PARK CITY, Utah – University of Denver skiing begins the alpine schedule of the 2024 collegiate campaign this week with the conclusion of the Westminster and Utah Invitationals at Utah Olympic Park.
The competition will alternate between meets, with the Westminster Invite's slalom beginning the events on Wednesday before the student-athletes race in the same technical discipline in the Utah Invite on Thursday. Giant slalom ends the four days of racing in Utah, with the Westminster meet wrapping up on Friday and the UU events concluding on Saturday.
Denver is currently in the hunt in both meets after the conclusion of the Nordic races last week at Soldier Hollow Nordic Center in Midway. The Pioneers are in second place in the Westminster Invitational with 309 points and trail leading Utah by 44 points, while DU is third in the Utah meet with 280 points, nine points behind second-place Colorado and 102 points behind the hosts.
The Pios are looking to build off a solid 2023 alpine campaign, which saw them finish first in the alpine competition at the NCAA National Championships. DU added three alpine skiers in the offseason with
Liv Moritz on the women's side and
Eirik Kveno and
Christian Soevik for the men. Kveno, who transferred from St. Michael's College in Vermont, is expected to miss this season due to an injury suffered in training.
Denver returns 2023 All-Americans
Sara Rask,
Nora Brand and
Cooper Cornelius to this year's team. Cornelius and Moritz are members of the U.S. Alpine Ski Team, while Rask (Sweden), Brand (Germany) and
Thomas Hoffman (Australia) have represented their home countries on the FIS scene.
This will be the first time in recent years that the Pioneers will be racing at Utah Olympic Park, as usually the races take place at nearby Park City Resort. Denver skiing has a connection to Park City Resort, as there is a run called "Willy's Run." That run is named after legendary Pioneer skiing coach Willy Schaeffler, who coached DU for 18 years and won 13 national championships and finished runner-up the other five years.
Schaeffler's name still lives on with Denver skiing today to support student-athletes and disabled scholar-athletes annually with the Willy Schaeffler Scholarship Fund. More information can be found at
https://denverpioneers.com/sports/2018/6/6/willy-schaeffler-scholarship-fund-benefits-disabled-scholar-athletes.aspx
Live results from this week's races will be available on
https://live-timing.com/races.php.
SCHEDULE
Wednesday, Jan. 17
Westminster Invitational
Men's and Women's Slalom
Thursday, Jan. 18
Utah Invitational
Men's and Women's Slalom
Friday, Jan. 19
Westminster Invitational
Men's and Women's Giant Slalom
Wednesday, Jan. 17
Utah Invitational
Men's and Women's Giant Slalom
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