March 13, 2015
Team Standings
Women's 15K Results
Men's 20K Results
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. - After three days of the NCAA skiing championships, the University of Denver, looking to defend their National Championship, sits in fourth place with one day of competition remaining in Lake Placid.
"It was a tough day for us," said Denver Nordic head coach David Stewart. "We had a difficult time getting our athletes on the right combination of kickwax and skis. Overall the ski preparation from me was not where it needed to be to give the team an opportunity to compete at their best. All of them fought to make it work, but there is no question a that everyone's results suffered due to poor grip."
Denver Nordic skier Sylvia Nordskar (Bærum, Norway) earned a third place finish in the women's 15K Classical race. This after Nordskar scored points for DU in Wednesday's 5K Freestyle event. Selma Ahlsand (Oslo, Norway) was the next best finisher for DU coming in 35th place with Silje Benum (Trondheim, Norway) finishing 40th.
"Sylvia skied a gutsy race," said Stewart. "She hung on to the lead as long as she could and held off the pack for her fourth consecutive podium result at the NCAA championship."
Nordskar trailed the winner, Emilie Cedervaern of New Mexico by 11 seconds with Veronika Mayerhofer of Utah coming in second. The third place showing by Nordskar earned the Pioneers 34 points in the overall standings.
In the men's 20K Classical event, Moritz Madlener (Sulzberg, Bavaria, Germany) led the Pioneers with an eight place result, good for 23 team points. Dag Frode Trolleboe (Oslo, Norway) was next for DU in 30th place with Jorgen Brevik (Trondheim, Norway) finishing 10 slots behind Trolleboe.
"Moritz also skied with his usual grit, and was up at the front of the race for three laps," said Steward. "But the extra work of slippery skis took its toll and he wasn't able to follow the pace on the last lap, but still hung on for a respectable eighth."
Northern Michigan's Fredrik Schwencke, who finished 30th in the 10K freestyle on Wednesday, won the race, eight seconds better than Colorado's Mads Stroem. Rune Malo Oedegaard of Colorado earned a third place finish despite a collision with fourth place finisher Aku Nikander of New Mexico during a frantic dash towards the finish line that knocked both men to the snow.
Denver has 290 points overall and trails third place New Mexico by 37 points. Colorado leads the championships with 388 points with Utah in second with 381.
"The rest of the team absolutely did their best, but there was only so much they could do today," Stewart remarked. "It's of course very disappointing to give up so many points in the team score, so today was hard on us. Congrats to CU on a very strong team performance today and to Fredrik Schwencke and Emilie Cedervearn on their individual wins."
The NCAA Skiing Championships wrap up Saturday on Whiteface Mountain with the women's and men's slalom.
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