Feb. 28, 2015
Final Results
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - University of Denver sophomore Sebastian Brigovic (Rijeka, Croatia) turned in a solid performance, grabbing third place in the men's slalom Saturday at the NCAA West Regional/RMISA Championships in Alaska. Brigovic finished .54 behind Garrett Driller of Montana State. Endre Bjertness took second for Utah. Trevor Philp (Calgary, Alberta), Alex Leever (Vail, Colo.) and Max Marno (Centennial, Wyo.) finished fifth, seventh and ninth respectively for the Pioneers. Denver's Espen Lysdahl (Asker, Norway), who won yesterday's giant slalom, was fourth heading into his second run but missed a gate which ruined his chances for a spot on the podium.
Denver freshman Monica Hübner ( Garmisch-Partenkrichen, Germany) grabbed a podium spot with a third place finish in the women's slalom, 1.29 behind the winner, Jessica Honkonen of CU. New Mexico's Mateja Robnik was second. Devin Delaney (North Conway, N.H.) was fourth and Tianda Carroll (Jasper, Alberta) finished 10th for the Pioneers. DU's Kristine Haugen (Lommedalen, Norway), coming off her giant slalom victory on Friday, did not finish her first run and was out of the competition.
"We had some strong skiing here in Alaska this week against great competition," said Denver head coach Andy LeRoy. "I'm proud of the way our team competed and I am looking forward to the final push towards Lake Placid. I absolutely like our chances to defend our National Championship."
In the men's 20K Classical, the Pioneers finished 5th and 6th as freshman Dag Frode Trollebo (Oslo, Norway) had his second consecutive solid showing, ending up 11.4 seconds behind the winner, Mads Stroem of Colorado. Moritz Madlener (Sulzberg, Bavaria, Germany) finished just behind his teammate Trollebo.
"It was a great day of racing here in Alaska," said DU Nordic head coach David Stewart. "The organizers pulled off high-quality races all week in spite of very low snow, so hats off to them. Moritz and Dag Frode skied in a small lead pack during today's race, with Daggi backing up his third yesterday with an impressive fifth today and Moritz just behind in 6th. Daggi broke away to lead the race early on, so he is definitely starting to feel good. As usual, Moritz was in there for a good result for the team."
In the women's 15K, Denver again missed the contributions of standout Sylvia Nordskar ( Bærum, Norway)who has been sidelined with an illness. Freshman Selma Ahlsand (Oslo, Norway) earned a 16th place finish for the Pioneers. Teammate Silje Benum (Trondheim, Norway) added a 21st place finish.
"Selma skied a strong race on the women's side, especially for just her second 15km ever," Stewart stated. "She was charging during the middle of the race, but faded a bit toward the end. Overall, it was some of her best skiing this year. Silje is fighting hard as she comes back from a long period of illness, but is moving in the right direction."
Getting his team to overcome various ailments has been the number one objective of Stewart.
"Health has been a struggle overall this year, and we have rarely competed with more than half our team," explained Stewart. "As we look ahead to the NCAA's, our goal is to get all six athletes healthy and performing at their best to defend our national title. We will be fighting."
Denver finished fourth overall in the regional with 542 points. Colorado led the way with 651 points, followed by Utah with 609 and New Mexico with 550.
The NCAA Championships will be held at Lake Placid, New York, March 11-14.
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