BOZEMAN, Mont. – Senior
Bernhard Flaschberger placed third in the men's 10-kilometer freestyle on Saturday morning as the Nordic portion of the Montana State Invitational concluded at Crosscut Mountain Sports Center.
Flaschberger led the Denver Pioneers ski team with his 10th career podium and ninth in the freestyle discipline by finishing the interval start race in 28:23.6. He was 13 seconds behind second-place Walker Hall of Utah (28:10.6) and trailed winner Joe Davies of Alaska Fairbanks by about 30 seconds (27:53.7).
The Austrian Flaschberger has now placed in the top five in both freestyle races this season and in each of the last five events in the discipline dating back to last season. He came in sixth in the 15K classic on Friday to begin the MSU Invite.
Sophomores
Elijah Weenig and
Jonah Steinberg also raced in the men's 10K, with Weenig placing 13th (29:45.6) and Steinberg coming in 17th (30:28.8).
Denver remains fifth in the Montana State Invitational standings at the halfway mark of the meet. The Pios have 241 points but are only 35 points behind Alaska Anchorage for second place (276). Utah leads the meet with 396 points.
DU and many of the other RMISA schools are a bit shorthanded for this first invitational of the season, as several of their athletes are competing at the Winter World University Games in Lake Placid, New York. The Nordic Pioneers at the winter games include
Hanna Ray for Team Finland and
Selma Andersen and
Andreas Kirkeng for Team Norway.
In the women's 5K interval start, sophomore
Bettina Burgess led Denver, which had all three of its scorers place consecutively from 16th through 18th. Burgess led the Pios for the first time in her career by finishing 16th in a time of 17:13.2.
Seniors
Emma Larsson (17:15.0) and
Vera Norli (17:33.5) were 17th and 18th place, respectively, while sophomore
Sidney Barbier came in 22nd (17:42.8).
Utah built on its advantage from the first day by sweeping the podium in the women's 5K. Novie McCabe picked up the win and was followed close behind by fellow former national champions Sophia Laulki in second and Sydney Palmer-Leger in third.
UP NEXT: The Nordic squads will now be off for nearly three weeks before their next races on Feb. 3-4 at the Colorado Invitational in Steamboat Springs. The 20K mass start classic and 5/10K freestyle races at the CU meet will be the first good indication of the season where DU and the rest of the RMISA teams are at against one another, as all of the athletes competing at the World University Games should be back for the start of that meet.
The collegiate alpiners will open their season next with the alpine-only Westminster Invitational in Snowbird, Utah, on Jan. 26-27. After doing two days of slalom races in Snowbird, the squads will head back to Bozeman to wrap up the Montana State Invitational with giant slalom events on Jan. 30-31 at Bridger Bowl Ski Area.
WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES UPDATE
Denver sophomore
Andreas Kirkeng helped Norway win a bronze medal on Friday in the mixed relay classic at Mount Van Hoevenberg at the Olympic Sports Complex in Lake Placid. With partner Karianne Olsvik Dengerud, the Norwegian pair finished in 20:55.61 and 12.76 seconds behind winner Japan. USA placed second.
Individual Nordic races start on Sunday with the men's and women's 1.5K freestyle sprint
The alpine portion of the World University Games got underway on Saturday with super G races, and freshman
Mia Hunt placed in 17th for the United State. The Park City, Utah, native had the second-fastest time among Americans, coming just two-hundredths of a second behind USA teammate Cheyenne Brown in 15th.
The alpine combined begins on Saturday with the super-G before wrapping up on Monday with slalom. The technical events start on Tuesday with giant slalom.
NOTES
- Elijah Weenig placed in the top 15 for the fifth time in his career and posted top-13 results in consecutive races for the first time in his collegiate tenure. His 13th-place finish was also his best career result in freestyle.
- Bettina Burgess had her best-ever finish in freestyle and placed in the top 20 in both races this weekend in Montana.
- Jonah Steinberg registered back-to-back top-20 results for the first time in his career and had his best-ever finish in freestyle (17th).
- Freshman Sivert Wulff did not race on Saturday.
DENVER MEN INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
3.
Bernhard Flaschberger, 28:23.6
13.
Elijah Weenig, 29:45.6
17.
Jonah Steinberg, 30:28.8
DNS:
Sivert Wulff
DENVER WOMEN INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
16.
Bettina Burgess, 17:13.2
17.
Emma Larsson, 17:15.0
18.
Vera Norli, 17:33.5
22.
Sidney Barbier, 17:42.8
TEAM STANDINGS (through 4-of-8 events): 1. Utah 396; 2. Alaska Anchorage 276; 3. Alaska Fairbanks 267; 4. Montana State 253;
5. Denver 241; 6. Colorado 225
MEN'S 10K FREESTYLE TOP 10 (24 finishers): 1. Joe Davies, UAF, 27:53.7; 2. Walker Hall, UU, 28:10.6;
3. Bernhard Flaschberger, DU 28:23.6; 4. Mike Ophoff, UAF, 28:32.4; 5. Anders Weiss, MSU, 28:43.5; 6. Brian Bushey, UU, 28:50.7; 7.Reed Godfrey, MSU, 29:01.5; 8. Kai Meyers, MSU, 29:01.6; 9. Sam Hendry, UU, 29:07.2; 10. Ari Endestad, UAA, 29:28.3.
WOMEN'S 5K FREESTYLE TOP 10 (24 finishers): 1. Novie McCabe, UU, 14.48.7; 2. Sophia Laulki, UU, 14:54.1; 3. Sydney Palmer-Leger, UU, 15:23.5; 4. Tuva Bygrave, UAA, 15:47.5; 5. Astrid Stav, UAA, 15:59.9; 6. Hanna Abrahamsson, CU, 16:10.8; 7. Tilde Baangman, MSU, 16:24.2; 8. Anna Pryce, MSU, 16:40.1; 9. Aila Berrigan, UAF, 16:43.0; 10. Pascale Paradis, UAA, 16:47.6.
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