STOWE, VT. – The University of Denver ski team kicked off the 2019 NCAA Championships on Wednesday morning with the men's 10K and women's 5K freestyle races. Senior Jasmi Joensuu finished on the podium in second place in the women's 5K sprint to lead the Pioneers on the day.

"Today was such a fun race! I had big expectations going into today's race," said Joensuu. "I knew that I had to have a tactically smart race because I knew that it was going to be a tight one. I was able to follow my tactic well and my skis were amazing. I have done a lot of work during these years at DU so this podium means a lot for me. It was great to ski in front of a big crowd so thank you for everyone who came to cheer for us!"

DU (92 total points) sits in fifth place after day one trailing Northern Michigan (117 total points), Colorado (120 total points), Vermont (141 total points) and Utah (142 total points).

MEN'S 10K: All three of Denver's men skiers finished inside the top-27 in the first race of the NCAA Championships. Senior Eivind Kvaale finished just outside of All-American status taking 11^th, just one second behind the 10^th place finisher. Borgar Norrud finished in 24^th, taking home seven team points for DU while OleMarius Kirkeng took 27^th, gaining an additional four points for Denver.

"Eivind was on track for a run at the podium when he was forced to stop due to hearth arrhythmia. It's something he's had to deal with during races in the past, but of course unfortunate today." Said Stewart. "He lost 20-30 seconds while he stopped to let his heart regain its rhythm and he did an incredible job of turning the race around while salvaging a result for the team. I'm also happy with how Borgar and OleMarius raced but they were caught on the wrong side of a tightly packed field."

WOMEN'S 5K: Denver's best finish came from the senior, Joensuu who held the first place position until the final skier crossed the line, besting her time by just one second. Joensuu gained 37 points for DU to lead to women while Taeler McCrerey finished 15^th and earned 16 team points. Senior Kristine Karsrud rounded out the team scoring for Denver with a 23^rd place finish, gaining an additional eight team points.

"It was an awesome race from Jasmi today," Stewart said. "She skied a tactically smart race starting conservatively and moving up over the second half of the race to earn her first NCAA podium just one second from the win. Jasmi gained over five seconds in the last 500 meters and executed her race plan to perfection. Taeler and Kristine each paced their races well, but the times are always incredibly tight on this course and they were just on the wrong side of the bubble."

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