MIDWAY, Utah – Four Denver Pioneers skiers placed in the top 10 on Thursday in the Westminster Invitational freestyle sprints at the U.S. Cross Country National Championships at Soldier Hollow Nordic Center.
Graduate student
Florian Knopf finished second among RMISA athletes in the men's sprint heats, while junior
Andreas Kirkeng placed fifth and his fellow classmate
Elijah Weenig posted a career-best result in seventh. Freshman
Maja Moland led the DU women by earning her first career top 10 in eighth.
"Great opening invite to the season this week for the Nordic Pioneers at Soldier Hollow in Utah," said Denver Nordic Head Coach
Rogan Brown. "It was fantastic to see some top results with Andreas in the classic distance and today with Florian in the skate sprints. Also, it was great to see newcomer
Maja Moland up there in the top 10 for today in the RMISA skate sprint, and Elijah and Hanna with career-best performances this week as well. We're looking forward to some more racing here at SoHo to wrap up the U.S. National Championships and the Utah Invitational next week."
The Pioneers stayed in second place at the Westminster Invitational at the conclusion of the Nordic events, garnering 309 points. DU is just 44 points behind leader Utah (353) heading into the alpine portion on Jan. 17-19.
Knopf was the only Pioneer to advance to the finals on the day and finished behind winner Will Koch of Colorado. CU's Trey Jones was also on the podium in third place but earned the placement in the semifinals.
Weenig earned his first career top 10 as his previous best was 11th in the 5K freestyle at the 2023 Denver Invitational. Junior
Jonah Steinberg matched a personal best in 17th and freshman
Krystof Zatloukal came in 32nd.
Joining Moland for DU's women's scorers was graduate student
Henriette Saeterdal Semb, who posted her second consecutive 13th-place finish, and senior
Hanna Ray in 17th. Junior
Sidney Barbier placed in 32nd.
Utah's Karianne Dengerud won the women's freestyle sprints, while Montana State's Tilde Baangman was second and Alaska Fairbanks Mariel Pulles came third.
The Nordic portion of the Westminster Invite was taking place in conjunction with U.S. Cross Country National Championships, with the results of the RMISA athletes being pulled from those races to make up half of the meet.
UP NEXT: Racing continues in Utah for the next two weeks, with a RMISA Nordic Qualifier in classic sprints next up at Soldier Hollow on Sunday. The Pioneers will stay at SoHo for the start of the Utah Invitational on Jan. 12-13 before the Westminster and UU Invites conclude with the alpine races on Jan. 17-20 at Olympic Park in Park City.
NOTES
- Denver placed second in the men's team race with 91 points while the women were fourth with 58 points.
- The Pioneer men recorded the most combined points in the two Nordic races with 183
- Andreas Kirkeng and Florian Knopf were the two Pios to advance out of the quarterfinals, with Kirkeng winning his heat by a tenth of a second.
- Elijah Weenig just missed out on advancing as he placed third in his quarterfinal, losing a sprint at the finish by 11-hundredths of a second.
- Selma Andersen, Anna Espeli and Micah Steinberg did not race on day 2.
DENVER MEN INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
2.
Florian Knopf, 3:15.54 QFT, 3:13.74 QF, 3:15.82 SF, 3:17.72 F
5.
Andreas Kirkeng, 3:22.07 QFT, 3:17.36 QF, 3:57.83 SF
7.
Elijah Weenig, 3:20.35 QFT, 3:20.09 QF
17.
Jonah Steinberg, 3:25.15 QFT
32.
Krystof Zatloukal, 3:34.23 QFT
DENVER WOMEN INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
8.
Maja Moland, 4:03.30 QFT, 3:54.85 QF
13.
Henriette Saeterdal Semb, 4:07.73 QFT
17.
Hanna Ray, 4:10.87 QFT
32.
Sidney Barbier, 4:28.86 QFT
TEAM STANDINGS (through 4-of-8 events): 1. Utah 353;
2. Denver 309; 3. Colorado 265; 4. Alaska Fairbanks 260; 5. Montana State 259; 6. Alaska Anchorage 236; 7. Wyoming 134
MEN'S FREESTYLE SPRINTS RMISA TOP 10 (39 RMISA finishers): 1. Will Koch, CU; 2
. Florian Knopf, DU; 3. Trey Jones, CU; 4. Tom Mancini, UU;
5. Andreas Kirkeng, DU; 6. Magnus Boe, CU;
7. Elijah Weenig, DU; 8. Walker Hall, UU; 9. Joe Davies, UU; 10. Hugo Hinckfuss, CU.
WOMEN'S FREESTYLE SPRINTS RMISA TOP 10 (43 RMISA finishers): 1. Karianne Dengerud, UU; 2. Tilde Baangman, MSU; 3. Mariel Pulles, UAF; 4. Kate Oldham, MSU; 5. Sydney Palmer-Leger, UU; 6. Kendall Kramer, UAF; 7. Nina Schamberger, UU;
8. Maja Moland, DU; 9. Astrid Stav, UAA; 10. Weronika Kaleta, CU.
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