian Dunlop, DU, 1:39.96.
Women's Slalom--1. Rachel Roosevelt, CU, 1:29.62; 2. Jaana-maari Vaelimaeki, UNR, 1:29.66; 3. Lucie Zikova, CU, 1:30.06; 4. Florence Roujas, DU, 1:30.31; 5. Lina Johansson, Utah, 1:30.71; 6. Erika Hogan, CU, 1:30.77; 7. Karine Falck-Pedersen, DU, 1:30.85; 8. April Mancuso, Utah, 1:30.99; 9. Gladys Weidt, UNM, 1:31.23; 10. Pia Rivelsrud, DU, 1:31.34.
